Water tower redesign draws global criticism : Forestry organization’s ‘Tree of Life’, designed to commemorate 2018 Winter Games, bashed for ‘ugly’ design
Left: The 33-meter (108-feet) Tree of Life is a redesigned version of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation’s old water tower. To show support for the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, the federation held a lighting ceremony of the tree with the organizers of the Olympic Games. Right: Business Insider uploaded a video clip of the Tree of Life, sparking international criticism. [YONHAP, SCREEN CAPTURE]
Netizens across the globe mocked this gigantic tree installation that also lights up at night, saying that “the organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics that are under fire for destroying a 500-year-old mountain forest to create ski slopes has created an ugly artificial tree dubbed ‘Tree of Life,’ instead.” Several local media organizations also reported the story with headlines reading, “PyeongChang Olympic’s ‘Tree of Life’ is a ‘Tree of Mockery’ overseas.” Environmental activists from both in and outside Korea have criticized the organizers of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games for destroying the “sacred Mountain Gariwang” to create ski slopes for the games and “inflicting irreparable damage on the area’s delicate ecosystem.”
But according to the National Forestry Cooperative Federation - the group that created the artificial tree - the Tree of Life is a newly designed water tower, which used to sit on the same location for more than 20 years.
“Since it was deteriorating and leaking, we had to renovate it,” said Lee Jae-ho, the manager of the general affairs team at the federation. “Because the initial tank was just a gigantic white concrete pillar, we thought that it would be better to add an artistic aspect to it and turn it into public art.”
The National Forestry Cooperative Federation water tower that stood for more than 20 years before its reconstruction. [NATIONAL FORESTRY COOPERATIVE FEDERATION]
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 44,000 people had watched the clip and dozens of comments critical of the tree followed saying that it was “magnificent garbage,” and that the “tree of life is made from a bunch of dead trees.”
In response, the federation explained that the initial water tank used to be just a tall white concrete pillar with green letters in Korean indicating that it was part of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation. They added that artistic taste is subjective.
“The federation is composed of about 400,000 individuals who operate tree farms with an objective to make Korea greener,” explained the federation on its website, insisting that there’s no way that the federation would create something that destroys the environment.
Lee from the federation said no media outlets from either Korea or abroad had contacted them to ask questions or check the facts.
Since the video clip says that “Korea plans to spend 937.2 billion won this year on Olympic games” right after mentioning that it cost 500 million won to erect this “Olympic monument,” viewers misunderstood it for using the taxpayers’ money. But Lee explained that the 500 million won was paid for by the federation and that most of the money covered the renovation of the old water tank.
“Only a small portion was used to make it look like a tree and installing the 400,000 LED light bulbs,” said Lee. “As you can see, the top part of the water tank initially was shaped like an inverted cone, so we got a green net and wrapped it around to make it look like a leafy tree.”
Although the federation believes this illuminating Tree of Life is a lot more “beautiful” than the original concrete pillar, it said that “we humbly accept the criticisms on the design itself and will make sure we pay more attention to the details when creating something that is ‘public art.’”
Lee said the federation members didn’t bother getting advice from art experts.
“We just wanted to save money and use the very least to create something [more beautiful] than a regular white concrete pillar,” explained Lee. “It’s a shame that our well-intended way to show support for the upcoming Winter Olympics brought us international criticism.”
Regarding the fierce criticisms surrounding the destruction of the 500-year-old mountain forest to make room for a ski slope, the federation kept its distance and said “as people who operate tree farms and look after trees, we also feel pitiful that Olympic organizers removed tens of thousands of trees on Mount Gariwang to create ski slopes for the games.”
BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [sharon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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