Take some time out at Awon Museum with OMA Space's 'Time Drop'

Korean Heritage

Published: 23 Aug. 2022, 16:19 Updated: 23 Aug. 2022, 17:46

Take some time out at Awon Museum with OMA Space's 'Time Drop'

Artist Oma of OMA Space presents her latest art piece “Time Drop” at Awon Gotaek in Wanju County, North Jeolla. The exhibit runs until Dec. 31. [JINHA PARK]

WANJU COUNTY, North Jeolla — It's not as easy as it sounds to close your eyes and think about nothing for at least five minutes. You're likely to be interrupted by an alert on your phone, or have random thoughts enter your mind.

“When’s the last time you had that opportunity to really meditate?" asks artist Oma from art & design studio OMA Space. “It may sound easy but try it. You will find yourself getting interrupted one way or another unless you are a trained meditator.”

Oma says she wanted to intentionally create that time for people through her latest artwork titled “Time Drop,” which is currently being exhibited at the Awon Museum and Hotel, a hanok (traditional Korean house) resort in Wanju, North Jeolla. It is more commonly known to Koreans as Awon Gotaek. Gotaek means older house.

In the Awon Museum, which also functions as the resort’s reception area, a large dark blue dome-like installation piece is hanging from the ceiling. It’s Oma's “Time Drop,” which is ready to drop at any time and take five minutes of visitors’ time.

To participate in this experience, participants must take their shoes off and sit on a circular cushion placed on the floor underneath the dome. Headphones that play immersive music, composed by OMA Space’s art director Daniel Kapelian, must be put on before the dome, measuring 230 centimeters in diameter (90 inches) and 250 centimeters in height slowly descends down to totally encapsulate the participant. Shutting out light and noise — and all the other distractions — the dome offers five minutes of total mindfulness.

An artistic photograph of the work taken using a technical camera with extremely long exposure and focus stacking, shows a person sitting down inside the dome. [JINHA PARK]

“As soon as you are in the dome, your vision is blocked so I found myself becoming naturally more sensitive to my hearing and being really absorbed in the sound from the headphones,” said Byun Ju-yeon, who was visiting Awon Gotaek last week.

“Because I am trapped inside a dome and it’s dark, I thought I would feel somewhat suffocated and claustrophobic, but it wasn’t like that at all. The space inside the dome felt much bigger, even though I knew the actual size of it. It felt like I was in outer space.”

According to Oma, that’s because the dome is made using traditional material known as sambe (hemp). Sambe is a textile fiber that was used to make clothing for commoners before the introduction of cotton to Korea in the late 15th century.

“I am very interested in organic materials and Korea’s traditional textile sambe was perfect in that its air permeability is very high,” said Oma. “That is why participants don’t feel so suffocated inside the dome. It’s also a great material to use in such a large installation art piece as it’s an environmentally friendly material. It naturally rots when buried underground.”

According to the artist, “Time Drop” is the legacy of her previous monumental installations — “Tree of Light” presented in 2019 in Paris with Google Art & Culture and “Slow Walk,” presented in 2020 in Seoul at the Piknic gallery.

Inspired by the circular slow walks of Zen Buddhist monks around pagodas, Oma created the “spiral path” for her “Tree of Light” project and invited participants to engage in a contemporary ritual walk barefoot. The spiral path was divided into different sections, which were covered with different materials such as bark, seeds, cotton and fabric. Participants were guided to slowly walk from one zone to another, and experience the multi-sensory feelings. Seoul’s “Slow Walk” was the shorter version of her Paris project.

Seoul-based OMA Space, founded by Oma, has been focusing on producing art projects that help people “elevate through art,” the artist said. “At OMA Space, we’ve been combining primitive techniques and digital tools to push the boundaries of contemporary art and design to create experimental works and immersive installations, blending tradition with innovation. For years I’ve been interested in working on projects that help people be in a situation where they can be totally immersed in their mind and experience authentic transcendence,” she continued.

“Everyone is living such a busy life and there’s just no time to pull back and spiritually evolve. But I believe humans are no different from animals unless we constantly transcend [...] As an artist, I wanted to offer that opportunity through artworks and help people elevate their consciousness. It’s like taking their cell phone out of their hands and kind of forcing them into this area of isolation that is equipped with things that can stimulate their senses and help bring participants into more intimate contact with their deepest, most inner selves.”

Oma says the current “Time Drop” in Awon Museum is her prototype and she wants to expand this into an even larger museum piece.

“I am thinking about increasing the number of this piece to about five and having different types of domes,” she said. “Some people said they wanted to lie down while they meditate inside the dome. Some people also said five minutes was too short while others said it was too long, so I might do a version that lasts maybe 15 minutes lying down and another one that just lasts three minutes sitting down so that the whole installation from afar looks aesthetically beautiful as well.”

Hanok buildings in Awon Gotaek are about 250 years old. They are surrounded by beautiful mountains in Wanju County, North Jeolla. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Visitors to Awon Museum can also enjoy Oma's canvas work titled “Cosmos.” Oma used traditional Korean paper known as hanji for this piece.

Oma's “Time Drop” is Awon Museum's first installation piece since its establishment in 2017. Awon Gotaek’s founder Jyen Hae-gab said he wanted visitors to his hanok residence to experience Oma's art piece as he believes hanok is the “bigger version of the artist’s dome.”

“Hanok is not just architecture,” he said. “It’s an art piece that has been carefully assembled using traditional materials. Inside the hanok, I’ve always wanted all my visitors to enjoy the landscape surrounding it, and to truly contemplate on themselves and to engage in true mindfulness.”

Oma’s “Time Drop” and her latest canvas work “Cosmos” are exhibited at Awon Gotaek’s art museum. [KYOUNG YOUNG GIL]

That is why there’s no wifi and no television inside Jyen’s hanok, he explained. Instead, many rooms are equipped with “amenities that help stimulate the senses to relax the mind and body such as traditional tea sets and crystal singing balls.

Jyen said he didn’t want to build new hanok on this site that’s surrounded by beautiful mountains because of this reason. Jyen’s hanok were moved from Jinju, South Gyeongsang, and are about 250 years old. Every piece of their frame was deconstructed and rebuilt, a process that hanok are ideal for considering they don't use nails.

“Of course we’ve redesigned some of the interiors to make the hanok stay more convenient but the ambiance itself is very traditional,” Jyen said. “It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for visitors to look into their inner selves through Oma's ‘Time Drop’ at the Awon Museum and then go into their rooms to truly let go of all the distractions.”

Ever since K-pop megaband BTS visited Awon Gotaek in 2019 to shoot its music video for “2019 Summer Package in Korea,” the venue has become a tourist hotspot for both locals and international tourists. Visitors can make a day trip and just look around the hanok and visit the gallery from noon to 4 p.m. Those who are just visiting the gallery should purchase a ticket, which costs 10,000 won. The museum closes at 5 p.m.

“Time Drop” will be exhibited until Dec. 31.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]