Work | Jhethos

Silver Horse Town

Jihoon KIM

When Silver Horse Town was built in 1981, my parents decided to move to the town that was the largest city plan in Gangnam. It was 30 years ago however ‘Gangnam Style’ has not come yet in those days. My family settled down in one of the 4,424 units and I grew up there witnessing the town growing and collapsing through decades. Gangnam is one of the fastest growing and the most luxurious area in the city of Seoul where the major privilege schools and livings are relocated during 80’s-90’s as a part of new city plan. However Gangnam district has been facing a housing reconstruction boom since 2004, Silver Horse Town became a hot potato on its rebuilt plan because its massive volume. The price of the apartment unit flied by second and whole town seemed to be the hottest place-to-be in Gangnam. But after economy crash in 2008, their rebuilt plan was suspended and the town’s dream went disported as dramatic fictions that will never happen.

My project started from that moment when I began to see my town coming to a square of abstract desire of the people who live under its surreal density. I rather focused on Silver Horse Town’s provocative landscape along with the neighborhood also on details of the buildings than approached as didactic documents. For two years on this project opened me up to see the context of invisible phenomenon of rebuilt city plan in new millennium, which repeats and follows uniformed group ambition. The first part of my portfolio shows the contrast of manufactured and crude housing environment from 80’s. The second part was based on the first part recreated fictional blueprint of reconstruction plan on Silver Horse Town applying all the unreal ideas that most of townies might look for. I have learned that the use of large format camera through digital process took after the change of social economic transition of the Silver Horse Town.

Evolution of digital era on photography was transferred to the memorial of Silver horse Town, and I became a beneficiary of all the questions that left behind.