Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design (대한건축학회논문집:계획계)

Architectural Institute of Korea (대한건축학회)
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Reading the 『Seoul Good Sign』 Exhibitions through the Notion of Aesthetic Disinterestedness

미적 무관심성에서 본 『서울 좋은 간판』 전시회

  • 백승한 (연세대학교 인문학연구원)
  • Received : 2015.11.25
  • Accepted : 2017.03.13
  • Published : 2017.03.30
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Abstract

This article examines what the term 'good' means in the "Seoul Good Sign" exhibitions, a vital constituent of the Design Seoul project led by the former city mayor of Seoul Oh Se-hoon. In doing so, it focuses on examining one particular work of sign design titled "Skyflower" (2008), through which to explore ways in which an idea of the good is theorized and practiced in relationship with the recent and ongoing urban design projects initiated by the city ministry. Despite the ministry's attempts to theorize what it means by 'good sign,' accompanied by a set of manifestos and design guidelines, this article argues that the Seoul Good Sign exhibition uses the term in a narrow sense, most often morally charged and in reference to specific models drawn from certain historical times and geographical locations. What is thus proposed is the Kantian notion of aesthetic disinterestedness, which addresses an intentionally delayed, reflective psychological process that is attentive to the possibilities that a given object or environment could be perceived in indeterminate thus multiple ways. One's perception of a given signage is a sort of proposition, which brings forth a set of other propositions in either agreement or disagreement. Thus, the seemingly top-down, linear way of signage design as implemented by the city ministry ultimately operates at the level of intersubjectivity and indeterminacy, which leaves possibilities of looking at the institution-bound urban project in flexible manners.

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References

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