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Monday, July 17, 2006

Art Work

Posted by on July 17 at 15:24 PM

Jen Graves and people who produce art in capitalist societies, this passage, which is taken from an article posted on Open Democracy’s site, is just for you:

The subjects originally required by Juche art [North Korea’s version of Socialist Realism—a Soviet school that produced several masterpieces, the most remarkable of which is Cement] were limited to such themes as: portraying the General, the relationship of the military and the people, the construction of socialism, National Pride and such like. However, in the 1970s landscape was also approved, when Kim Jong-il instructed: “The idea of describing Nature in a socialist country is to promote patriotism, heighten the national pride and confidence of the public in living in a socialist country.” The result has been a huge increase in the production of oil paintings of natural scenes. All artists in North Korea are registered as members of the Korean Artists Federation and receive monthly salaries, for which they are expected to produce a certain number of works. Some artists work “on the spot”, at factories or construction sites, whereas others go to an office. Both would be expected to work regular hours and have about two hours of study or discussion in the evenings with regular reports and evaluations. Abstract or conceptual art is forbidden and the subjects and themes of works of art are limited.


The next item is this incredible building, Ryugyong Hotel, which is in the Potong-gang District of Pyongyang, North Korea:
Ryugyong_Hotel_Closeup.jpgFor those not in the know, this building has yet to be completed. Its construction began nearly 20 years ago and stopped 14 years ago. If it were completed, it would be the 7th tallest building in the world. But it’s too expensive to finish, and even if it were, who would dare sleep in it? Sleeping in that hotel is like sleeping in a nightmare. Nevertheless, Pyongyang is the only building in the world that has made the crane that made it into a permanent fixture.


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I think we've found a home for those ore unloaders!

Dang, talk about your "Blade Runner" architectural monstrosities!

Compliments to the landscape artist!

You know, it'd be pretty cool, were it in Las Vegas.

That hotel is creepy. The total number of non-North Koreans who visit that country every year wouldn't even fill the bottom few floors...

For some reason I love that building! It's so stark and massive.

And I thought the exact same thing about Vegas. This would dominate the Strip.

Check it out from a distance.

http://www.btinternet.com/~parrothouse/NHnkorearyugyonghotelpyongyang.jpg

They really should finish it.

Wouldn't sleeping in North Korea be enough of a nightmare?

That thing is sooo freakin' cool. It's stuff like that that made me want to be an engineer in my younger days. But they can never finish it. The concrete they used to build the shell is substandard. It would be too dangerous to actually occupy. An entire support exoskeleton would have to be built around it for it to be habitable. Hmmm... maybe that would be even cooler!

Disturbing looking structure. Now I know where they get the sets for Stargate One (SG-1). re: the building with permanent crane, I think the Cathedral in Cologne (Koln) Germany had a crane atop one of its unfinished spire for 200 plus years.

Kim Jong Il wasn't leader in the 1970s, his father Kim Il Sung was.

I've been to north korea. I was able to go there because I have a british passport, and there's a tour from Beijing pretty often (http://www.koryogroup.com/). It wasn't nearly as bad or as scary as I thought it would be. it was actually kind of pleasant considering how poor everyone was. No armless beggars or huge populations of street children like in India or Africa, and no one in North Korea seemed to know how badly they had it. You've never seen so many happy people. Ignorance is definitely bliss.

Charles is right--If the concrete is so subpar that even a totalian communist dictatorship cannot cover up its flaws, it's got to be on the verge of coming down in a fair to moderate windstorm. Sleeping in it would be sleeping in a nightmare.

On a side note--who pours a 105-frickin story *concrete* building?!!

If there were an "edit" button, that would read "totalitarian". I think Totalians were Star Trek aliens.

It's actually a Stalinist architectural take on the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. Kinda makes sense coming from a nutjob dictator who wants to be a movie star...

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