Hongwooju Social Cooperative Responds to the Crisis of Artist Spaces in Hongdae with 10 Performances

Hongwooju Social Cooperative, which operates based in Mapo-gu, Seoul, is a cultural and arts social cooperative where creators, planners, space operators, producers, enjoyers, and activists work together. Following the crisis of the Seogyo Art Experiment Center's closure in 2013, cultural and arts artists in Hongdae began to gather, and this relationship led to the establishment of the social cooperative in 2014. A key characteristic is that while maintaining their individual activities, they work together to create what is necessary for the cultural and arts ecosystem.

Hongwooju has been active with the awareness that for cultural and arts artists to continue their activities, they need not only the work itself but also the spaces and relationships to sustain it. A representative example is the ‘Coexistence and Shared Imagination Project.’ When Temperature of Imagination, a cafe and performance venue in Hongdae, faced a crisis of suspending operations due to rent issues, they held about 10 performances with musicians and delivered the ticket sales and donations to the space. Rather than operating the space directly themselves, they created an opportunity for cultural and arts artists and audiences to gather again around the space in crisis.

Their perspective on cultural and arts spaces is also connected to these activities. Hongwooju views a space not merely as a facility, but as a 'place' created as activities such as performances, exhibitions, and education continue, and trust and relationships between people are built. It is not just the existence of a physical space that matters, but who creates what kind of activities within it.

The art school A.L.T.O., where artists learn from each other and share experiences, is also an activity stemming from this awareness. Through small-scale workshops, it operates in a way where artists share each other's questions and experiences rather than receiving one-sided education. In the process of planning and operating the programs, the Mapo-gu Social Economy Integrated Support Center provided cooperation and support in the nature of a priming water to allow the initial activities to be implemented. Hongwooju also sees it as a way of expanding local culture when people who do not reside in or have studios in Hongdae meet here, learn, and then continue their activities in their respective places.

FESTIVAL THE SUB, which has been held since 2022, is a representative festival that shows the direction of Hongwooju's activities on the streets. Starting from the question "What does it mean to do culture and arts?" after COVID-19, they brought indie music, which was previously encountered in indoor performance venues, out to the streets. Without a separate entrance ticket, anyone walking by can encounter a performance, and exhibitions and timelines introducing the history of Hongdae's indie culture, as well as talks and experience programs, are also operated. It is a method that allows citizens to naturally encounter other independent cultures through music.

The cultural and arts ecosystem that Hongwooju aims for can be summarized as an 'environment where one can love what they like for a long time.' This means that in addition to resources and spaces to sustain creative activities and programs that connect creators and enjoyers, there is a need for relationships that respond together when activities are in crisis. Activities such as connecting spaces and people through Coexistence and Shared Imagination Project, creating a place for artists to learn from each other in A.L.T.O., and creating opportunities for new citizens to encounter culture and arts through FESTIVAL THE SUB are all aligned with this direction.

Rather than unilaterally providing something to artists, Hongwooju aims to be an organization where artists together create the conditions so that they can continue to be artists. In the changing Hongdae, they continue various experiments so that spaces, people, and culture can be connected and expanded in new ways.

The Mapo-gu Social Economy Integrated Support Center plans to continue introducing social solidarity economy organizations in Mapo-gu that operate in various fields such as culture, care, and environment through the 'People Changing Mapo' series.

Translated from the Korean original with AI. The Korean article was itself written with AI assistance. Read the original (Korean)