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Paek, FINAL DRAFT.pdf (28.45 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

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Urbanism, Signs, and the Everyday in Contemporary South Korean Cities

Paek, Seung Han
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404664900

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History of Art.
My dissertation will investigate South Korean urbanism through the phenomenon of commercial signs, one of the most prominent but understudied aspects of the cityscape in the country. Known as kanp'an in Korean, commercial signage refers to the prolific and often dense array of advertisements, generally consisting of billboards and neon-signs with store names and announcements hung on the exteriors of commercial buildings. From its first appearance in Korean public space in the early 20th century, commercial signage has prompted vigorous criticism, which sees it as a disruption of ideal and top-down government planning, a primary example of urban degeneration and alienation, and evidence of the complete loss of critical and public space. Although commercial signs are often seen as a corruption of public space due to the inundation of consumerism and capital, I argue that these environments are a crucial part of everyday urban experience, where people can find new ways of being in common and making sense, which cannot be simply reduced to our general rubrics of spectacle, private consumption, or the culture industry. Instead of describing commercial signage as a given, objective entity, I focus on the diverse modes of interaction between urban populations and the affective dimensions of commercial signage, thus fostering a reconsideration of the relationship between urbanism and everyday life in South Korea. My goal is to reveal another way of thinking about Korean urbanism in the postwar period, which locates some of the more ethically and politically challenging models of urbanism and community in these commercially saturated environments. In doing so, I offer a much more complex interpretation of urban space, and suggest new ways of looking at the interlocking realms of public, private, and commercial space in East Asian cities in general, and in postwar Korea in particular.
Aron Vinegar (Advisor)
Lisa Florman (Committee Co-Chair)
Ron Green (Committee Member)
Namiko Kunimoto (Committee Member)
312 p.
Architecture; Art History; Asian Studies
urbanism; sign; the everyday, South Korean cities

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Paek, S. H. (2014). Urbanism, Signs, and the Everyday in Contemporary South Korean Cities [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404664900

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Paek, Seung Han. Urbanism, Signs, and the Everyday in Contemporary South Korean Cities. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404664900.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Paek, Seung Han. "Urbanism, Signs, and the Everyday in Contemporary South Korean Cities." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1404664900

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1404664900
821
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.