Footbridge

Intervention in Suam River, Anyang, South Korea

A series of concrete casts have been placed in the water of Suam river in a similar manner to the broad stepping stone bridges that are used to cross rivers in Korea. The 33 concrete steps have been moulded to stick out of the water and thus direct the viewers eye through the landscape. Crucially the steps of this concrete bridge are smaller than their typical stone archetypes though, each giving just enough space for a single foothold.
This bridge for the eyes is situated at a spot in the Suam river that is surrounded by other bridges (one for pedestrians and cyclists, a railway bridge and a motorway bridge), while the horizon is smothered in 30-storey apartment blocks.
At a second glance you can see that the concrete mouldings have ornamentation imprinted on them. Their negative forms have been built out of discarded furniture collected from the dumps of the same sort of high-rise apartment blocks to be seen in the surrounds and still carry the roses and garlands that their former owners used to enjoy.

The water level of Suam river can vary dramatically between a mere puddle and a swiftly flowing torrent within just a couple of days, and so, without the artist's intention, "footbridge" was completed when it was subsequently totally drowned by a flood.

33 concrete mouldings (3 x 11)
52 x 34 x 17cm
ca. 60kg each

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