The German Library Pyongyang
The German Library Pyongyang Library intervention, part of the 6th Kuandu Biennial, 2018, Taiwan
This project is not so much about Pyongyang as it is about Eurocentric imperialistic thinking. This project brings to life the German library once opened in Pyongyang, North Korea by the German Goethe-Institut between 2004 and 2009. The German Library and Information Centre Pyongyang, a reimagining of an initiative of the Goethe-Institut that originally operated in North Korea between 2004 and 2009. This temporal intervention by Sara van der Heide was an imaginary transformation of the geography of the German Library in Guangzhou.
“We are undertaking a risky experiment, because we want to be the first ones there when your country opens up." With these words, Jutta Limbach, the former president of the Goethe-Institut, opened the Office for German Academic and Technical Publishing at the Goethe-Institut’s Information Centre Pyongyang in secluded Communist North Korea on June 2, 2004. The library’s contents were negotiated over a two-year period, with the North Korean government pressing for academic literature on science, technology, and medicine, while the Goethe-Institut maintained that 50 percent of the books should pertain to German culture, language, literature, and music. The Goethe-Institut not only believed that Germany could be an example for Korea in the unification process, but also that through Bach and German literature, Germany could contribute eventually in uniting the two Koreas. This extraordinary initiative was perhaps bound to fail, and eventually the library would exist no more than five years.
Due to its reclusive politics, communication between North and South Korea is minimal. For example, there is intranet in North Korea, but no internet connectivity with the rest of the world. Therefore, today’s understanding of North Korea is deeply influenced by foreign powers and especially by the United States. Currently, the United States still maintains a military base in South Korea, while Korea’s history is already marked by foreign rule in the past and especially Japanese colonization. After decades of Japanese occupation, the Korean War started, which in North Korea is referred to as “The Fatherland Liberation War;” in China the conflict is officially called “War to Resist Aggression from the United States of America and Aid Korea.” Kim II-Sung, the first leader of North Korea, was one of the key figures in fighting against Japanese occupation and American authority. Pride in its autonomy and resistance toward American influence are still the major pillars of North Korean society today.
Chang's German Library Pyongyang project is a contemporary version of the Goethe-Institut’s original library initiative in North Korea, devised as a vessel to discuss national cultural policy in a post-Cold War and postcolonial era that looks critically toward the parallel histories of Germany and the two Koreas. The cultural program conducted by the artist invites discussion that spurns the dissolution of the grand modern narratives of capitalism and Communism. The German Library Pyongyang offers a space for critical questions, but it also functions as a context for transcending thinking that is prescribed by the lines of the nation state, language and geography. The several subtle artistic, linguistic, and graphic interventions in the library merge with the continuing activities of the German learning center in Guangzhou, only that all institutional printed matter in Chinese is replaced by Korean. During the seminar that took place on December 13, 2015, the wish for peace and unification between North and South Korea were discussed through various artistic presentations and forms.
with contributions by Choi Changho, Dongyoung Lee, Gabriele Stötzer/Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt, Hans Haacke, Kim Kyungman, Park Chan-kyong, Rory Pilgrim, Sora Kim, and Yunjoo Kwak
The project took place
2012 Amsterdam at the Goethe-Institut Amsterdam
2016 5th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Goethe-Institut, China
2018 6th Kuandu Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan
More information:
2017 Sternberg Press: The German Library Pyongyang by Sara van der Heide and guests, published by Sternberg Press
2018 Reading between the Lines, interview with Art Asia Pacific, by Brian Haman, October, 2018
overview of installation
overview of installation
overview of installation
overview of installation
Hans Haacke
Choi Changho
Sora Kim
Park Chan-kyong
Kim Kyungman
Kim Kyungman
publication, designed by Dongyoung Lee, published by Sternberg Press