condenCITY_98 speculation ruin

Back in late 2001, I would gaze out my apartment window and wonder when this building, seemingly at a momentary standstill, would be completed. Since that time years back, having left and returned to Seoul to live in the same place- this building still stands frozen, as it has for more than a decade. Paralyzed in speculative debate amongst landowners in one of the wealthiest districts in the city.  

Standing testament to indifferent government policies- at least with respect to the urban public condition- one must wonder how it is possible for such inactivity to remain in a location of desire? Where is the neighborhood outrage and call for action condemning this place? How could owners of private property be allowed to maintain such a decrepit stance with back turned? 

The ruinous demise has unfolded in a front of tatters, shocking as it is the city remains quiet spectator- or so it seems.  Seocho- tied in speculation ruin. 

condenCITY_97 time

Space is collapsed and expanded in cyclical rhythm. 

Repeating daily in a precise, machine like cadence. 

Seoul breaths in and out, exposed at the seams. Where at once memories were made, they become irrelevant daily, covered under the weight of a morning car park. Tables, chairs, conversation are at the center of darkening evening skies; if only for a  brief moment in reoccurring time.