IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Abstract

Korean Confucian academy Dosan Seowon was established in 1574 in Andong, South Korea. Having retired to the location in 1549, Neo-Confucian scholar Toegye Yi Hwang began constructing this place, which could offer education and commemoration. This site has been well known as one of the leading academies of the Josun era and home to the Toegye school of thought for over 400 years. In 2019, with eight other seowons, this placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. <Sunghaksipdo VR> is a project that reinterpretes Toegye’s “Sunghakdipdo” (a.k.a. “Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning”) in a contemporary context. Toegye made “Sunghaksipdo” as a book and ten-folding screens and dedicated them to the king; therefore, the king could look at these daily. Composed of various visual diagrams, symbols, and 1860 Chinese characters explaining such philosophical content, it includes the principles that form all natural things and the principles of life that dominate the mind and thought with refined thoughts of cosmology, ontology, and ethics. Unfortunately, today’s public cannot understand this work properly because of its complexity and unfamiliarity. Thus, we have created <Sunghaksipdo VR>, which invites people to experience and understand its philosophical and ecological meaning as an individual experience and to achieve mindfulness through it. In February 2021, re-illuminating nine seowons, <Sunghaksipdo VR> was also deeply introduced along with Dosan Seowon in the documentary aired via Korean Broadcasting Station. The documentary particularly depicted <Sunghaksipdo VR> in the perspective of how traditional and cultural heritage is being re-illuminated and revisited in the view of young scholars and artists with new technologies.