[BRIEF INTERVIEW] Project’s Beginning: Let’s Build a Great Playground in Gunsan

Song Sungjin (Song): For ten years I ran The Bar dopo near the Seoul Arts Center. I always dreamed of hosting jazz performances in a restaurant. On a trip home to see friends, I stumbled across a spot near Eunpa Lake. The moment I saw it, I thought, ‘This is the place!’ I signed the lease right away—I’m pretty impulsive that way! (laugh) That’s how Paradiso Perduto (hereinafter Paradiso) opened in 2010, and since then we’ve been holding outdoor concerts every spring and fall. 

Song: In 2010 the city’s population was about 280,000 and I sensed a real hunger for culture. My cousin, Son Jean of ISON Architects, designed the Paradiso space, and he and I used to say, ‘It’s not that people here don’t know how to enjoy culture—they just haven’t been given the chance.’ Gunsan has always been receptive to new ideas. As a colonial port, it absorbed modern influences early. Later, when U.S. troops were stationed here, American food showed up, Billboard hits played in the streets—it was a bit like Itaewon. It’s also always been a city of outsiders. Migrants from across Korea, from China, even from the North Korea, settled here long ago and made it home. So people here aren’t hostile to newcomers. On the other hand, they’re less likely to cling tightly to what’s ‘local’. That, too, is part of Gunsan’s history. Running Paradiso taught me something else: in a place like Gunsan, news spreads faster through people than through media or social networks. That’s why with Project Re\Turning Gunsan (hereinafter Re\Turning Gunsan), I hope it gets shared more through word of mouth and visitors’ experiences than through marketing campaigns.