A monument is planned to be installed at Haeundae Beach next week as a tribute to a former controversial art project that was dismantled and disposed of as scrap metal.
The popular art installation along Haeundae Beach by famed artist Dennis Oppenheim was dismantled and scrapped without warning in 2017.
The Haeundae District Office faced anger from the local art community and citizens as it didn’t inform the artist’s family or the Busan Biennale Committee of their intentions to demolish the artwork.
The sculpture, which resembled the inside of a flower, was 8.5m in length, 8m in length, and 6m in height and was completed in 2010.
Oppenheim died in January of 2011 just months before the unveiling and his family attended the opening ceremony in March.
The installation had suffered from rust and parts of the installation was damaged from Typhoon Chaba in 2016 and had become an eye-sore according to the district.
Restoration of the piece was done in 2019 and the reassembled artwork is now on Dalmaji Hill.
The monument, produced by the Busan Art Association, is named the “Reflection Monument” which has a “reflection of the controversial decision to take down the artwork” engraved.
The artwork was the last piece from Oppenheim before his death.
