Seed Pods of Democracy: Design for Human Rights

Jung Jang, Moon and Kim, Kyungwon and Kang, Yumi (2024) Seed Pods of Democracy: Design for Human Rights. In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 2127-2138. ISBN 978-952-7549-02-5

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Abstract

The so-called Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Interrogation Office Building in Seoul, South Korea, was designed as a place for the torture of pro-democracy activists in the 1970s and '80s. Since 1987, as the subsequent effort to address a history of state violence and to put democracy into practice, the Anti Communist Investigation Office transformed into the Human Rights Center of the National Policy Agency in 2005 and became the Democracy and Human Rights Memorial Hall in 2018. The Korea Democracy Foundation, which oversees the management of the hall, began preparations in 2021 to reopen it in 2024 as the National Museum of Democracy and Human Rights. This new setting aims to serve as a space for memory, reflection, communication, solidarity, and human rights education-something akin to an organism that the public can sense and connect with directly. In 2022, Seed Pods of Democracy: Design for Human Rights was designed to support these changes in the memorial hall. It consists of three parts: poster designs, a publication, and an exhibition for democracy and human rights. This project aimed to collect and preserve artistic work related to the democratization movement and human rights while sharing issues related to democracy and human rights to enhance broader awareness. Seed Pods of Democracy: Design for Human Rights used posters as a medium and tool to investigate incidents and issues involving resistance to state abuses, anti-democratic activities, and human rights infringements-events that persist in a world of intensifying polarization and domination by corporate interests.

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