Joint effort by YU Museum, the Department of Cultural Anthropology BK21 Education Research Team, and Gyeongsan Urban Self-Sustaining Committee

Promoting local urban culture and sustainable development

Exhibition opens on September 25, runs until November 29, 2024

[September 26, 2024]

YU (President Choi Oe-chool) is hosting a special exhibition, "Local Old Shops" at the YU Museum in celebration of the university’s 77th anniversary.

 There was a time when life was hard. A time when even a handful of rice was scarce. Some people began with nothing but diligence, overcoming countless challenges. Their stories, spanning decades of building foundations for the future and passing down their businesses, are as captivating as any drama or film. 

 As part of the university museum revitalization support project, this exhibition was organized to commemorate the 77th anniversary of YU founding.  The theme of the special exhibition is "Local Old Shops – Our Neighbors Who Share Life's Beautiful Moments."The exhibition aims to uncover and reexamine local old shops, bringing attention to their cultural significance while creating a future cultural heritage to revitalize urban culture and promote sustainable development in the region. It also seeks to highlight the younger generation inheriting family businesses, fostering hope for youth settlement in the local community.

 The exhibition is a collaborative result of YU Museum, the Gyeongsan Urban Self-Sustaining Committee, and graduate students from the BK21 Education Research Team in the Department of Cultural Anthropology, who served as guest curators. University members, students, and local citizens participated together in every step of the process, from selecting the old shops to collecting data through field research and writing exhibition materials. This sharing of exhibition and research capabilities accumulated by the university museum over the years with local citizens and students will serve as a foundation for preserving local culture and transforming it into future cultural heritage.

 Among the selected old shops that have shared life’s beautiful moments with the local community are Baekcheon Noodle Factory, Anseong Industrial, 7th Street Tailor Shop, Youngmi Photo Studio, and Bicycle Department Store. Through communication with the shop owners, the history of their lives and businesses was collected and displayed in the exhibition. 

 The exhibition features the old shops themselves, their owners who have accumulated decades of expertise, and the worn tools that carry the essence of their craft and style. Old shops represent a significant cultural asset, embodying the everyday history of the local community. Lee Eun-jeong, Director of the YU Museum, stated, “I hope this exhibition offers an opportunity to re-examine these old shops, which have shared our life’s most beautiful moments, with warmth and helps position them as cultural heritage with future value. Through this exhibition, I invite everyone to feel the honesty in the hands of those who have walked a single path, the value of their sweat, and the journey from their toil to the art of life.” 

 The special exhibition opens at 2 p.m. on September 25 at the Special Exhibition Hall on the 2nd floor of YU Museum and will run until November 29, 2024.   The exhibition is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the museum is closed on weekends and public holidays.  For more information, visit the YU Museum website (http://museum.yu.ac.kr).