Dung gets its due at Seoul Land exhibition
Korea Herald
April 13, 2001
By Andrew WeberDid you know that one of the only words that pure Korean and English have in common is "dung?"
Did you know that that gorilla poo-poo is twice the size of a polar bear's?
Did you know that an average adult creates 70 kg of excrement in a year?
Did you know that Koreans used to consider pigs fed on human feces to be extra tasty?
Do you want to vomit now?
If not, then you may survive trip to the "Ddong Festival," which runs at Seoul Land in Kwachon until August 31.
The aim of the festival is nothing short of revolutionary: to take dung out of the outhouse and smear into our prejudiced feces-hating hearts.
Titled, "Another Look at Ddong," the sprawling displays covers eight exhibit halls of the Seoul Land event hall. Inside are dung characters (a more memorable photo-op than a pose with Mickey Mouse), dung experiments, dung folk tales, dung superstitions, dung art, science and history and even dung dreams of the non-Freudian variety (Koreans believe, says one exhibit, that if you step in dung in your dreams it is a sign that a pile of money is coming your way).
But the pieces de resistance are the over thirty different kinds of actual animal dung preserved like holy relics in backlit glass cubes.
From Cheetah lumps to deer pellets, the brown trophies are displayed in a stunning faux petting zoo under the tushes of life-size two-dimensional figures of the very animals that created them. Some, like the mountain gorilla, are enclosed in wooden outhouses, forcing unsuspecting viewers to embarrass the majestic animals on the john. (Sorry Kong, didn't know this stall was occupied.)
Those with their heart set on studying hippo dung, should be prepared for a letdown: "We apologize," says a sign on the hippo's butt, "since hippos only make dung underwater it was impossible to obtain any for the exhibit."
Interactive exhibits give the sensation - sans the messy side effects - of stepping in dung, defecating into a pig sty and molding dung art (out of brown clay) with your fingers.
The history section contains reproductions of the first toilets and a Koryo-era Korean urinal as well as a display of a crusader on the commode.
But the ultimate experience of the festival is the chance to actually become dung.
To pass between the second and third halls all must enter the jaws of a Sphinx-sized tiger and proceed into its stomach, then its intestines and rectum before being released into a ceiling-high, swirling mountain of Tiger doody.
In fact, the only aspect of dung missing from the festival is the smell.
The animal samples have all been carefully baked (which the organizers claim removes the smell) and coated with an enamel-like substance before being sealed in air-tight containers.
Note: the exhibit is targeted at Koreans. None of the fascinating and often moving stories - like the children's tale of how a little boy who was made of dung discovered his self-esteem - are translated into English.
If you go, don't forget your credit card. A small gift offers "dung man" toilet seat covers and several other crap items.
Admission to the exhibit is 500 won with the purchase of a single day pass for the park. To get to Seoul Land take the light blue No. 4 line to the Seoul Land station.