Every fortnight I publish The Possible City, an illustrated story series exploring the kinds of equitable, resilient, regenerative cities that you and I might actually want to live in. These stories are not about the cities we currently inhabit, but rather, about uncovering the cities … Continue readingThe Possible City Illustrations
Earlier this year I produced an art exhibition for Gomsil Forest—a real live Korean forest that Suhee and I have been friends with for some time. In preparation for the exhibition, Gomsil Forest spent an entire year creating works on canvas; these works were subsequently … Continue readingGomsil Forest & the “Gurye Contemporary Art Museum” (GCAM)
A forest has its own exhibition of artwork in a Korean gallery, and the profits go back into the forest. … Continue readingForest is the Artist – Exhibition in Seoul
Patrick writes for YES! Magazine, how gardening here is not a hobby. It comes from the realization within people that there is inherent value in tending a garden and taking time to be a part of nature. … Continue readingYES! Magazine | What the Garden-Hacking Grandmas and Grandpas of Korea Know
…the issue is not that we are “not extraordinary enough” but rather that, although each of us has an extraordinary seed inside of us, the habits of our contemporary urban lives — from the food we eat to the jobs we work to the television we watch — do not nourish this seed. … Continue readingFinal Straw | The Seeds Inside of Us
From a tiny rice field to one of the world’s largest cities, follow us on a journey with a chef as she builds a pint-sized restaurant focused on nourishing relationships… … Continue readingSocieCity | Rice Fields, Rice Balls, and Relationships
Today was 驚蟄 (Gyeongchip), the day of awakening from hibernation, the day the frogs sing. … Continue readingAn Old Man with a Frog, at the Edge of a Forest
The year started off in the mountains of South Korea. Generally it’s been cold here this year, but not quite as bad as the winter a few years past. That is, until we got out into the country side a bit. The image below was … Continue readingAn (end of) Winter Update from Dajeon, Korea
In Japan they have a practice of creating exquisite gilded sculptures of fish to put about the rooftops of important palaces and castles. The fish symbolize the buildings as being ‘under water’ in an allegorical sense, thus protecting them from the fires which would often … Continue readingFish Sculptures and Water Buckets
— At night glowing street stalls appear here selling various Korean comfort foods fried chicken pig stomach fermented cabbage soup They are unplanned improvisations added to the streets and sidewalks of otherwise pristinely ordered developments It seems they forgot something in designing the ‘new town’ … Continue readingPig Stomach
Suhee and I are headed to the San Francisco Bay Area today. In the past two months, we’ve had a great, focused time to work with the film while in residency at Jageun Jip, and in the last ten days, we’ve organized multiple small ‘rough cut’ … Continue readingChange Starts with You
— All around the house cicadas scream a rush of wind through the leaves Silence A truck meanders its way through the neighborhood below announcing something or another fresh fruit! bring your used electronics out! big watermelons are coming! In the other room, Suhee talks … Continue readingIn Daedong: A Korean Ciceda’s Scream
A new natural farmer here in Korea was so inspired by our work with the Final Straw project, and our help in connecting him to a network of others with similar mindsets, that he sent us a huge box of vegetables from his farm this week as a thank you gift. … Continue readingA Box of Inspiration
What transpired in these past two days, was a version of humanity so hopeful, that everyone should know it exists. … Continue readingAtomic Bomb Survivors Help us See Peace
If you want to know how someone can live in a monetarily ‘poor’ urban neighborhood and have a good quality of life, there are undoubtedly some answers to be found here. … Continue readingIn Dae-dong, ‘Poor’ Neighborhood, High Quality of Life
The mountain is a popular attraction for locals and foreigners alike, being that it is the tallest mountain in Seoul city, and very easily accessible by both bus and subway, either of which will bring you pretty darned close to the foot of the mountain! … Continue readingBukhansan, Seoul’s Big Mountain
A new word for me this week in Korea was “Beezza,” a word that blends two American favorites which are both well loved here; Beezza is short for beer and pizza. … Continue readingBeeza, and other Korean Word Blends
A light rain
is falling in the forest
the sound and smell is
most poetic
and telling
At the same time
a woman
bare white legs and an umbrella against black asphalt
silently strides down the center of the road… … Continue readingImage and Word: Smell of Light Rain in the Forest
Suhee and I are sitting in the Open Contents Lab, a co-working space in ‘Gangnam’ just now, and somehow I recall seeing Snoop Dogg dancing with a bottle of Soju last night… not sure if that was a dream or the jet lag. We’ve just … Continue readingSpring 2014 Updates
A video-based work exploring the concept of ‘harvest’ within rural-agrarian and urban-consumer society, Harvest employs two-channel video, projected side-by-side into urban environments.
Our sleeping experience on the farm in Hongcheon was a unique one in that we were in a very traditional house. Many Koreans sleep on the floor, and this night provided no exception, but the truly unique thing was in how the heating is provided. … Continue readingTraditional Korean Heating System
The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity, mostly centered around planning out this trip to Korea and Japan for the Final Straw project, but other highlights were: Lunch meeting with San Jose Director of Transportation, Hans Larsen (article coming to sociecity shortly, … Continue readingFinal Straw: The Future of Food Begins
An article I wrote recently on sociecity.com has been featured in the midst of the launch of the European Cyclists’ Federation. The organization has over 500,000 members, representing a rather large contingency of bicycle advocates in Europe. The article featured, The Bicycle Isn’t About Saving … Continue readingArticle Featured by European Cyclists’ Federation