Samtan Art Mine

 arts center, coal mine

The name ‘Samtan’ refers to Samcheok Tanjwa, one of the major coal mines in Korea, and ‘Art Mine’ plays on the history of the coal mine. The culture ministry and Jeongseon county launched an 11 billion won (US$9.32 million) project to turn the abandoned coal mine into an art space called, "Samtan Art Mine".

The Samcheok Coal Mine was established in 1962 at an elevation of 832 meters/2,729 feet, covering a 230,000 square-meters/57 acre site in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province. Over 1.5 million tons of coal was mined just from this area. Samcheok Coal Mine employed over 3,000 miners. But as the coal industry declined due to changes in regulations, and less demand for coal products, so too did Samcheok Coal Mine, so in 2001 the whole complex was abandoned. The population in the county was over 140,000 in the 1970s, but now there are about 40,000 residents.

Ten years later began a 2-year remodeling project resulting in the reopening to the public in 2013 as the Samtan Art Mine. Samtan Art Mine depicts coal mines of the past, exhibitions of contemporary art, a world art collection, an art experience hall, and a mine gallery. About 100,000 pieces of folk art and contemporary artwork, collected over three decades from all over the world, are on display.

At the entrance is a Jeepney from the Philippines that appears to have been used as a ticket office at times.

The actual office building of the coal mine consists of four floors. Each floor features something special exhibiting contemporary art and historical facts of the mine itself. The fourth floor is the very top floor and the entrance to the building. This floor has 15 hotel style residency rooms. These rooms are for artists and writers that would like a quiet space to stay. Each room has a unique decor themed from various countries’ cultures. A reception area, cafe, and seating area near the entrance, is present on this floor.

The next floor down is the third floor that officially starts the exhibition of art and history area of the mine. In the mine’s history section, guests will find the reference library. Here is where the records of past salary invoices of miners are collected. Some tools and equipment used to mine coal are also featured. Many tools are quite old and have been used throughout the coal mine’s history. On the other half of the third floor exhibits contemporary art of various artists from China and Japan.

The second floor of the main building are stacks of the mine’s documents, including the miners’ resumes, pay stubs and other items. These documents have become a “cultural heritage” and a kind of facility art. The president of Samtan Art Mine displays his collection of works of art from his travels to over 150 countries. These art works are displayed in the “Inca Civilization” and “Africa’s Art Works” section. The second floor originally was the coal mine’s restroom and shower facility. Depicted is exactly how the miners spend their time on a daily basis. Approximately 300 employees would take showers at the same time in the shower facility, eerily reminiscent of the gas chambers from World War II.

On first floor the residency’s artists can hold their art experience classes. Along with a cafe, and a small gift shop for guests, there is a lot of history of the coal mine on this floor. This floor was used for cleaning the miners’ boots and laundering other attire used while mining. There are big washing machines on display with a whimsical twist of art that shows how the attire was cleaned.

From the first floor, there is a path leading out of the main building to where the actual coal was mined and sent to the train cars used by the vertical shaft. The vertical shaft remains the way it was from the origin of the mine going down 600 meters/2,000 feet with tunnels at intervals 50 meter/164 feet levels.

The large building next to the main office building that was used as the maintenance facility has been renovated to serve as a restaurant. Much of the original machinery remains in the restaurant adding to the ambiance of the setting.