Jeonju City Holds 'Wansan Bunker' Character Design Contest Until the 10th of Next Month

Winning Entry Prize of 1 Million Won, Selected Works Used for Content, Promotion, and Souvenirs

Jeonju City in Jeollabuk-do is recruiting a representative character for ‘Wansan Bunker - The Space,’ which will transform the Wansan Bunker from a Cold War-era tunnel-like facility into an immersive media art space.

The city announced on the 30th that it will hold a nationwide contest to select a character design representing ‘Wansan Bunker - The Space’ until July 10.

The Wansan Bunker is an underground facility located near the Shingibanggi Goblin Forest in Wansan Park, Jeonju. Established in 1973, it marks half a century this year. The underground bunker was mainly used as an air-raid shelter and command facility for the military, police, and Jeollabuk-do during wartime or crisis situations, but was decommissioned in 2005.

Jeonju City Holds 'Wansan Bunker' Character Design Contest Until the 10th of Next Month

Wansan Bunker The Space Character Contest Poster. [Photo by Jeonju City]

The city plans to remodel the bunker, a product of the Cold War era, into a unique artistic space in this traditional cultural city. It will be reconfigured as a media art cultural space, unveiling a blueprint to contribute as a new cultural tourism attraction with sights and activities.

Earlier, the city started the project after being selected for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s ‘Idle Space Cultural Regeneration Contest’ in 2019. Last year, the construction company was officially selected. With a total project budget of 8.9 billion KRW, including 2 billion KRW from the tourism hub city budget and 6.9 billion KRW from city funds, the new facility is planned to open in the first half of next year. The operation staff is expected to number around eight.

Wansan Bunker regained attention in April when about 600 people nationwide participated in a ‘facility naming’ contest.

The city plans to redesign Wansan Bunker applying an anthill-style space. First, the bunker will be made in the form of an anthill with multiple rooms connected by corridors. Each room will be named after concepts such as River of Time, Map of the Universe, Alien, and Multiverse. Various immersive media contents will be displayed using light and video to depict outer space, the fourth-dimensional world, and more.

This contest is open to all Korean citizens. Applicants who wish to participate should review the facility concept introduced in the announcement and submit a drawing of a character representing ‘Wansan Bunker - The Space’ along with the application form via email.

After evaluation by the judging committee, the grand prize winner (individual or team) will receive a gift certificate worth 1 million KRW. The excellence award (individual or team) and the merit award (individual or team) will receive gift certificates worth 500,000 KRW and 300,000 KRW respectively.

The city plans to use the selected character by adding a story to produce media content and souvenirs, and display it on the official website for various purposes.

Lee Young-sook, Director of the Cultural Policy Division, said, “We plan to create a media art cultural space utilizing the country’s only unique bunker to offer interesting sights to tourists and Jeonju citizens,” and added, “We ask for much interest and participation in the Wansan Bunker representative character contest.”