Experience Island Life, Create Art on Wonsan Island, Korea

1. Step away from your repetitive daily routine and familiar workspace, and discover new inspiration and creative possibilities on Wonsando.

Wonsando Artist Stay is a project that lets you step away from your familiar daily life and work environment to discover new inspiration and expand your creative possibilities. The blue sea, the island's natural scenery, and stories accumulated over a long time offer participants a fresh perspective and creative motivation. While staying on Wonsando, participants interpret the island's scenery and stories through their own artistic language and turn them into works of art. In particular, as Wonsando transforms from an isolated island into a connected one, it becomes a stage of new inspiration and challenge for creators. As art and the region meet to create new landscapes, participants will expand their own creative world and grow to a new level.

2. Reflect together on the social value of art, and experience growing alongside the local community through public art and regional projects.

Wonsando Artist Stay goes beyond individual creative activity — it is a public art project in which the community and art grow together. Participants create works based on Wonsando's nature, culture, and local stories, shaping new landscapes across the island. Rather than staying confined to an exhibition space, the finished works are installed throughout the actual community, becoming art that lives and breathes in the everyday lives of residents and visitors. It is a meaningful creative opportunity to add new value to a space through art, communicate with the local community, and directly experience how your work contributes to regional change and revitalization.

3. Have a special experience where diverse artistic perspectives and expand each other’s creative worlds.

Wonsando Artist Stay is a special meeting space where artists from various fields gather to share creative work and daily life, exchanging experiences and perspectives with one another. Participants share their working processes and creative philosophies, discovering new viewpoints and broadening their creative range through each other's experiences and ideas. Through natural communication across disciplines and generations, participants also explore opportunities for collaboration and experience a meaningful time of gaining positive stimulation and motivation from one another. These encounters can grow into lasting networks that become a valuable foundation for future artistic activities and projects.

■ Project Activities

This is a project in which you stay on Wonsando and express your personal artistic values, the region, and your own inspiration as beauty. Participants explore various parts of the region to gain inspiration and gather information to develop their creative projects. Through the process of researching and documenting the area, they reflect Wonsando's cultural features and stories in their work, carry out individual work, produce and exhibit results, and explore new creative directions through this process. Ultimately, it offers an experience that expands artistic capability and broadens the scope of creative work.

■ Key Activities

1. Carrying Out a Creative Project

Participants carry out individual creative activities while staying on Wonsando. Based on their own field and working theme, participants establish a creative plan and proceed with producing their work. During the Artist Stay period, they focus on their creative activities to raise the quality and completeness of their work.

2. Support for Creative Space and Work Environment 

Support is provided for the workspace and environment so participants can devote themselves to creative activities. During the Artist Stay period, participants carry out the activities needed for the creative process — conceiving ideas, organizing materials, and production — to further develop their work.

3. Community Exchange and Networking Activities

Through exchange with local residents and stakeholders, participants share the life and stories of Wonsando, and use this as a basis to expand the subject matter and direction of their creative work.

4. Support for Creating/ Submitting Work and Contributing to the Community

Through exchange with local residents and stakeholders, participants share the life and stories of Wonsando, and use this as a basis to expand the subject matter and direction of their creative work.

5. Sharing Results and Exhibition Program

The works produced during the Artist Stay period are introduced to the community and visitors through exhibitions or public programs. This allows participants to share their creative results and spread artistic value.

■ Additional Information

• This is a creative project in which participants develop their own work based on their personal interests.
• Participants from a variety of fields — fine art, craft, design, photography, content creation, and more — are welcome to join, and no related major or career experience is required.
• Accommodation and workspace are provided so participants can focus on creative activities during the project period. 
• During the project, shared spaces are used together with other participants, so please observe communal living and facility-use guidelines.
• Please bring any personal equipment and materials needed for creating your work.
• Participants are asked to take care of their personal belongings during the program.

Detailed Support Items

■ Project Activities

• Systematic orientation
• A reliable project manager
• 24-hour support!  A 24-hour emergency contact network for immediate help in urgent situations
• Helpful Wonsando travel tips for daily life there

Exclusions

• Round-trip transportation
• Other local living expenses (meals, transportation, etc)
• Train station/airport pick up fees
• Personal travel insurance

* Please book your transportation only after your participation is confirmed and you receive final schedule notification.

The Wonsando Artist Stay project provides accommodation and workspace together so that artists can devote themselves fully to their creative work. Participants can continue their artistic activities in a stable creative environment while staying on Wonsando for a set period, directly experiencing the island's culture, history, and people's stories to gain new inspiration. Time spent away from familiar routines, staying in a new space, broadens creative perspective and adds an artistic dimension to your work. Through this process, the experience of Wonsando becomes a new turning point for your creative practice.

To help you get close to the villagers during your stay, we offer a space in the village that used to be used as a guesthouse.

If you would prefer a different type of accommodation, please contact us separately.

*This is a local guesthouse/shared-type accommodation; the actual space may differ from the images.

■ Location: Wonsando

Wonsando is a place where the untouched nature of the sea and island lets you fully feel a quiet sense of ease. Amid its beaches, tidal flats, and the island's characteristically slow pace of time, you can experience a new sense of stepping away from everyday life. Although accessibility has improved thanks to the undersea tunnel and the Wonsan-Anmyeon Bridge, the deep imprint of nature still remaining is what makes Wonsando unique. As you slowly walk the island and spend time facing the sea, you'll find yourself slowing down and discovering your own time for creativity and immersion.

1. Wonsando Beach

Wonsando Beach features a wide, clean sandy shore and beautiful sunsets over the West Sea, offering special rest and inspiration amid its open ocean views and tranquil natural surroundings.  

2. Wonsando Orobong

Wonsando Orobong is a spot where even a short, easy hike rewards you with a full view of the beautiful West Sea coastline and Wonsando's scenery. At the summit, you can also enjoy a sweeping view along with the Wonsando beacon mound (bongsudae), a Joseon-era military communication facility, letting you enjoy both natural scenery and historical value at once.

3. Wonsan Storage Bakery

Wonsan Storage Bakery is a complex cultural space created by sensitively reinterpreting a former warehouse, standing out for its distinctive architecture and relaxed atmosphere. You can enjoy a rest in its wide, open space and spend a comfortable time amid Wonsando's scenery blending with the sea. 

■ This project can start on any day of the week you prefer.

■ The minimum participation period is 1weeks.

■ Target Participant and Eligibility

• Anyone interested in creative activities such as fine art, craft, design, or photography
• Anyone who wants to find creative inspiration in a new place
• Anyone who wants to express Wonsando's culture and stories through their work
• Anyone who wants to document the local scenery and people
• Anyone who wants to broaden their creative possibilities through artistic challenges
• Anyone who wants to give shape to their own artwork
• Anyone interested in community revitalization who wants to grow together with the region

1. Refunds are not available due to participants’ personal reasons after the project has been confirmed.

2. Participants are deemed to have agreed to the refund policy at the time of project application.

3. This project is subject to a <strict> refund policy. If you cancel before your project participation is confirmed, we will refund 100% of the project fee. 

4. The project schedule and content may vary depending on local conditions (such as transportation and weather changes) or the circumstances of local authorities, and may be shortened or modified if unavoidable.

5. This project is one that is actually operated by the project management organization partnered with us. Therefore, responsibility for actual operation lies with the local project organization.

6. Please make your transportation reservation only after you have received the final confirmation of your participation in the project. After your participation is confirmed, we will provide individual guidance regarding the schedule.