If you get on Line 2 at Dongdaemun Stadium subway station, you will soon arrive at Wangsimni subway station, the intersection of Line 2, Line 5 and the National Railway line. Although lots of people pass through here to transfer trains, there are no resting places. When you get off the train and walk toward the passageway connecting the National Railway line with Line 5, you will encounter a very wide space. Here, an artist has manufactured and installed four sets of stairs arranged to form a square, with the center left empty. The structure consists of staircases ascending from four directions, with the top level of each set turning inward toward the center of the square.” The colors are different: blue (East-facing stair), white (West-facing stair), red (South-facing stair), and black (North-facing stair). The empty space in the center is filled with yellow soil. In other words, Wangsimni, Autumn 2000 was covered in five colors to represent the five directions. The soil in the center of the stairs is a response to the absence of soil in the underground subway station. The stairs are meant to be a meeting place or resting place for people passing through. This public square is both a work of art and a functional space.
