Heart and Seoul 2026 D2: Namjooning at Festa Season Brings Serendipity

On Day 2 of our Bangtan Pilgrimage 2026, Kuya, ARMY Daughter, and I headed to Gyeongnam Art Museum in Changwon, a city about an hour away from Busan. While everyone else was at Asiad celebrating FESTA on June 13 and doing ARMY things, there we were, bound for a museum to do some Namjooning.

Most ARMYs honor BTS by being present at their concerts. We chose to celebrate them another way, and that does not make us any less ARMY. In fact, this side quest to Gyeongnam Art Museum (GAM) deepened my appreciation for BTS and made my connection to them even more meaningful as I walked alongside my grown-up children.

GAM stands on a hill near Changwon National University. The neighborhood feels like a university town or village. It reminded me of UP Los Baños, albeit without the heavy traffic and with a lower population density. The mountain flanking GAM gave the place a formidable presence, while the river, though dry at this time of year, lent it gentleness and charm.

As we climbed toward the entrance of GAM, ARMY Daughter became emotional. As a museum and cultural worker, this was her first time visiting a museum abroad, and in South Korea, no less. As for Kuya, he approached the experience with open eyes and a generous heart. For 1,000 won, the same price as a bottle of water, we paid the admission fee to what felt like a life-giving encounter with art and culture. We entered hoping to make connections to who we are as Filipino artists and to allow Korean art to inspire us, and perhaps even disturb our comfort zones.

The current exhibit featured the works of modern and contemporary Korean artists under the title Within and Without, as well as ceramic works by Pablo Picasso from the collection of Lee Kun Hee. The latter came as a surprise, as I did not expect Picasso’s ceramic works to be so extensive and varied.

The most unexpected part of our visit, however, was discovering Park Chan Gap’s public installation titled Arirang, rendered in black and white granite.

It felt serendipitous and deeply relevant. To encounter Arirang at this particular juncture in time felt like the universe was telling me something I have yet to fully understand.

I stood before Arirang longer than I expected. The sculpture seemed simple at first: black and white granite arranged around a bell-like form suspended in space. Yet the longer I looked, the more tension I felt within it. Between black and white, weight and openness, permanence and movement. Was it a bell? A mountain? A gateway? A song rendered in stone? I was not sure. What I knew was that it moved me.

I walked around it and in between. From one angle, the granite appeared heavy and immovable. From another, the opening at its center seemed to invite passage. The sculpture resisted easy explanation.

I am going to carry Park’s Arirang with me as we continue our tour. For now, I am content knowing that I found Arirang and that it found me during FESTA 2026, not in a stadium in Busan, but in an art museum, an archive of memory where inheritances and remembrances are preserved and passed on.

Perhaps that is enough for now. 💜😊💜

#BTS_ARIRANG #bangtanpilgrimage2026 #Namjooning #Festa2026 Savedbythebest Travel and Tours