ARTIST

• Lucky Hertz_ Luck of the Seven Places, 2025, variable installation, mixed media, dimensions variable, total of 7.

• Lucky Hertz -Episode. Harmless Mind-, 2025, Single-channel, video, color, sound(stereo), 10min 37sec.

1. Lucky Hertz_Elm tree by the Well (Health), 2025, mixed media, sound, 2min 46sec, dimensions variable. 
In a distant past, a family lived for five uninterrupted generations—none of them passing away, all living long beyond expectation. One day, a Buddhist monk visited their home and made a curious observation:
“The reason for your endless longevity lies in the water you drink. That elm tree by the well—it is the source of your vitality.”
As soon as the monk left, the family cut down the tree, and from then on, life resumed its natural cycle. The tree’s bark, believed to hold the secret of longevity, became a sought-after remedy.

Lee, Byungmoo (78, male) Gangneung-si, Sacheon-Myun, Minori-5, 2006.3.22 

[Source]『Folktales of Gangwon』Ⅲ (GangwonPeople’s Media Group, 2005~2006) 「68. Elm tree by the Well」, 89.  

2. Lucky Hertz_Goh-peak in Songam-ri(Big luck), 2025, mixed media, sound, 2min 42sec, dimensions variable. 
Rising above Songam-ri in Gangneung, Gobong Mountain is a place of ancient rituals and spiritual traditions. At its peak sits Cheonjedan—an altar where the local community gathers every year on the first day of the 10th lunar month to hold a sacred ritual at the break of dawn, honoring the deities including Seonghwangjishin (the village guardian spirit), Yeoyeokjishin (the healing spirit), and Tojijishin (the earth spirit). People considered unholy or unsacred are not allowed to participate in the ceremony. As a sacrificial offering, a cow’s head is used. During times of drought, the villagers also perform a rain-calling ceremony here.  

[Source] Academy of Korean Studies – Digital Encyclopedia of Native Culture (향토문화전자대전) (http://aks.ai/GC00300609) 

3. Lucky Hertz_ Songcheon Mineral Water(Wealth), 2025, mixed media, sound, 2min 13sec, dimensions variable. 
In the 1950s, a blind man named Shin settled near this site. One night, an old man in a white robe appeared in his dream and said, “I will help you prosper in this place.” 
The next morning, a sudden thunderstorm struck, splitting the rocks and diverting the stream. From the newly formed crevice, a fresh spring emerged. In Korea, some groundwaters in mountains are believed to hold miraculous healing properties. Some local people searched the area for the miraculous spring to make profit, but failed to do so because the well was hidden beneath fallen leaves. Eventually, they all left town.  
Decades later, as the area was developed to build a highway, the once-impoverished Shin family became wealthy and moved to the city, leaving behind a spring wrapped in legend. 

[Source] https://ncms.nculture.org/mountain-n-spring/story/7232

4. Lucky Hertz_Oh-peak in Obong-ri(Big luck), 2025, mixed media, sound, 2min 50sec, dimensions variable.
In the village of Obong-ri, five peaks rise alongside Gallibong, forming the revered Obong Mountain. On the evening of the first full moon of the lunar year, villagers would climb to its summit, gazing at the moon and making wishes, believing that their desires would be fulfilled. 
Children would ignite tin cans filled with fire, swinging them in circles—a ritual of light and movement symbolizing hope and renewal. 

[Source] The Academy of Korean Studies – Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture (http://aks.ai/GC00302617 ) 

5. Lucky Hertz_Noh-in peak in Odaesan Mountain(Big luck), 2025, interactive, mixed media, sound, 2min 35sec, dimensions variable.
The name Noinbong (Elder’s Peak) is derived from an old legend about a simmani (wild ginseng hunter) who once roamed the mountain. One day, exhausted from his search, he fell asleep beneath the peak. In his dream, an elderly man with white hair appeared and whispered to him: “Near here, you will find a field of radishes. Dig there, and you shall find what you seek.” 
As he woke up, he followed the old man’s advice and, to his amazement, unearthed a cluster of precious aged ginseng roots.  

[Source] Academy of Korean Studies – Digital Encyclopedia of Native Culture (향토문화전자대전) (http://aks.ai/GC00300609) 

6. Lucky Hertz_Yulmokje Ridge(Destiny), 2025, mixed media, sound(stereo), 2min 14sec. 

Yi I (Yulgok), one of Korea’s most revered scholars, was studying at YiSungDae in the NoChoo mountain when he came across a passing guru who ominously said to him: “You are destined to be killed by a tiger.” 
Worried Yi I asked the guru how he could change his fate, and the guru advised him to plant a thousand chestnut trees if he wants to extend his life. Following the instruction, he planted a thousand chestnut trees. When the guru returned to ask Yi if he had done what he had been hold to, Yi answered that he did. However, after counting the trees, the guru could only count 999 trees. He, then, turned to Yi and said,  “There is one tree short, which means you broke your promise,” said the guru as he transformed into a tiger to take Yi I’s life. Just then, a lone chestnut tree spoke up:  “I, too, am a chestnut tree.” 
Thanks to this tree’s intervention, Yi I was spared according to the legend.  
“Yulmokchi and the Neodobeam Tree (Chestnut Tree, meaning ‘You, too, are a chestnut tree’ in Korean)”  
(A folktale recounting that Yulgok Yi I planted a thousand chestnut trees. This story was recorded in July 1986 from Lee Gyu-saeng, a 71-year-old resident of Daegi-ri, Wangsan-myeon.) 

[Source] Academy of Korean Studies – Digital Encyclopedia of Native Culture (향토문화전자대전) (http://aks.ai/GC00300609) 

7. Lucky Hertz_Mojeongtap Trail in Nochusan Mountain(Big luck), 2025, interactive, mixed media, sound, 2min 24sec, dimensions variable. 

Reference 1 
Nochusan Mother’s Tower Path is a sacred trail of rock cairns built out of a mother’s unconditional love and profound grief. Walking along the valley in Daegiri, Wangsan-myeon, surrounded by 3,000 rock cairns, one can feel an overwhelming sense of warmth and peace—almost as if being embraced by a mother’s love.  
These towers were painstakingly built by an old lady named Cha Ok-soon, and behind them lies a story of deep sorrow and unwavering determination. Originally from Seoul, she married into a family in Gangneung and was living a happy life with her four children. However, tragedy struck when she lost two of them unexpectedly, leaving her heartbroken. 
One night, in the depths of her grief, she had a dream in which a mountain spirit appeared and told her that if she built 3,000 rock cairns in a valley, peace would return to her family. Clinging to this divine revelation, she set out to find the perfect place and eventually discovered Nochusan Valley, a site said to hold the spiritual energy of the great scholar Yulgok. 
From that moment in 1986, she dedicated her life to stacking stones, one by one, as a prayer for healing. Over the years, natural disasters like typhoons and heavy rains would sometimes wash away her painstakingly built towers, but she never gave up. With the unwavering strength of a mother’s love, she continued to stack one stone after another until she finally completed all 3,000 stone towers in 2011.  
Today, Nochusan Mojungtap-gil is known as a place where heartfelt wishes are said to come true.  

Reference 2 
Lady Cha Soon-ok’s life was marked by hardship. After marrying, she had four children, but lost two sons in a tragic accident. Her husband also suffered from a mental illness, leaving her to bear the weight of misfortune. Then, one night, she had a dream in which a mountain spirit appeared and told her that if she built 3,000 stone towers in a valley, peace would return to her family. 
Determined to follow this divine revelation, she began searching for the right place to build. Living in Gangneung at the time, she eventually settled in 1986 in the remote valley of Nochusan Mountain, located in Daegiri, Wangsan-myeon, Gangneung—often called “the first village under the sky.” From that moment on for 26 years, she devoted her life to stacking stones until she passed away in 2011 at the age of 68. 
Today, the path she created, lined with thousands of rock cairns, is known as Mojungtap-gil or Nochusan Mojungtap-gil.  

[Source] The Academy of Korean Studies – Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture (http://aks.ai/GC00300375, http://aks.ai/GC00305006)