Emotion-Awakening Exhibitions in Seoul

Spring flowers bloom and blossom in April, pleasing many hearts with their fragrance. We keep heading outdoors, not feeling quite satisfied with our tedious routine. It feels like we need something new to warm up our frozen hearts and stimulate our daily lives. What can de-ice our emotions and offer new inspirations to our ordinary days?

 

The answer is “art,” which is both the source and outcome of inspiration. Want to recharge your emotions? In this edition of Seoulite’s Picks, we recommend special exhibitions you can enjoy in Seoul.

 

<POETIC AI>

A Feast of Digital Paining

I remember my first encounter with a media art exhibition. I fell for the feast of colors and light being painted onto the huge screen canvas. Shocked by the out-of-the-ordinary art that I had never experienced before, I went to see the exhibition again and again in the following days. Open in Bunker des Lumières in Jeju-do Island and Arte Museum in Gangneung and Yeosu today, media art exhibitions have been well received by the public and emerged as a trend.

 

GROUND SEESAW effectively serves as a novel cultural complex, designing and presenting exhibitions that have gained successive traction and favorable reviews. Followed by the photo exhibition YOSIGO at Seochon and ACCIDENTALLY WES ANDERSON at Seongsu, a new exhibition will be opening in Myeongdong. In the upcoming exhibition, GROUND SEESAW Myeongdong, where the massive space turns into a giant screen, meets the new media creative studio OUCHHH..

In this exhibition, you can enjoy the flagship works of OUCHHH, where their cutting-edge technology builds onto the crude concept of “turning data into art” and are then implemented through visual performances.

 

Illusionary and surreal digital painting offers a thrilling and impressive experience. Leonardo da Vinci: The Wisdom of AI Light sheds light on the masterpieces of the great Italian artist through an AI brush. Data Gate awakens the desire to explore by presenting a surreal time and space of an extrasolar planet based on NASA’s AI astronomical research data. The Musician’s Brain offers an experience of falling into the inspirations of artists by turning the brain waves of a musician into visual performances.

Come and enjoy the surreal experience of high-tech media art at GROUND SEESAW Myeongdong, which presents an experience of seeing the things we saw in the past from a new perspective.

 

<ALEX PRAGER, BIG WEST>

A Cinematic Life: an Experience where Life Turns into a Movie

It is the season of cherry blossoms, indeed. Among the many cherry blossom lanes in Seoul, Seokchon Lake is one of the most popular attractions for enjoying cherry blossoms. At the Lotte Museum of Art, located in the Lotte World Tower right next to the beautiful cheery blossom lane encircling the Lake, an exhibition presents an unforgettable cinematic moment where you are reborn into the true hero of your daily life.

Since its opening, the Lotte Museum of Art has been hosting various sensible exhibitions. In 2022, Lotte Museum of Art has chosen ALEX PRAGER, BIG WEST, as its exhibition. Alex Prager is a Los Angeles-based film producer and photographer. Her works produce the American “look and feel” and the images of everyday lives by creating an ambiguous and mysterious ambiance through film-like scenes and unique visual effects.

Her works convey a strong impression with colors and structures that seem like scenes captured from a movie. Susie and Friends is already well-known to the public. Through Compulsion, Prager expresses the uneasy psychology of the people of this modern society who want to keep up with the various disasters and incidents in real time. Then, Big West conveys the message that the cultural history lying in people’s hearts remains unchanged despite the city’s landscape that changes over time.

Play the Wind and La Grande Sortie, both short films staged by Prager, are a must-see in this exhibition. Although the running time for both pieces is relatively short at roughly ten minutes each, they are of great help in better understanding her works. In addition, the background music playing throughout the exhibition also assists visitors to better immerse themselves in the artworks. The musician MQ and pianist Yong Jun JEON have prepared the music solely for this exhibition.