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| Visitors to Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul watch a media facade being projected onto the structure during the Seoul Light DDP 2022 Winter in December 2022. Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation |
Annual light show wins Red Dot Award
By Ko Dong-hwan
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), an outlandish-looking structure in Seoul that defied orthodox architecture and glimmers like a silver fish, is launching a new projection art for the city's hip fashion sector.
Starting from Aug. 31, the Seoul Light DDP 2023 Fall will display a large-scale media show on the surface of the 220-meter-wide structure under the night sky until Sept. 10, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Monday.
Miguel Chevalier, a French digital and virtual artist who has earned international recognition as one of the pioneers of computer-based art, and the Frankfurt-based European Design Center run by the Korean automaker Kia are creating the works. Their high-end digital productions share the theme of "digital nature."
The feature presentation will illuminate the streets of one of the city's busiest areas attracting not only DDP but also modern shopping centers, decades-old street markets and restaurants, according to the Seoul Design Foundation, an agency under the city government, which operates DDP.
Rhee Kyung-don, CEO of the Seoul Design Foundation, said that DDP in the central district of Jongno has been the city's "giant canvas" that realized myriad colors, images and moving clips in the most creative ways possible.
The upcoming media facade comes after the annual Seoul Light DDP feature presentation won an award at the Red Dot Design Award 2023. Winning the German award's "brand and communication design" category was confirmed on July 20, according to Kim Hyeong-gon from the Seoul Design Foundation.
The annual award, organized by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany, is considered one of the world's three biggest design awards alongside Germany's iF Design Award and the International Design Excellence Awards of the United States, according to the foundation. The Red Dot Award categories also include "product design" and "design concept."
The Seoul Light DDP basically comprises three elements of light, video and music while using the DDP exterior as a giant projection screen, according to the foundation.
The latest edition, Seoul Light DDP 2022 Winter, drew participation from a group of experts in art, design and virtual technologies ― including local video contents creators GIANTSTEP, Nsyme and Team HELLOMAN ― and decorated DDP for 15 days from last December to January. During the period, each show took place six times a day at 30 minute-intervals starting from 7 p.m.
Some 1 million people flocked to the DDP to experience the winter edition, with 97 percent of them rating the show as satisfactory, according to the foundation.
"The Seoul Light DDP's winning of the Red Dot Award means its high-quality media content created by the country's up-and-coming artists and experts has been recognized on an international level," Rhee said. "DDP, which is one of the city's representative landmarks, is proving itself as an ideal canvas for all types of futuristic media art."
The Seoul Light DDP started in 2019 with Refik Anadol, a Los Angeles-based new media artist who was behind the 2018 projection work of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Seoul National University College of Fine Arts Professor Baak Je-seong.
The brand became the city's signature nighttime light show, with its legacy having further extended to its variants like Seoul Light Gwanghwa and Seoul Light Han River.
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