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2011년 1월 9일 일요일
2010년 8월 13일 금요일
스타들, 주한 대사들 앙드레김 애도물결
Diplomats, celebrities mourn icon
Friends, acquaintances and even influential public figures ceaselessly stopped by to pay respects to Korea’s fashion industry pioneer Andre Kim at the Seoul National University Hospital mortuary in Yeongeon-dong on Thursday and Friday.
The top South Korean designer died at around 7: 25 p.m. on Thursday after being treated for colorectal cancer and pneumonia. He had been fighting cancer for several months and was hospitalized at an intensive care unit last month due to deteriorating health.
The funeral parlor was quiet and solemn even though it overflowed with mourners and reporters.
Staff members of the Andre Kim Atelier, clad in black skirts and white blouses with puffed shoulders and bearing the Andre Kim signature label, were often spotted coming in and out to cater to the visitors.
Culture minister Yu In-chon arrived at the hospital around 11:40 p.m. on Thursday and offered his condolences to Kim’s surviving family members. Kim, who was unmarried, is survived by a son he adopted in 1982 and two grandchildren.
Many actors, actresses, comedians and singers including Won Bin, Choi Bul-am, Yu Jae-seok, Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Hee-sun, Jo Su-mi and Ha Chun-hwa visited the funeral parlor during the two days.
The fashion king was always very close with celebrities, as the main features of his fashion shows were always the top actors, actresses or sports stars of the moment. He had even established the Best Star Award in 2004 to award meritorious stars for their contributions to the development of the country’s popular culture and arts.
Foreign ambassadors and their wives and children often modeled for Kim’s shows as well.
“My wife and I were very good friends with Andre, he was very kind when we first arrived to Korea and his friendship with my wife blossomed throughout the years,” said Rafael A. Salazar, envoy from Guatemala. Salazar and his wife had modeled for some of Kim’s shows.
“We appreciate all that Andre did for our relationship with Korea. We will miss him very much. He was a good friend to us,” said Salazar.
“He was well known to the Australian Embassy and we express our deepest regrets. He is a man who contributed greatly to Korea’s cultural and social life over the past several decades,” said an Australian Embassy spokesperson.
The rites of placing Kim’s body in a coffin began at 5 p.m. Friday following the Buddhist tradition. The designer was Buddhist.
The funeral procession will leave the hospital on Sunday at 6 a.m. It will pass by his house, where he lived for more than 30 years, and then his boutique, followed by his new atelier that was built last year. He will be buried at the Cheonan Memorial Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Kim chose the site when he was alive because it is where his parents were laid to rest.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
The top South Korean designer died at around 7: 25 p.m. on Thursday after being treated for colorectal cancer and pneumonia. He had been fighting cancer for several months and was hospitalized at an intensive care unit last month due to deteriorating health.
The funeral parlor was quiet and solemn even though it overflowed with mourners and reporters.
Staff members of the Andre Kim Atelier, clad in black skirts and white blouses with puffed shoulders and bearing the Andre Kim signature label, were often spotted coming in and out to cater to the visitors.
Culture minister Yu In-chon arrived at the hospital around 11:40 p.m. on Thursday and offered his condolences to Kim’s surviving family members. Kim, who was unmarried, is survived by a son he adopted in 1982 and two grandchildren.
 |
| Andre Kim is seen in this 1992 photo with Princess Josephine- Charlotte of Luxembourg during his post-fashion show reception. The fashion show was from an invitation by the IOC. (Yonhap News) |
Many actors, actresses, comedians and singers including Won Bin, Choi Bul-am, Yu Jae-seok, Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Hee-sun, Jo Su-mi and Ha Chun-hwa visited the funeral parlor during the two days.
The fashion king was always very close with celebrities, as the main features of his fashion shows were always the top actors, actresses or sports stars of the moment. He had even established the Best Star Award in 2004 to award meritorious stars for their contributions to the development of the country’s popular culture and arts.
Foreign ambassadors and their wives and children often modeled for Kim’s shows as well.
“My wife and I were very good friends with Andre, he was very kind when we first arrived to Korea and his friendship with my wife blossomed throughout the years,” said Rafael A. Salazar, envoy from Guatemala. Salazar and his wife had modeled for some of Kim’s shows.
“We appreciate all that Andre did for our relationship with Korea. We will miss him very much. He was a good friend to us,” said Salazar.
“He was well known to the Australian Embassy and we express our deepest regrets. He is a man who contributed greatly to Korea’s cultural and social life over the past several decades,” said an Australian Embassy spokesperson.
The rites of placing Kim’s body in a coffin began at 5 p.m. Friday following the Buddhist tradition. The designer was Buddhist.
The funeral procession will leave the hospital on Sunday at 6 a.m. It will pass by his house, where he lived for more than 30 years, and then his boutique, followed by his new atelier that was built last year. He will be buried at the Cheonan Memorial Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Kim chose the site when he was alive because it is where his parents were laid to rest.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
앙드레김을 기억하다**
Remembering Andre Kim, 'the magician from fairyland'
Veteran fashion designer Andre Kim, who died of pneumonia Thursday, aged 74, left some unforgettable, significant traces in fashion history.
Born Kim Bong-nam in Gupabal-ri in Goyang city, which is now included in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, on Aug. 24, 1935, Kim started to show his extraordinary talents as a teen, when he enjoyed sketching women in graceful dresses.
“There was no such word as ‘fashion’ or ‘designer’ at the time. I opened my eyes to clothes and art through movies,” Kim said in a TV interview in May 2006.
After graduating Hanyoung High School, Kim studied fashion at Kukje Fashion Design Academy and made his debute as a fashion designer in 1962, at the age of 27. He opened his boutique “Salon Andre” in Sogong-dong, the same year.
Kim was in the limelight from the very beginning of his career, being the first and only male designer for a long time. Kim carved his own path as a designer, proving how beautiful Western dresses created by a man could look on Korean women by dressing top actresses in the 1960s such as Eom Aeng-ran.
His glamorous gowns and wedding dresses were soon acknowledged around the world -- particularly after a successful fashion show in Paris in 1966. His creations were accorded rave reviews from French fashion editors, including one at Le Figaro who called him a “Magician from Fairyland.”
Korea at the time was still a “hermit kingdom” to many countries around the world. Andre Kim was one of the first Koreans to put the country on the world map.
After that pioneering step, Kim held fashion shows at least a couple times every year in major cities around the globe, including Washington, D.C., New York, Honolulu, Singapore, Jakarta and Los Angeles.
Kim became more adventurous as the years passed and chose exotic locations for his fashion shows that were known for their elements of fantasy. He was the first fashion designer ever to stage a gala fashion parade in front of the Pyramids and the Sphinx in Egypt, in 1996. The show was given the honor of the rare presence of Madam Susan Mubarak, the First Lady of the country.
He also held a show in front of another world-famous landmark, Ankor Wat in Cambodia, ten years later. The only cultural event held in Ankor Wat until then had been a performance by Jose Carreras in 2002.
Wherever the venue was, Kim mesmerized the audience with his stunning shows. They were known for featuring the top celebrities of the moment, including actresses Lee Young-ae, Kim Hee-seon, Han Chae-young, Kim Tae-hee, actors Jang Dong-gun, Song Seung-heon, Lee Byung-heon and even sports stars Lee Seung-yub and Lee Dong-guk. Showbiz insiders used to say that one finally gets approved as a star only after being featured as the main model at Andre Kim’s shows.
“Professional models are chic but they have limits in expressing feelings. Actors and actresses, on the other hand, can touch the audience by offering a dramatic show,” Kim said.
Up until his last show held in Beijing in March, Kim scrupulously took care of every single detail.
“A fashion show is a total art. It should move the audience’s hearts as if they were watching the highlight scenes of an opera or a musical. That is why I personally write the scenarios, mix the background music and direct all of my shows. At the final rehearsal, I teach the models how they should act and make their facial expressions,” Kim said in May 2005.
For his splendid works and efforts to promote fashion, Kim was honored by numerous organizations during his lifetime.
Kim was selected as the main designer for the Miss Universe Competition in 1980, designed the Korean national team’s uniforms for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was invited by the International Olympic Committee to stage shows for the Olympics in Barcelona and Atlanta.
He was awarded the Order of Cultural Merits by the government in 1977, received the Culture medal from the President of Italy in 1982, and the Art and Literature medal from the French government in 2000. The mayor of San Francisco even declared Nov. 16 and Oct. 18 as “Andre Kim Day,” in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
His name became more of a brand in his later days. Kim had cultivated the Andre Kim brand, associated with luxury and romanticism, by lending his name to a wide range of goods including golf wear, eye wear, jewelry, underwear, children’s clothing, bedding, home lighting, porcelain dishware, household appliances, wallpaper, and even credit cards.
“The name is being used in various realms but I have a principle of collaborating with only the companies that fit into the image of my designs. Some private lenders and tobacco companies recently made some offers but I declined them,” he said in an interview with a local newspaper in May, 2009.
The designer Andre Kim was very thorough at work, reading 19 newspapers and watching news from five different channels every morning. But Andre Kim as a private person was rather artless and pure.
The lobby scandal in 1999 -- in which Lee Hyung-ja, wife of Sindonga Group president Choi Sun-young was alleged to have lobbied wives of high-profile figures with expensive garments -- unexpectedly reversed the public’s prejudices about the nation’s most famous designer that he must have made a fortune selling overpriced clothes to the wealthy.
At the hearings, which Kim had to go through because garments he designed were involved in the scandal, it was revealed that Kim only used fabrics made in Korea, was an honest tax payer and that he still worked in a rented boutique.
“I learned a big lesson from the scandal, that there is always a good end if the person is honest. No matter how unfairly you are treated, or how much you suffer from misunderstanding, it will be turned into a blessing and truth will be revealed in the end if you hang in there, being honest,” Kim said, ten years after the scandal blew over.
Kim became more of a celebrity after the scandal, in a good way. The public felt closer to Kim -- partly because his rather rustic real name was revealed during the hearing -- and everything about him was the talk of town, from his makeup, hairstyle to the way he decks out in all-white, something he maintained since 1974. His unique way of speaking, especially, inspired many comedians.
“I found it a bit unpleasant at first, because I thought they were ridiculing me. But seeing people racing toward me to ask for my autograph whenever I went out, I feel like I am becoming a star. Now I consider it as a sort of popularity. Although I cannot find one who perfectly mimics me, yet,” he would say with a laugh.
He never married but adopted an 18-month-old boy in 1982. Kim Jung-do, his adopted son, was the designer’s treasure. Kim received attention for how hard he cried the day his son married in February 2004.
The fashion maestro still had more dreams to pursue and believed he would live longer, just as his fans had also hoped for.
“Georgio Armani, who is one year older than me, still actively works without having named a successor. I think I can focus on creating my works for at least the next 10 years. And then I will think of naming a successor,” he said in an interview last year.
“Later on, I would like to make a documentary movie about ‘Andre Kim.’ It would be great to leave a record of my fashion world.”
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
Born Kim Bong-nam in Gupabal-ri in Goyang city, which is now included in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, on Aug. 24, 1935, Kim started to show his extraordinary talents as a teen, when he enjoyed sketching women in graceful dresses.
“There was no such word as ‘fashion’ or ‘designer’ at the time. I opened my eyes to clothes and art through movies,” Kim said in a TV interview in May 2006.
After graduating Hanyoung High School, Kim studied fashion at Kukje Fashion Design Academy and made his debute as a fashion designer in 1962, at the age of 27. He opened his boutique “Salon Andre” in Sogong-dong, the same year.
Kim was in the limelight from the very beginning of his career, being the first and only male designer for a long time. Kim carved his own path as a designer, proving how beautiful Western dresses created by a man could look on Korean women by dressing top actresses in the 1960s such as Eom Aeng-ran.
His glamorous gowns and wedding dresses were soon acknowledged around the world -- particularly after a successful fashion show in Paris in 1966. His creations were accorded rave reviews from French fashion editors, including one at Le Figaro who called him a “Magician from Fairyland.”
Korea at the time was still a “hermit kingdom” to many countries around the world. Andre Kim was one of the first Koreans to put the country on the world map.
After that pioneering step, Kim held fashion shows at least a couple times every year in major cities around the globe, including Washington, D.C., New York, Honolulu, Singapore, Jakarta and Los Angeles.
Kim became more adventurous as the years passed and chose exotic locations for his fashion shows that were known for their elements of fantasy. He was the first fashion designer ever to stage a gala fashion parade in front of the Pyramids and the Sphinx in Egypt, in 1996. The show was given the honor of the rare presence of Madam Susan Mubarak, the First Lady of the country.
He also held a show in front of another world-famous landmark, Ankor Wat in Cambodia, ten years later. The only cultural event held in Ankor Wat until then had been a performance by Jose Carreras in 2002.
Wherever the venue was, Kim mesmerized the audience with his stunning shows. They were known for featuring the top celebrities of the moment, including actresses Lee Young-ae, Kim Hee-seon, Han Chae-young, Kim Tae-hee, actors Jang Dong-gun, Song Seung-heon, Lee Byung-heon and even sports stars Lee Seung-yub and Lee Dong-guk. Showbiz insiders used to say that one finally gets approved as a star only after being featured as the main model at Andre Kim’s shows.
“Professional models are chic but they have limits in expressing feelings. Actors and actresses, on the other hand, can touch the audience by offering a dramatic show,” Kim said.
Up until his last show held in Beijing in March, Kim scrupulously took care of every single detail.
 |
| He died on Thursday from complications of pneumonia and colorectal cancer, at the age of 74. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald) |
“A fashion show is a total art. It should move the audience’s hearts as if they were watching the highlight scenes of an opera or a musical. That is why I personally write the scenarios, mix the background music and direct all of my shows. At the final rehearsal, I teach the models how they should act and make their facial expressions,” Kim said in May 2005.
For his splendid works and efforts to promote fashion, Kim was honored by numerous organizations during his lifetime.
 |
| Finalists of the "2010 Super Model Competition" come to pay respect to the late fashion icon Andre Kim at the Seoul National University Hospital on Friday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald) |
Kim was selected as the main designer for the Miss Universe Competition in 1980, designed the Korean national team’s uniforms for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was invited by the International Olympic Committee to stage shows for the Olympics in Barcelona and Atlanta.
He was awarded the Order of Cultural Merits by the government in 1977, received the Culture medal from the President of Italy in 1982, and the Art and Literature medal from the French government in 2000. The mayor of San Francisco even declared Nov. 16 and Oct. 18 as “Andre Kim Day,” in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
His name became more of a brand in his later days. Kim had cultivated the Andre Kim brand, associated with luxury and romanticism, by lending his name to a wide range of goods including golf wear, eye wear, jewelry, underwear, children’s clothing, bedding, home lighting, porcelain dishware, household appliances, wallpaper, and even credit cards.
“The name is being used in various realms but I have a principle of collaborating with only the companies that fit into the image of my designs. Some private lenders and tobacco companies recently made some offers but I declined them,” he said in an interview with a local newspaper in May, 2009.
The designer Andre Kim was very thorough at work, reading 19 newspapers and watching news from five different channels every morning. But Andre Kim as a private person was rather artless and pure.
The lobby scandal in 1999 -- in which Lee Hyung-ja, wife of Sindonga Group president Choi Sun-young was alleged to have lobbied wives of high-profile figures with expensive garments -- unexpectedly reversed the public’s prejudices about the nation’s most famous designer that he must have made a fortune selling overpriced clothes to the wealthy.
At the hearings, which Kim had to go through because garments he designed were involved in the scandal, it was revealed that Kim only used fabrics made in Korea, was an honest tax payer and that he still worked in a rented boutique.
“I learned a big lesson from the scandal, that there is always a good end if the person is honest. No matter how unfairly you are treated, or how much you suffer from misunderstanding, it will be turned into a blessing and truth will be revealed in the end if you hang in there, being honest,” Kim said, ten years after the scandal blew over.
Kim became more of a celebrity after the scandal, in a good way. The public felt closer to Kim -- partly because his rather rustic real name was revealed during the hearing -- and everything about him was the talk of town, from his makeup, hairstyle to the way he decks out in all-white, something he maintained since 1974. His unique way of speaking, especially, inspired many comedians.
“I found it a bit unpleasant at first, because I thought they were ridiculing me. But seeing people racing toward me to ask for my autograph whenever I went out, I feel like I am becoming a star. Now I consider it as a sort of popularity. Although I cannot find one who perfectly mimics me, yet,” he would say with a laugh.
He never married but adopted an 18-month-old boy in 1982. Kim Jung-do, his adopted son, was the designer’s treasure. Kim received attention for how hard he cried the day his son married in February 2004.
The fashion maestro still had more dreams to pursue and believed he would live longer, just as his fans had also hoped for.
“Georgio Armani, who is one year older than me, still actively works without having named a successor. I think I can focus on creating my works for at least the next 10 years. And then I will think of naming a successor,” he said in an interview last year.
“Later on, I would like to make a documentary movie about ‘Andre Kim.’ It would be great to leave a record of my fashion world.”
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
미디어 시티 서울 2010 어떨지?
Media City Seoul to seek trust in media art
Among art biennales and fairs set to take place in Korea’s major cities in September, one in Seoul will shed light on media art.
“Media City Seoul 2010,” one of the few international biennials in the world to focus on media art, will kick off on Sept. 6 at four venues in central Seoul, including Seoul Museum of Art, Gyunghuigung Annex of Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of History and Simpson Memorial Hall in Ewha Girl’s High School.
Established in 2000, the biennale hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government and organized by Seoul Museum of Art aims to strengthen the image of Seoul as a capital of technological development. It had changed the name to “Seoul International Media Biennale” in its second year, but returned to its original name this year, its sixth.
“We did not want to give off an image as a one-time event by using the name biennale. So we are going back to the original name, to ruminate about how we had aimed to turn the whole city into an exhibition venue,” said Kim Sun-jung, artistic director of the event and vice director of Artsonje Center, at a press conference on Wednesday.
The event may not cover the entire city but it does cover the central Seoul area around Gyunghuigung and Deoksugung.
“The event used to take place only in Seoul Museum of Art but expanded to using three more venues. This year’s Media City Seoul will be the best in both quantity and quality,” said Yoo Hee-Young, director of Seoul Museum of Art.
This year’s theme is “Trust.”
“Media and individual lives have become inseparable. Overflowing sources of media continue to redefine and alter everyday life and we have to choose what to see and what to trust. Now would be a timely moment to reexamine our basic notion of media,” said Kim.
Three curators -- Clara Kim, director and curator of Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles, Nicolaus Schafhausen, director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, Fumihiko Sumitomo, curator at Arts Initiative Tokyo -- selected works by 46 artists from 21 countries.
Some of the participating artists will be familiar to media art fans, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Palme D’Or winner at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
Other names, however, might not immediately ring any bells because they are not known much as media artists. Instead of using new media, they use various forms of media, including “old media” like magazines, newspapers, photographs, urban detritus and sounds.
As well as indoor screenings of the exhibits, the event will also experiment with outdoor projects which require visitor participation. In one interactive artwork titled “Ulrike and Eamon complaint” by Blast Theory visitors have to wander around the Jeongdong area following orders given to them through distributed cellphones.
The outdoor projects are supported by the British Council.
Media City Seoul 2010 runs from Sept. 6 to Nov. 17. Admission is free. Audio guides are available in Korean and English. For details, visit www.mediacityseoul.org.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
“Media City Seoul 2010,” one of the few international biennials in the world to focus on media art, will kick off on Sept. 6 at four venues in central Seoul, including Seoul Museum of Art, Gyunghuigung Annex of Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of History and Simpson Memorial Hall in Ewha Girl’s High School.
Established in 2000, the biennale hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government and organized by Seoul Museum of Art aims to strengthen the image of Seoul as a capital of technological development. It had changed the name to “Seoul International Media Biennale” in its second year, but returned to its original name this year, its sixth.
“We did not want to give off an image as a one-time event by using the name biennale. So we are going back to the original name, to ruminate about how we had aimed to turn the whole city into an exhibition venue,” said Kim Sun-jung, artistic director of the event and vice director of Artsonje Center, at a press conference on Wednesday.
 |
| A man participating in Blast Theory’s outdoor project “Ulrike and Eamon compliant” at the 2009 Venice Biennale listens to orders given through his cellphone. Media City Seoul |
The event may not cover the entire city but it does cover the central Seoul area around Gyunghuigung and Deoksugung.
“The event used to take place only in Seoul Museum of Art but expanded to using three more venues. This year’s Media City Seoul will be the best in both quantity and quality,” said Yoo Hee-Young, director of Seoul Museum of Art.
This year’s theme is “Trust.”
“Media and individual lives have become inseparable. Overflowing sources of media continue to redefine and alter everyday life and we have to choose what to see and what to trust. Now would be a timely moment to reexamine our basic notion of media,” said Kim.
Three curators -- Clara Kim, director and curator of Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles, Nicolaus Schafhausen, director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, Fumihiko Sumitomo, curator at Arts Initiative Tokyo -- selected works by 46 artists from 21 countries.
Some of the participating artists will be familiar to media art fans, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Palme D’Or winner at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
Other names, however, might not immediately ring any bells because they are not known much as media artists. Instead of using new media, they use various forms of media, including “old media” like magazines, newspapers, photographs, urban detritus and sounds.
As well as indoor screenings of the exhibits, the event will also experiment with outdoor projects which require visitor participation. In one interactive artwork titled “Ulrike and Eamon complaint” by Blast Theory visitors have to wander around the Jeongdong area following orders given to them through distributed cellphones.
The outdoor projects are supported by the British Council.
Media City Seoul 2010 runs from Sept. 6 to Nov. 17. Admission is free. Audio guides are available in Korean and English. For details, visit www.mediacityseoul.org.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
2010년 8월 6일 금요일
미디어파사드: 랜드마크로 거듭나는 새로운 방법
Media facade: New way to become landmark
Those who set foot in Seoul for the first time via train in the evening will be dazzled for a moment to see the brightly-lit Seoul Square building right across Seoul Station. Its whole front side turns into a giant electronic canvas after 8 p.m. everyday to show luminous media works such as Julian Opie’s “Walking People” and Yang Man-gi’s “Mimesis-scape.”
Installed in November 2009, the 99 meter wide and 78 meter long media façade on the face of Seoul Square is the world’s largest and it may soon be listed on the Guinness Book of Records.
Media works by five more artists in addition to Opie and Yang -- Mun Gyung-won, Kim Shin-il, Ryu Ho-yeul, Lee Bae-gyung and group mioon -- colorfully light up the 42,000 LED light bulbs dotted on the façade everyday until 11 p.m.
Since Tuesday, a new show titled “Seoul Square Clock Project” has been added to the playlist. Nine graphic artists -- Cho Young-sang, Lee Gyu-man, Park Jeong-sik, Kim Ji-seon, Seok Chang-geon, Park Ho Yeon, Won Ki-hun, Gang Se-hyun, Mun Yong-ho -- created 7 minute-long-works inspired by time or clock. The works are showcased every 59 minutes past the hour.
“Composed of various numbers and clock motives, the art clock offers a unique visual experience. It will also work as a convenient public clock,” said Yeom Yeon-hwa, an official at the Seoul Square Media Center.
Many buildings throughout the world are competitively having media façades installed on their outer walls. The most famous ones like Dexia Tower in Brussels -- which used to be world’s largest until Seoul Square came along -- Millennium Park in Chicago and the Chanel building in Tokyo have all become the cities’ newest landmarks.
Led by Seoul Square, buildings with big and small media façades are rapidly becoming landmarks in Korea as well.
Bus and taxi stops in front of Seoul Station on which eye-catching media art flows continuously is called “Art Shelters.” It is a donation by Hyundai Card to the public to add to the area‘s brilliant ambience created by Seoul Square.
Kumho Asiana Main Tower in Gwanghwamun literally shines among buildings in the area with its 91.9 meter long and 23 meter wide media façades titled “LED Gallery” on its front side.
In southern Seoul, many buildings including GS Tower in Yeoksam-dong and Galleria Department Store in Apgujeong-dong light up the area.
Lotte Department Store’s Gwangbok branch became one of the landmarks of Busan as soon as it opened in December 2009, not only for its unique design, which resembles a ship, but also for the media façade which covers all of its outer walls, consisted of 400,000 LED bulbs.
In Sangam Digital Media City, which is Seoul Metropolitan Government’s ambitious digital media entertainment business cluster project in northwestern Seoul, six out of 22 buildings have media boards installed on them.
It is actually mandatory for companies that plan to construct buildings near Digital Media Street -- the main street in the DMC -- to install media boards on the outer walls.
“The purpose is to raise the brand value of DMC by showcasing something that only DMC can do. As each company has different functions, each media board will be designed to fit different identities of the companies,” said Jin Jae-hun, head of the DMC Management Team.
This media façade craze is welcome news for media artists, who were not so popular in the art market compared to artists of other genres. It is likely that they will be offered more opportunities, according to art insiders.
“The media façade on Seoul Square was made to showcase media art. We display contents made by artists and graphic designers. This could lead to great opportunities for the artists,” said Yeom.
Building owners also benefit by adding such artistic touches on their buildings.
“The building becomes a landmark when a media façade is installed on it. It is great PR. Then the occupancy rate of the building rises, leading to profits. The occupancy rate of Seoul Square actually jumped soon after Morgan Stanley bought the former Daewoo building -- today’s Seoul Square -- and installed the façade,” said Kim Min-ju, president of Read & Leader Consulting Corporation.
Media façades usually consist of LED lights which are less bright than lights used on regular electronic display boards.
“When comparing the same color, the brilliance of LED lights is less than one-tenth of the same lights used on regular electronic display boards. They do not make eyes sore nor cause harm to the buildings nearby,” said Yeom.
“I really like working near Seoul Square. It was difficult to make time to enjoy artworks in the city, but now the media façade offers some great things to see on my way home from work,” said Lim Jae-wan, an office worker who works in a building near Seoul Square.
However, some still voice concern over light pollution. Acknowledging such complaints, Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the Media Façade Guideline on Sept. 1, 2009. All buildings that are to install media facades have to pass deliberation council by the city.
“Now is only the beginning of the media façade trend. We expect to see many more in the future, and it would not be a pretty sight if media façades were imprudently installed everywhere and the city overflowed with flashy advertisements. The guideline aims to have artistic and emotionally satisfying media façades in the city which do not cause harm to the drivers or the pedestrians, cause light pollution or spoil the beauty of the city,” said Lee Myung-gi, head of the Public Design team at Seoul Metropolitan Government.
One of the major guidelines reads: “Only artworks are allowed on media façades. Advertisements, designs that have no artistic value or harm beautiful and fine customs are restricted.”
“Some buildings that use media façades for advertising were already built before the guideline was announced. In the case of BK Dongyang Plastic Surgery Clinic in Sinsa-dong, for example, we told them to make adjustments to the content of the media art and they brought a new design draft. We are currently reviewing the draft,” said Lee.
But opinions are divided concerning the formation of the deliberating council members and how exactly artistic value could be evaluated. The deliberating council currently has 13 members -- 12 lighting experts and one media façade expert.
“It is a sensitive matter, but we do sometimes think that it is illogical for lighting experts to give assessments about artworks, especially when artistic values are supposed to be subjective,” said Yeom.
“Some of the deliberating council members are lighting experts but there is also a media façade expert, Chung-ang University professor Kim Hyung-gi who studied media facades in Paris. We are planning to have one more media art expert to join the council on January, although the lighting experts also do have basic knowledge about media facades. And media arts on the facades do not necessarily have to be ones by professional artists. Only if the works are not detrimental to the public interest, there is no particular reason they could not pass the deliberation,” said Lee.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
 |
| Kumho Asiana Main Tower in Gwanghwamun (Kumho Asiana) |
Installed in November 2009, the 99 meter wide and 78 meter long media façade on the face of Seoul Square is the world’s largest and it may soon be listed on the Guinness Book of Records.
Media works by five more artists in addition to Opie and Yang -- Mun Gyung-won, Kim Shin-il, Ryu Ho-yeul, Lee Bae-gyung and group mioon -- colorfully light up the 42,000 LED light bulbs dotted on the façade everyday until 11 p.m.
Since Tuesday, a new show titled “Seoul Square Clock Project” has been added to the playlist. Nine graphic artists -- Cho Young-sang, Lee Gyu-man, Park Jeong-sik, Kim Ji-seon, Seok Chang-geon, Park Ho Yeon, Won Ki-hun, Gang Se-hyun, Mun Yong-ho -- created 7 minute-long-works inspired by time or clock. The works are showcased every 59 minutes past the hour.
“Composed of various numbers and clock motives, the art clock offers a unique visual experience. It will also work as a convenient public clock,” said Yeom Yeon-hwa, an official at the Seoul Square Media Center.
Many buildings throughout the world are competitively having media façades installed on their outer walls. The most famous ones like Dexia Tower in Brussels -- which used to be world’s largest until Seoul Square came along -- Millennium Park in Chicago and the Chanel building in Tokyo have all become the cities’ newest landmarks.
Led by Seoul Square, buildings with big and small media façades are rapidly becoming landmarks in Korea as well.
Bus and taxi stops in front of Seoul Station on which eye-catching media art flows continuously is called “Art Shelters.” It is a donation by Hyundai Card to the public to add to the area‘s brilliant ambience created by Seoul Square.
Kumho Asiana Main Tower in Gwanghwamun literally shines among buildings in the area with its 91.9 meter long and 23 meter wide media façades titled “LED Gallery” on its front side.
In southern Seoul, many buildings including GS Tower in Yeoksam-dong and Galleria Department Store in Apgujeong-dong light up the area.
Lotte Department Store’s Gwangbok branch became one of the landmarks of Busan as soon as it opened in December 2009, not only for its unique design, which resembles a ship, but also for the media façade which covers all of its outer walls, consisted of 400,000 LED bulbs.
In Sangam Digital Media City, which is Seoul Metropolitan Government’s ambitious digital media entertainment business cluster project in northwestern Seoul, six out of 22 buildings have media boards installed on them.
It is actually mandatory for companies that plan to construct buildings near Digital Media Street -- the main street in the DMC -- to install media boards on the outer walls.
“The purpose is to raise the brand value of DMC by showcasing something that only DMC can do. As each company has different functions, each media board will be designed to fit different identities of the companies,” said Jin Jae-hun, head of the DMC Management Team.
This media façade craze is welcome news for media artists, who were not so popular in the art market compared to artists of other genres. It is likely that they will be offered more opportunities, according to art insiders.
“The media façade on Seoul Square was made to showcase media art. We display contents made by artists and graphic designers. This could lead to great opportunities for the artists,” said Yeom.
Building owners also benefit by adding such artistic touches on their buildings.
“The building becomes a landmark when a media façade is installed on it. It is great PR. Then the occupancy rate of the building rises, leading to profits. The occupancy rate of Seoul Square actually jumped soon after Morgan Stanley bought the former Daewoo building -- today’s Seoul Square -- and installed the façade,” said Kim Min-ju, president of Read & Leader Consulting Corporation.
Media façades usually consist of LED lights which are less bright than lights used on regular electronic display boards.
“When comparing the same color, the brilliance of LED lights is less than one-tenth of the same lights used on regular electronic display boards. They do not make eyes sore nor cause harm to the buildings nearby,” said Yeom.
“I really like working near Seoul Square. It was difficult to make time to enjoy artworks in the city, but now the media façade offers some great things to see on my way home from work,” said Lim Jae-wan, an office worker who works in a building near Seoul Square.
However, some still voice concern over light pollution. Acknowledging such complaints, Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the Media Façade Guideline on Sept. 1, 2009. All buildings that are to install media facades have to pass deliberation council by the city.
“Now is only the beginning of the media façade trend. We expect to see many more in the future, and it would not be a pretty sight if media façades were imprudently installed everywhere and the city overflowed with flashy advertisements. The guideline aims to have artistic and emotionally satisfying media façades in the city which do not cause harm to the drivers or the pedestrians, cause light pollution or spoil the beauty of the city,” said Lee Myung-gi, head of the Public Design team at Seoul Metropolitan Government.
One of the major guidelines reads: “Only artworks are allowed on media façades. Advertisements, designs that have no artistic value or harm beautiful and fine customs are restricted.”
“Some buildings that use media façades for advertising were already built before the guideline was announced. In the case of BK Dongyang Plastic Surgery Clinic in Sinsa-dong, for example, we told them to make adjustments to the content of the media art and they brought a new design draft. We are currently reviewing the draft,” said Lee.
But opinions are divided concerning the formation of the deliberating council members and how exactly artistic value could be evaluated. The deliberating council currently has 13 members -- 12 lighting experts and one media façade expert.
“It is a sensitive matter, but we do sometimes think that it is illogical for lighting experts to give assessments about artworks, especially when artistic values are supposed to be subjective,” said Yeom.
“Some of the deliberating council members are lighting experts but there is also a media façade expert, Chung-ang University professor Kim Hyung-gi who studied media facades in Paris. We are planning to have one more media art expert to join the council on January, although the lighting experts also do have basic knowledge about media facades. And media arts on the facades do not necessarily have to be ones by professional artists. Only if the works are not detrimental to the public interest, there is no particular reason they could not pass the deliberation,” said Lee.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
국립현대미술관 정창섭전 리뷰
Chung’s mulberry papers create cultured calm
The second exhibition room in the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, seems like an ideal world of tranquility that exists far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, especially after walking past Paik Nam-june’s flashy media work “Samramansang” which is installed near the room.
Monotone paintings by veteran artist Chung Chang-sub fill the walls there, amazingly turning the place even more serene and simpler than when it was void.
Chung, one of the first graduates of the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University and currently an honorary professor there, is one of the doyens of Korean art. After his successful debut in 1952, winning the special prize at the National Art Competition, Chung led some of Korea’s important art movements such as Art Informel.
Ironically, however, the “Chang-Sup Chung Retrospective” is his first-ever solo exhibition held at a national museum.
“This might be his last one, too, because he is in critical condition. He never enjoyed presenting himself or cared much about promoting his works. That’s probably why he is less known compared to his close friends like Park Seo-bo or Kim Tschang-yeul. Now is the time that a national museum shed light on his works,” said Lee Sun-ryung, curator of the exhibition.
Like the artist himself, his artworks are the kind that do not make a strong first impression but reveal much more by not expressing too much. His last series, “Mukgo,” which means the thoughts of silence, is the epitome of Chung’s works.
The secret to his calm but profound paintings is “dakjongi,” or Korean traditional paper made from mulberry bark.
“Chung practiced Informel paintings after learning the basics of Western painting but was not fond of the gooey and thick texture of oil paint. So he tried to come up with ways to naturalize the texture, like by painting it thin and runny as possible. And one day in the mid 1970s, he met his fate, dakjongi,” said Lee.
“The shades and colors of the works vary although they may be the same kind of dakjongi. The artist hand-dyed dakjongi to bring out the exact color and shade he wanted and made the wrinkles one by one after placing them on the canvas.”
A docent program for the hearing-impaired runs every Wednesday and Saturday, based on reservations.
Musician Hwang Byung-ki’s mini gayageum, or 12-stringed Korean zither, recital will take place at the exhibition hall on Aug.14, which will perfectly harmonize with the exhibition.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 17 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. Tickets are 1,500 won for students and 3,000 won for adults. For more information, call (02) 2188-6000 or visit www.moca.go.kr.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
Monotone paintings by veteran artist Chung Chang-sub fill the walls there, amazingly turning the place even more serene and simpler than when it was void.
Chung, one of the first graduates of the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University and currently an honorary professor there, is one of the doyens of Korean art. After his successful debut in 1952, winning the special prize at the National Art Competition, Chung led some of Korea’s important art movements such as Art Informel.
Ironically, however, the “Chang-Sup Chung Retrospective” is his first-ever solo exhibition held at a national museum.
“This might be his last one, too, because he is in critical condition. He never enjoyed presenting himself or cared much about promoting his works. That’s probably why he is less known compared to his close friends like Park Seo-bo or Kim Tschang-yeul. Now is the time that a national museum shed light on his works,” said Lee Sun-ryung, curator of the exhibition.
 |
| Chung Chang-sub |
Like the artist himself, his artworks are the kind that do not make a strong first impression but reveal much more by not expressing too much. His last series, “Mukgo,” which means the thoughts of silence, is the epitome of Chung’s works.
The secret to his calm but profound paintings is “dakjongi,” or Korean traditional paper made from mulberry bark.
 |
| A view of the exhibition “Chang-Sup Chung Retrospective” (National Museum of Contemporary Art) |
“Chung practiced Informel paintings after learning the basics of Western painting but was not fond of the gooey and thick texture of oil paint. So he tried to come up with ways to naturalize the texture, like by painting it thin and runny as possible. And one day in the mid 1970s, he met his fate, dakjongi,” said Lee.
“The shades and colors of the works vary although they may be the same kind of dakjongi. The artist hand-dyed dakjongi to bring out the exact color and shade he wanted and made the wrinkles one by one after placing them on the canvas.”
A docent program for the hearing-impaired runs every Wednesday and Saturday, based on reservations.
Musician Hwang Byung-ki’s mini gayageum, or 12-stringed Korean zither, recital will take place at the exhibition hall on Aug.14, which will perfectly harmonize with the exhibition.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 17 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. Tickets are 1,500 won for students and 3,000 won for adults. For more information, call (02) 2188-6000 or visit www.moca.go.kr.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
국립현대미술관 아시아리얼리즘 전시 리뷰
Asian realism blurs fact and fiction
We expect to find the truth in realism paintings. But seeing the works displayed at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Deoksugung, in central Seoul, that does not seem to be always the case, especially if they were created during extraordinary situations like war.
The museum is currently showcasing 104 realism paintings from ten different Asian countries ― South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and India ― at the exhibition “Realism in Asian Art.” All exhibits, except the paintings by Korean artists, are shown in the country for the first time.
Kim In-hye, curator at the museum and Joyce Fan, curator from the National Art Gallery, Singapore, co-organized the exhibition. A smaller scale exhibition featuring 79 paintings was held in Singapore in April.
“Organizing the exhibition depended a lot on the nation’s political and diplomatic situations. It was most difficult to bring artworks from China while it was smoother with India, because Korea is having good relations with the country after signing a free trade agreement. The officials in India lent us some paintings that they did not allow to be exhibited in Singapore,” said Kim.
“We also considered getting paintings on loan from North Korea, although it did not happen for many reasons. One of them was that we could not contact any North Korean scholars to discuss the paintings with. We thought it was not fair to select works solely based on our point of views,” said Kim.
Displayed artworks meticulously reflect the countries’ political, economical and cultural situations at the time, or sometimes intrigue the viewers to search for the real truth hidden under the thick layers of paint.
Among the exhibits, a state-commissioned war painting titled “Engineering Corps Constructing a Bridge in Malaya” by Japanese artist Shimizu Toshi is a good example of a realism painting that stretched the truth.
The painting shows Japanese soldiers building a bridge in Malaysia, which the British army had destroyed, in order launch an attack on Singapore in 1942. The artist, however, included locals helping the Japanese soldiers in the painting to glorify the professed intent of the army that the construction was carried out with the ultimate aim of liberating Asia.
Hanging across from the painting is Singaporean artist Koeh Sia Yong‘s “Persecution,” which depicts the massive purge of ethnic Chinese there by Japanese soldiers, a painful moment in Singapore’s history. The positioning of the two paintings renders the Japanese artist’s point of view a bit strange even if one is not aware of the exact history of the time.
“Most of the official war paintings were taken from the colonizer’s view. We must remember what such paintings were for. They were to promote the wars and to justify their actions. When you look at the Japanese paintings and other paintings taking different points of views, you can realize which is by the aggressor and which is by the victim,” said Fan.
Although all exhibits obviously fall into the “realism” category and are from the same continent, each work features a unique style derived from the artists’ traditional cultures.
Japanese artist Takashi Yuichi, for instance, used multiple layers of white lead to depict the rosy cheek of the woman in the painting “Courtesan.” It was a technique often used in Japanese traditional paintings. Vietnamese artist Nguyen Gia Tri, on the other hand, added layers of lacquer to better express black and gold colors. It was a traditional style of painting in Vietnam.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 10 at The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Deoksugung, in central Seoul. Tickets range from 2,000 won to 5,000 won. For more information, call (02) 2188-6000 or asia.moca.go.kr
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
The museum is currently showcasing 104 realism paintings from ten different Asian countries ― South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and India ― at the exhibition “Realism in Asian Art.” All exhibits, except the paintings by Korean artists, are shown in the country for the first time.
Kim In-hye, curator at the museum and Joyce Fan, curator from the National Art Gallery, Singapore, co-organized the exhibition. A smaller scale exhibition featuring 79 paintings was held in Singapore in April.
“Organizing the exhibition depended a lot on the nation’s political and diplomatic situations. It was most difficult to bring artworks from China while it was smoother with India, because Korea is having good relations with the country after signing a free trade agreement. The officials in India lent us some paintings that they did not allow to be exhibited in Singapore,” said Kim.
“We also considered getting paintings on loan from North Korea, although it did not happen for many reasons. One of them was that we could not contact any North Korean scholars to discuss the paintings with. We thought it was not fair to select works solely based on our point of views,” said Kim.
 |
| “Rice Planting” by Filipino artist Fernando Amorsolo National Museum of Contemporary Art |
Displayed artworks meticulously reflect the countries’ political, economical and cultural situations at the time, or sometimes intrigue the viewers to search for the real truth hidden under the thick layers of paint.
 |
| “Courtesan” by Japanese artist Takahashi Yuichi National Museum of Contemporary Art |
Among the exhibits, a state-commissioned war painting titled “Engineering Corps Constructing a Bridge in Malaya” by Japanese artist Shimizu Toshi is a good example of a realism painting that stretched the truth.
The painting shows Japanese soldiers building a bridge in Malaysia, which the British army had destroyed, in order launch an attack on Singapore in 1942. The artist, however, included locals helping the Japanese soldiers in the painting to glorify the professed intent of the army that the construction was carried out with the ultimate aim of liberating Asia.
Hanging across from the painting is Singaporean artist Koeh Sia Yong‘s “Persecution,” which depicts the massive purge of ethnic Chinese there by Japanese soldiers, a painful moment in Singapore’s history. The positioning of the two paintings renders the Japanese artist’s point of view a bit strange even if one is not aware of the exact history of the time.
“Most of the official war paintings were taken from the colonizer’s view. We must remember what such paintings were for. They were to promote the wars and to justify their actions. When you look at the Japanese paintings and other paintings taking different points of views, you can realize which is by the aggressor and which is by the victim,” said Fan.
Although all exhibits obviously fall into the “realism” category and are from the same continent, each work features a unique style derived from the artists’ traditional cultures.
Japanese artist Takashi Yuichi, for instance, used multiple layers of white lead to depict the rosy cheek of the woman in the painting “Courtesan.” It was a technique often used in Japanese traditional paintings. Vietnamese artist Nguyen Gia Tri, on the other hand, added layers of lacquer to better express black and gold colors. It was a traditional style of painting in Vietnam.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 10 at The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Deoksugung, in central Seoul. Tickets range from 2,000 won to 5,000 won. For more information, call (02) 2188-6000 or asia.moca.go.kr
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
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