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Immersive, digital art shows to enjoy during extended holiday

By Park Yuna
Published : Sept. 27, 2023 - 08:11

The show "Dali: The Endless Enigma" is presented at the Theatre des Lumieres in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul (Salvador Dali, Fundacion Gala-Salvador Dali, c/o SACK 2023 / Courtesy of Tmonet)

If you are looking for a place to spend some quality family time during the six-day holiday that starts this Thursday, check out the digital exhibitions in Seoul that can be enjoyed regardless of one’s age.

Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings are digitally reproduced at Walkerhill Hotel & Resorts in Seoul's Gwangjin-gu, inviting audiences to the immersive space full of the Spanish painter’s iconic images such as melting clocks. The 3,400-square-meter Theater des Lumieres hall opened to the public last year as the second immersive art center operated by Korean IT company Tmonet, following the opening of the Bunker des Lumieres hall on Jeju Island in 2018.

“Dali, The Endless Enigma,” was directed by Italian artistic director Gianfranco Iannuzzi in collaboration with the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation. While people may be visually drawn to the digitally projected surrealist paintings, English rock band Pink Floyd’s music fills the space, adding to the awe-inspiring feeling at the space.

The 35-minute multisensory show features Dali’s paintings such as “The Persistence of Memory” and “Leda Atomic.”

Next to the exhibition hall is Lounge de Coloris, a cafe and gallery which looks out to the Han River.


Miguel Chevalier's "Digital Beauty" is presented at the Ara Art Center in Seoul (courtesy of Nicolas Gaudelet)

Another immersive exhibition titled “Digital Beauty” in Insa-dong, a cozy neighborhood in northern Seoul, is the first solo show of French digital artist Miguel Chevalier. The artist has developed works for the past 40 years using cutting-edge two- or three-dimensional technology to render organic and abstract forms in motion.

Chevalier’s immersive and interactive virtual reality installations are projected on a large scale throughout the five levels of the Ara Art Center. Among the 14 installations are four new works accompanied by a musical creation by French composer Claude Micheli.

Questioning our relationship with reality, Chevalier’s digital works confront the audience with digital infinity as a new possible field for painting and light. Chevalier’s virtual garden is presented on the facade of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Jung-gu, Seoul, as part of the "Seoul Light DDP 2023 Autumn" show that went viral earlier this month.


An installation view of “Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different” at Arario Gallery in Jongno-gu, Seoul (courtesy of the gallery)

Araio Gallery's “Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different” can be more serious compared to the two shows mentioned earlier. The exhibition features prestigious video artist Nalini Malani, who has pioneered video art among India's first generation of video artists. The 77-year-old artist has incorporated various themes and characters from literature, philosophy and history, confronting issues of inequality, violence and social oppression with a focus on giving voice to women.

The exhibition includes the prominent video installation “My Reality if Different,” which was presented last year at the National Gallery, London and for which the artist was awarded the 2020 National Gallery Contemporary Fellowship with Art Fund. The digital work fills the entire first floor with nine overlapping video projections, showing 34 new iPad animations in a continuous loop with sound.

The exhibition includes a set of seven large multipanel reverse paintings called “Ballad of a Woman” on the third floor, inspired by the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “Ballad” from 1962 which tells the story of a murdered woman. Another video work of the same theme is exhibited on the fourth floor of the gallery.




By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)

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