Fifty media artists from 17 countries will have their work displayed at this year’s Seoul International Media Art Biennale, also known as Mediacity Seoul 2012, which will open on Sept. 11 for a run through Nov. 4.

This year‘s biennale, under the theme of “Spell on you,” will show videos, installations and media artwork, which will provide audiences with various viewpoints on the agony and hope of the world, the organizers said. The exhibition will be held at the Seoul Museum of Art and the Digital Media City (DMC) in Sangamdong, western Seoul.

Spell on You proposes to explore the overpowering influence of spells, encapsulated in the song “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, an American blues singer and songwriter, the organizers said.

This exhibition will question the wider technological means of utilizing the media in the 21st century, and expose the current social and political contexts in which the recent phenomena of Social Networking Services such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have globally surfaced on the Internet.

Yoo Jin-sang, a critic and curator based in Seoul, will organize the whole event along with co-curators, including Yukiko Shikata of Japan; Olof van Winden, the director of the Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMK); Choi Doo-eun, the creative director of the Nabi Art Center and co-curator of Zero 1 Biennale (San Jose, 2012).

In addition to the exhibitions, there will be international symposiums on Sept. 13 and 14 on the theme of disaster and art at the Sangam DMC and the Goethe-Institute.

The purpose of the event is to show how the development of digital technology leads to new media art. Also, Seoul city hopes to establish itself as a global IT power and high media culture city with the event.

The bienniale has introduced works of some 1,000 world media artists since it was first held in 2000. 

(Yonhap News)