"Gangnam Style," a mega-hit song by South Korean pop star Psy, returned to Seoul on Friday in the form of a giant landmark sculpture.
The sculpture was unveiled to the public in an opening ceremony at 7 p.m. on the eastern patio of COEX, a multi-cultural complex in the Gangnam Ward of southeastern Seoul. The event was hosted and organized by the city's Gangnam Ward Office.
The bronze sculpture, 5 meters high and 8 meters wide, is modeled after the signature horse-riding hand motion of the Gangnam Style dance. Looking from above, the giant hands appear to cover a globe. When it detects human motions through sensors, the landmark automatically turns on flashing lights and plays the Gangnam Style song.
The opening ceremony ran from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. in three sections. In the first section, South Korean girl groups Fiestar, April and Lovelyz staged dance performances. After the landmark was unveiled, the dance stage saw Heize and Truedy, female hip hop singers who joined stardom via Mnet's hit music reality show "Unpretty Rapstar."
The ceremony closed with an electronic DJ show led by Moon Jun-young, also known by his stage name Lee Hoo of K-pop boy band ZE:After, R&B singer and rapper Chunja and hip hop duo One Two.
Former UKISS member Dongho and former Nine Muses leader Rana also stood in the DJ booth.
(Yonhap)
The construction of the Gangnam Style sculpture came as a result of the district's rising calls for a landmark with indigenous culture and history on par with the Charging Bull of Wall Street in New York City and Piccadilly Circus in London.
Gangnam Ward plans to throw cultural events every July in commemoration of Gangnam Style and the world hit song's contribution to the proliferation of Korean pop culture around the globe.
From May 4-8, the district administration is slated to hold a "C-Festival" with large-scale concerts and decorate the ward's special tourist zone. In October it will host another round of music events, tentatively named the "Gangnam Festival."
"I will make the (Gangnam) special tourist zone a must-visit destination for travelers from all around the world," said Gangnam Ward chief Shin Yeon-hee.
"They say Paris set a goal to attract 100 million tourists.
Gangnam Ward is not after the old '10 million by 2018' goal any more. Reaching 50 million will only be a matter of time," she added. (Yonhap)
