Julian Opie’s “Crowd” is one of the artworks displayed on the Seoul Square Media Canvas across from Seoul Station. / Courtesy of Gana Art Gallery

Seoul Square Media Canvas displays various artworks

By Agnes Yu

A blanket of darkness never completely covers a whirling city center at night and in unexpected ways, an array of bright lights can be a pleasing sight. Transforming the facade of the former Daewoo building with 42,000 LEDs, the Seoul Square Media Canvas decorates the architecture to be appreciated anew.

Situated across from Seoul Station, it inspires commuters, travelers, locals, ex-pats, and everyone in between to reflect on life in the digital age. The 23-storey building’s exterior of flickering lamps boasts itself as among the largest in the world, measuring 99 x 78 meters. It first lit up in November 2009 and since then a diverse range of media artworks have been displayed by highly respected international artists such as British media artist, Julian Opie.

On an ongoing basis, from 6 p. m. to 11 p.m. in winter and from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in summer, not only Opie’s work, “Crowd,” but six other LED artworks also have a regularly viewing schedule. The others include “Mimesis Scape” by Yang Man-kee, “Sungraemoon” by Moon Kyoung-won, “The Magic City” by Mioon, “The Museum” by Kim Sin-il, “My Beautiful Day” by Lee Bei-kyoung and “Zero” by Ryu Ho-yeol.

Particular national holidays have been commemorated using the Seoul Square Media Canvas, such as Children’s Day, with original drawings by children under seven being displayed as moving images. The countdown on New Year’s Eve 2009 was marked with motion graphic artwork by “Sticky Monster Lab.” During the FIFA World Cup, games were aired in real time for the public and other specialized events have been organized to utilize the Seoul Square Media Canvas in interactive and appealing ways.

The entire project of selecting art works and constructing the Media Canvas is curated and under the control of Gana Art Gallery.

In conjunction with the Goethe-Institut, for the month of April the current exhibition, ``2011 German Media Art – What is your perception?’’ invited four German artists, Corinna Schnitt, Robert Seidel, Jan Verbeek, and Heike Baranowsky, to use video imagery as a medium as they raise questions about excessive information, comment on the experiences made possible by technological development, and portray the relations between individuals and society.

Using digital imagery, each artist expresses content reflecting unique and creative endeavors. Verbeek would like to fly despite being “bound by the laws of physics,” and Schnitt asks questions by writing single words at a time by hand, combining the traditional aspect of handwriting with the digital recording of the act. Baranowsky filmed the moon with a camera on a boat so the wind, waves and tide bounce the celestial orb in a conceptual loop to jolt our normal perception that the moon doesn’t seem to be moving at all in the night sky. The images by Seidel show abstract formations that had been scraped from nighttime images of the city.

Fluidly traversing back and forth from reality to the virtual or online world, the audience of Seoulites is presented with experiments on the roles and possibilities available in public urban spaces.

Also being shown is “Fashion Avenue” by iconic media artist Paik Nam-june. Selected specifically from the Suite 212 series made in 1975, the dazzling collage of New York’s streets compare with the hustle and bustle of contemporary Seoul, over 35 years later.

Look up across the broad avenue from Seoul Station at the Seoul Square Media Canvas on Thursday or Saturday from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. to view Paik’s video along with the other German media artworks.

For more information visit www.ganamplanet.com or call 02-6456-0188.