Holograms enrich pop culture content
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Performers take part in the holographic show “Let’s Go” at K-live in Dongdaemun, downtown Seoul on March 11. / Courtesy of KT
By Park Jin-hai
As a computer-selected spectator among the audience stands in a corner of the concert hall, his holographic image turns up on the screen. As he motions with his limbs, the hero on the screen moves along, attacking space monsters. Audiences scream and cheer and the monsters turn to ash one by one as the decibel level of the screams increase.
The nation’s first exclusive hologram theater, the K-live in Dongdaemun, downtown Seoul, recently added a new program titled “Let’s Go.”
The hour-long nonverbal performance targets family audiences, depicting journeys to China, Greenland and Korea on a spaceship.
Unfolding on a 270-degree wide screen, its content developer KT used hologram technology along with motion sensing, sound visualization and telepresence technologies to immerse audiences in the performance directly, as their movements and voices can be reflected in real time thanks to state-of-the-art technologies.
With the new program, KT aims to diversify Korean pop culture at home and abroad, which had been skewed heavily toward K-pop idols’ music and dance performances.
Peformers use holographic technology to create images in the “Let’s Go” show. / Courtesy of KT
“We added holographic images, 3D images and digital direction to the original performance to increase audience engagement,” said a KT official. “The performance is not to demonstrate the technological prowess of our company, but to bring in technology to enliven the show.”
Kim Ja-young, a mother of a four-year-old boy, said she enjoyed the show to the fullest. “My son has been all in focus throughout the show,” she said. “It was fun and interesting.”
The K-live, opened in 2014 inside the Lotte Fitin shopping mall, has since drawn more than 200,000 visitors, 45 percent of whom are foreigners as of January.
KT plans to use the holographic performance hall as a platform to boost the spread of the Korean wave, or hallyu, overseas. It has opened a similar hologram performance theater, K-live Sentosa in Singapore, to provide visitors with a chance to better experience hallyu.
“If the holographic platform settles overseas, then we will also be able to sell the content that KT owns. It will blaze the trail for other local production agencies,” said the virtual culture team director Lee Mi-yeoun of KT's Future Convergence Planning Office. “Thailand and China are showing interest in our work so we have been working to win contracts there.”
The company plans on establishing some 20 hologram performance halls here and abroad by 2020.
Along with the theater, the telecom company will unveil more hologram shows during this year. It has plans for collaboration projects that will add holograms to children’s musicals and many more. For instance, a holographic musical based on the popular game “Maple Story” will be unveiled in July.
On the 10th floor, visitors to the K-live Gallery are awed by 20 holographic photos. The 3D photos show a golden crown from Silla Kingdom (B.C. 57- A.D. 935) and a blue-and-white porcelain jar, as if those national assets were actually there.
Hangyo International Corp, supplier of 3D holographic technology, says the technology, along with other cutting-edge IT technology, should be actively tapped in the cultural heritage sector.
“If we transform cultural assets into holograms, we can exhibit them at schools and diplomatic offices in foreign countries while saving time and money, and they can be sold as souvenirs,” said a Hangyo spokesperson.
Also on display are photos by French engineer Yves Gentet, a pioneer in color holography who has developed his own holoprinter for color digital holography, as well as authors Michael Shevtsov of Russia and Byun Jae-eon of Korea.
“Let’s Go” is screened for an hour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings starting at 8 p.m., while the rest of the schedule is given to live hologram performances featuring K-pop stars including Big Bang and Psy from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., every day except Monday.
For more information, visit www.klive.co.kr or call 02-2265-0810.