Jon Dunbar is a copy editor at The Korea Times, as well as editor of the Foreign Community page and curator of the Korea Times Archive. If you have suggestions for possible articles, or wish to contribute articles yourself, contact jdunbar@koreatimes.co.kr.
'Another Moon' rises over central Seoul's MMCA
The Second Moon rises over the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (MMCA) in central Seoul. Courtesy of MMCA
By Jon Dunbar
A full moon is rising over central Seoul for nine consecutive days this week. But it's not the "supermoon" nor the SEOULDAL balloon ride in Yeouido. This moon hovers 19 meters above the ground over the courtyard of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul.
Starting with a heavily attended opening event Saturday, the Korean-British art duo Kimchi and Chips has been projecting a phantom image of a second satellite from the central Seoul museum's grounds. The holographic object is projected from 33 lasers mounted in a circle atop towers, with their beams converging on a central point to create a 3D shape that is roughly spherical.
"The moon is created by sunlight reflected through time into the night sky, similar to the way that sunlight reflected off the real moon is what makes it visible to us," its creators, Mimi Son and Elliot Woods, said in a press release. "Just as the original moon is visible as a reflection of sunlight in the sky, Another Moon is created using sunlight gathered during the day."
Elliot Woods, left, and Mimi Son, the two members of Kimchi and Chips, stand in front of a ring of laser projectors in the courtyard of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul. Courtesy of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
Another Moon was first exhibited in Germany in 2021 and has since appeared in two other places before rising over Seoul's Samcheong-dong neighborhood this month, in time for Frieze Seoul 2024.
It was supposed to premiere Friday but the opening date got bumped to Saturday due to an airspace restriction related to military exercises.
The energy to create the apparition is collected during the day by solar panels in the laser modules, and after dark, starting around 8 p.m., the light is released again for the remarkable light showcase. The celestial body is best viewed on clear nights when there are no clouds overhead to reflect the city lights. The lasers, a proprietary invention of Son and Woods, keep running until each one's battery runs out of juice. On the first two nights, the projection was maintained up to around midnight.
"The work proposes that our relationship with energy could be more flexible, where we accept a world of unreliable energy, allowing us to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels," the artists said in the release.
This latest outdoor spectacle is part of the "Drawing in the Air" series of the Seoul-based duo, who are pioneers in the field of advanced 3D projection. In 2014 they became the first in the world to successfully generate a volumetric image through the utilization of light field projection within a scattering medium with their Light Barrier series.
Their work has won several awards and has been presented at Germany's ZKM Center for Art and Media, England's Somerset House, Austria's Ars Electronica, Korea's ACC Gwangju and SXSW in the United States and continues to influence contemporary art and technology.
Their dedication to open-source practices is evident in the over 200 code libraries they have released online, which have been adopted by other practitioners and integrated into popular creative tools.
Buddhist monks join the crowd to gaze at Another Moon in the courtyard of MMCA Seoul, Aug. 30. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
Another Moon is presented as part of the "Space Elevator" exhibition series of MMCA Seoul's Performing Arts Showcase, which is described as "an attempt to explore the different imaginations and sensibilities we have toward outer space."
The art museum begins by asking "why" humans desire to leave the already self-sufficient Earth and move to yet another reality in outer space and "how" this escape from Earth could be achieved. The series, which began in May and runs until next February, provides a "stage for contemplating the importance of innovation in art, the validity of past ideas and intrinsic human senses that will never dissipate."
Saxophonist Bendik Giske will perform under Another Moon in the courtyard of MMCA Seoul this Wednesday. Courtesy of Nat Urazmetova
This Wednesday, Another Moon will rise extra early at 7:30 p.m. in time for a performance by Norwegian avant-garde saxophonist Bendik Giske. Spaces are limited, although even if all tickets are booked, the sphere and the music are likely to be observed from a distance.
Visit kimchiandchips.com or mmca.go.kr/eng for more information.