Giant bells, holiday displays await at 'Christmas Light Fantasia' by Seoul Media Art Week

The 2023 Seoul Media Art Week (SMAW) is set to kick off Tuesday and will continue through Christmas Day at the World Trade Center Seoul and the Coex K-pop Square in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

A teaser image for the 2023 Seoul Media Art Week (SMAW), which kicks off Tuesday and continues until Christmas Day at the World Trade Center Seoul and the K-pop Square in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. [SEOUL MEDIA ART WEEK]

The 2023 Seoul Media Art Week (SMAW) is set to kick off Tuesday and will continue through Christmas Day at the World Trade Center Seoul and the K-pop Square in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

Hosted by the Korean Free Advertising Zone committee and organized by WTC Seoul (WTCS), Hyundai Department Store Duty Free, Parnas Hotel, CJ CGV, JoongAng Ilbo, Megabox and Invent Partners, the weeklong event showcases holiday-themed digital media both indoors and outdoors.

The 2023 SMAW, under the theme “Christmas Light Fantasia,” will also install light decorations shaped like holiday bells on the K-pop plaza and play holiday music.

The main event, which will be different every day, will introduce the media art of local contemporary artists chosen by the organizers. There will be five sessions every day, at 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

On the first day, the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture will show works of Hong Na-kyung, Kim Jae-uk, Cho Young-kak, Choi Sung-rok and Choi Min-kyoo.

Thursday will have a media art show by the JoongAng Ilbo and Megabox, exhibiting the works of winners of the JoongAng Media Art Competition: Kim Hye-gyung, Cho Se-min, Choi Jong-yeol, Kim Su-jin and the artist duo Choi Ye-bom and Choi Won-jeong.

LAY Village, an art business startup, will display works on both Wednesday and Sunday. Artist Lee Lee-nam is a multimedia artist whose works will be featured on both days.

On Friday, blockchain platform Ground X will present nine nonfungible tokens by the artist Mr. Misang, including “Crevasse #1~#5” and “Modern Life is Rubbish #1, #11, #4.”

A poster for the 2023 Seoul Media Art Week (SMAW) [SEOUL MEDIA ART WEEK]

Local movie theater chain CJ CGV will decorate the area of the World Trade Center Seoul with original media content by artists LED.ART and Roman De Giuli.

On the last day, Seoul Light WTCS will hold the grand finale with “Rhythmic Dimensions” by Shin Ji-ho.

“The event boasts an overwhelming scale by being transmitted through the World Trade Center Seoul,” Choi Yong-min, CEO of WTCS, which took the helm of organizing the event, said in a press release.

“The media art shown in the K-pop Square especially, which is near Samsung Station’s exit 6, will provide an unforgettable experience with its main media show and Christmas-themed multimedia. We anticipate that this will be a fancy year-end festival that will solidify the streets of the World Trade Center as a flagship tourist attraction.”

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]