Winter is awash in light... '2025 Seoul Light Gwanghwamun' opens on the 12th.
- Bono Ahn
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Yonhap News | Reporter Hwang Jae-ha
16 artists participate in an exhibition of light works… and a New Year's countdown as well.
A preview of the lighting installation "A Night Where Hope Blooms" to be installed at the "2025 Seoul Light Gwanghwamun" project, which opens on the 12th of this month. [Photo provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Resale and database prohibited.]
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Jae-ha = A large-scale media facade exhibition to brighten the darkness that has grown longer with the arrival of winter will be held in the Gwanghwamun area of Seoul.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 9th that it will hold a large-scale media facade exhibition, '2025 Seoul Light Gwanghwamun', at Gwanghwamun Square for a total of 24 days, starting with the opening ceremony on the 12th of this month and continuing until January 4th of next year.
Now in its fourth year, Seoul Light Gwanghwamun, themed "Gwanghwa, Breathing with Light," features 16 artists showcasing media art installations such as the Gwanghwamun Media Façade, the Fortune.exe light sculptures, and the Sejong Pavilion media art. Choi Jin-hee, who was the artistic director of the Cultural Seoul Station 284 Centennial Exhibition, will serve as art director.
This exhibition features "SONG 1," a work by media artist Doug Aitken, winner of the Venice Biennale's Golden Lion Award, expressing the rhythm and emotion of the city through the pop song "I Only Have Eyes for You." Other participating artists include Chusu, Aplan Company, and The First Gate.
A "Fortune.exe" will be installed in the plaza that runs from the north of the King Sejong Statue to Gwanghwamun Square. It will feature the Ilwolobongdo (Ilwo Obongdo), made world-famous by the K-pop Demon Hunters (K-Pop Demon Hunters), a 26-meter-tall light sculpture that reinterprets traditional Korean Dancheong architecture, and a lighting installation that combines light and music.
Immediately in front of the north side of the King Sejong Statue, the "Sejong Pavilion," an LED media screen, will be on display. This three-dimensional digital stage, comprised of a 10-meter wide and 6-meter tall LED wall and an LED floor, will showcase the works of six invited domestic and international artists and five artists selected through an international competition. The winner will be chosen by the public.
At midnight on the 31st of this month, a countdown to 2026, the Year of the Horse, will take place. Public and private organizations in the area will collaborate to simultaneously display media art on outdoor billboards at Gwanghwamun, Sejong Pavilion, the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, the Seoul Shinmun building, the KT headquarters, the Ilmin Museum of Art, the Dong-A Ilbo, the Koreana Hotel, and the Seongwang Building.
The city plans to deploy safety management personnel along the main route of the artwork to prepare for the expected influx of crowds during the event, and to cooperate with relevant organizations such as fire stations, police stations, and nearby hospitals to prepare for various safety accidents.
Choi In-gyu, Design Policy Officer for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "The 2025 Seoul Light Gwanghwamun event will combine cutting-edge media technology with world-class content to provide citizens and tourists with a special experience of ending the year and welcoming the new year with light and music."
[Source: Yonhap News]