Experience modern Mucha masterpieces at 'eMotion in Seoul'

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Experience modern Mucha masterpieces at 'eMotion in Seoul'

Published: 25 Jul. 2023, 16:04 Updated: 25 Jul. 2023, 17:02

A digitalized image of Alphonse Mucha's painting on view at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza [IMUCHA PROJECT]

To Michal Dvorak, a 57-year-old Czech film composer, producer and musician, it was his mission to reinterpret “modernized” versions of Alphonse Mucha’s (1860-1939) works to the world, as the renowned painter is known best for representing the arts and beauty of the Czech Republic.

Interestingly, however, the idea stemmed from his own previous project in Korea from 2017, the “Vivaldianno – City of Mirrors,” a show that fused classical music with 3-D media art and detailed the life of Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

“Vivaldianno” toured the world, including London, Dubai, Moscow, Buenos Aires and Riyadh.

“I was really jet-lagged, so I walked around Seoul at night,” Dvorak said on Friday. “I was thinking about what my next project could be, and I saw that another exhibition of Mucha was being held at Korea at the time, so I knew that he influenced the young Asian audience.”

For more than three years, Dvorak and his production team of over 300 worked on the iMucha Project, which involved digitizing original paintings and illustrations of Mucha. Then, last year, an immersive exhibition of the final works premiered in their homeland of Prague.

A digitalized image of Alphonse Mucha's painting on view at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza [SHIN MIN-HEE]

Last Saturday, the show made its second stop, and Asian debut, at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Jung District, central Seoul.

Over 400 of Mucha’s works, all owned by the Richard Fuxa Foundation, were used in the “eMotion in Seoul” exhibition, and each was digitally recreated using 2-D and 3-D animated techniques. The iMucha Project also composed an original music score, recorded by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

For the last six years, they have been waking up and going to sleep talking about Mucha, according to Vitek Cermak, a video director who took part in the project, at the DDP on Friday. “But we don’t have much time right now,” he joked.

“Mucha was a Renaissance man of technology and arts,” Cermak said, pointing out that the artist had used electric scooters and roller blades, and was one of the first people to use the camera.

Just like how Mucha was ahead of his own times, Cermak and Dvorak agreed that it was important to “continue his work in a modern way, but with respect to his work.”

“eMotion” was created with the help of Mucha’s granddaughter, and displays Mucha’s works from the Art Nouveau period, which centered on the decorative arts from the late-19th to early-20th centuries in Europe. Motifs related to nature, especially flowers and plants, were prevalent in architecture, furniture, sculptures and jewelry during this era.

“eMotion” continues until Oct. 30. The DDP is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are 20,000 won ($15) for adults.

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