Be immersed in the 'Delight' that is Korean art at London's Borough Yards

Arts & Design

Published: 06 Nov. 2023, 18:33 Updated: 06 Nov. 2023, 19:06

Be immersed in the 'Delight' that is Korean art at London's Borough Yards

A view of the work "Mind: Myth" at the immersive art exhibition ″Delight,″ inspired by the historic and present-day Seoul, at Borough Yards in London. [DELIGHT]

LONDON — Borough Yards is just a minute or two's walk from London's millennia-old tourist hot spot Borough Market. The yards is a 19th-century railroad logistics hub lined with old brick warehouses. In recent years, urban renewal projects have transformed the area into a shopping district with modern facilities complementing the old architecture. One of the former warehouses is now home to an immersive media art exhibition about a bustling metropolitan city on the other side of the world: Seoul.

One room of the warehouse is filled with 631 lanterns, whose lights change from the deep reds of sunset to the pre-dawn blues and then climaxing in the colors of a brilliant sunrise. The media art installation, titled “631,” symbolizes not only the hours from sunset to sunrise but also the 631 years that Seoul has been the capital of Korea. In the next space, with a much higher ceiling, magnificent images of the 12 zodiac animal deities from East Asian mythology are projected onto a wall with a high brick arch, one after another. The media art piece is titled “Mind:Myth.”

A view of the work "Collage: Gwanghwathe" at the immersive art exhibition ″Delight,″ inspired by the historic and present-day Seoul, at Borough Yards in London. [DELIGHT]

In the next room is a hybrid landscape media art piece of the area around Gwanghwa gate, the main gate of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul. In the piece, Mount Bugak, sitting behind the palace, is depicted in the style of ilwolobongdo, or the colorful traditional painting technique with five mountain peaks with the sun and moon. The mountain and the palace make strange harmony with all sorts of flashing modern signs in this artwork. In a separate space, there is another media art work about the signboards in Seoul. Just like its title “Urban Pulse,” numerous signboards flow and pulsate to traditional Korean drum beats.

A view of the work "Poetry Vanishes" at the immersive art exhibition ″Delight,″ inspired by the historic and present-day Seoul, at Borough Yards in London. [DELIGHT]

One other media art piece in another room is quite different: calm and meditative. It resembles a windowpane on which raindrops run down and through which a luminous cityscape blurred by rain unfolds. Some poetic phrases in hangul then emerge on the window before the words scatter and ruin down the window just like the other raindrops. The verses are from the poems of the famous Korean poets a century ago such as Yun Dong-ju and Kim Sowol.

All these are part of “Delight,” an immersive media art exhibition that opened on Oct. 13 during Frieze London (Oct. 11-15) and is running for six months. Scattered throughout the giant warehouse of Borough Yards, a Victorian legacy, are 12 works that explore the history, legends and current images and atmosphere of the Korean city. The works and the exhibition were created by Seoul-based artist Hong Gyoung-tae’s team with support from curator Lee Dae-hyung, who is famous for the 2020 “CONNECT, BTS” exhibition and the 2017 Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion exhibition.

A view of the work "Urban Pulse" at the immersive art exhibition ″Delight,″ inspired by the historic and present-day Seoul, at Borough Yards in London. [DELIGHT]

According to Hong, approximately 1,480 tickets to the exhibit were sold in the first three days of opening, reaching on average 91 percent of the maximum number of people allowed in each time slot. On Fever, a global data-led arts and entertainment ticketing and recommendation platform that focuses on immersive experiences and performances, the show was ranked in the top 10 for ticket sales in the London area as of Monday. At the opening of the “Delight” show on Oct. 12, Ignacio Bachiller, co-founder and CEO of Fever, expressed his satisfaction, particularly of the “high technology,” of the works and installations.

One user wrote a review on Fever saying, “What a magical experience, each room was even better than the previous one. I got to speak to one of the organizers who explained the story of the goblins which was fascinating.” The "Goblins" art tells the stories of various goblins and deities from Korean folklore through animated projections and sculptural installations.

"All the Korean elements of the exhibition, including the goblins, were created with the help and supervision of Jung Yon-hak, a researcher at the National Folk Museum of Korea." Hong told the Korea JoongAng Daily during the opening of the “Delight” show. Hong added that he didn't just focus on making a spectacle but tried to make it an educational exhibition.

A view of the immersive art exhibition ″Delight,″ inspired by the historic and present-day Seoul, at Borough Yards in London. [DELIGHT]

Hong is the founder of Design Silver Fish, a company that has been designing immersive experiences through media art and space creation since 1998. Since its inception, Samsung Electronics has been his main client, and he has also worked with SM Entertainment, Nike Korea and others. However, the "Delight" exhibition is a project he organized on his own without a corporate commission. The Covid-19 pandemic was a trigger, Hong said.

"We do a lot of projects for Samsung, and most of them are international events like CES, and when the international events were canceled due to the pandemic, my company's revenue dropped dramatically,” Hong explained. “Then I thought, 'Let's take this as a break and do the things I wanted to express.' I realized that I had achieved some success and learned a lot during my career, and now I want to give this back to society, culturally."

He held his first “Delight” exhibition in Seoul in 2021 during the pandemic, and has since been organizing overseas exhibitions with adjustments and additions. He chose London for his first international exhibition because he studied there. He got a master’s degree in artificial intelligence at Goldsmiths, University of London. He chose the old brick warehouse in Borough Yards because "I wanted a space where I could play with light and not feel too technological," he explains.

A view of the work "631” at the immersive art exhibition ″Delight,″ inspired by the historic and present-day Seoul, at Borough Yards in London. [DELIGHT]

"We aim to create exhibitions that allow viewers to reflect on their own memories and evoke emotions, rather than just being a visual spectacle," Hong said, adding that it will set them apart from other immersive exhibition producers. He also said that he hopes the London exhibition will allow visitors to see the possibility of empathizing and understanding other cultures.

“Hong artfully blends auditory, visual, and luminous elements. Through an expansive exhibition featuring 12 distinctive artworks, he not only illuminates the spiritual, philosophical, societal and cultural intricacies shaping Seoul's identity, but he also provides insights into the broader essence of Korea,” curator Lee said.

BY MOON SO-YOUNG [moon.soyoung@joongang.co.kr]