Coex Urban Park festival to send message of hope amid pandemic

Public art festival Coex Urban Park will kick off Wednesday for a four-day run, aiming to send a message of hope to people suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the theme of “Blossom the Hope,” the event was organized by the Gangnam-gu Office and members of the Coex Mice Cluster, a group consisting of Coex, the Korea International Trade Association and 14 companies.

Public works or art, exhibitions and other activities will be held at multiple locations near the World Trade Center building in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul.

The main theme of the event will be visually represented by Lee Ki-taek‘s artwork, which will be on display at 14 locations, including Korea’s largest billboard space on Yeongdong Street and Coex’s indoor media art space called XPACE. Lee’s media art anticipates a mask-free future after the pandemic.

Visitors can enjoy various installation pieces in the lobby of Coex, including a 5-meter-high “Emogram” installation by Hungarian visual artist Kissmiklos, or Miklos Kiss. One of the most popular artists at the Gwangju Biennale in 2019, Kissmiklos hopes to share the feeling of happiness through his artwork.

Visitors can also peruse works that explore Arabian culture at a special exhibition space organized by the Korea-Arab Society and Cabinet Club, a design house.

Acting as official ambassadors of the event is K-pop boy band Omega X. The 11-member group will take part in a competition that encourages people to share their drawings of the festival’s main theme.

“This festival reflects a new paradigm shift since the pandemic,” said Lee Dong-won, CEO of Coex and chairman of the Mice Cluster.

“We hope many people can dream of a new hope and feel comforted by the campaign we prepared.”

By Kang Jae-eun (kang.jaeeun@heraldcorp.com)