Seoul Light show's fall edition ends, to return in winter

The first round of the Seoul Light show, a media facade show organized by the Seoul Design Foundation, ended Sunday, premiering the main show that is slated to kick off in December this year.

Seoul Light show is an annual event that features media facade shows at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, utilizing projection mapping and the curved aluminum-panel surface of Zaha Hadid’s architectural work. Since its first edition in 2019, the media show has attracted over 1 million visitors and has become one of the more popular winter festivals in Seoul, the design foundation said.

The theme of this year’s Seoul Light show is “Designing Life at the Universe.“ The design foundation said this year‘s media show aims to present a glimpse into the future, when orbital vacations and encounters with aliens become possible.

The show comes in two separate rounds. The first round of the show for the fall season just ended Sunday, and the second round -- the main show -- is to kick off in December.

Presented during the latest edition was a media facade show titled "Cosmo Walker," which showed moving images of a person walking in futuristic outfits on a facade of a DDP building.

On Friday, a fashion show was held as well, in which stage outfits worn by K-pop artists were presented. A runway show of the Miss Gee Collection, a womenswear brand headed by veteran designer Gee Chun-hee, was also held at the site. The fashion show event on Friday was accompanied by a different set of images projected on DDP buildings.

The Seoul Light show in October was a premier of a more extensive media show that will start on Dec. 16. The winter edition will present a media facade show titled “Rendez-vous,” which will decorate the surface of a DDP building into imagined images of outer space.

The show in December will showcase a special projection mapping work for the Christmas holidays. A New Year's Eve countdown event will be held as well.

Artists joining the media facade show in December include graphic artist Nsyme, graffiti artist BFMIN and design studio Giantstep.

On Dec. 8, the design foundation of Seoul will hold a separate forum that will invite experts in arts and science to discuss new ways to approach outer space and how to visually represent celestial bodies. The public will be welcomed to join the conversation.

The winter edition of Seoul Light runs through Jan. 1.

Meanwhile, Kia, the design foundation’s business partner, is also holding the "Opposites United” exhibition as a side event to this year’s Seoul Light show. The exhibition will feature a lounge area consisting of five different installation works with media art.

On Nov. 17, Kia will hold another forum, where Karim Antoine Habib, the head of design for the Korean vehicle manufacturer, is to deliver a speech. 

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)