22 People in the Arts
Media Art: A Universal Language
Spoken by Artist Park Sang-hwa By Kang Jennis Hyun-suk
FEATURE
G
wangju, the City of Light, has yet another name: Creative City of Media Arts. The city has been given this designation by UNESCO because there are so many media artists in the city pioneering this new field of art. In 2014, UNESCO selected Gwangju as a “creative city” for media art. The UNESCO Media Arts Creative City Gwangju Platform operates hologram theaters and media art archives, and also operates new media experience projects such as augmented reality (AR) for young audiences.
Curiosity had me going to a dictionary to understand media art better. It said that media is a means of exchanging opinions, feelings, or information in society. However, people today have been moving away from mass media that provides one-way information, and are creating a renaissance era of personal media without borders and time constraints through blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and other digital media. In today’s world of social media, anyone can be a producer of contents and at the same time be a consumer. Now the young people want to be influencers through social media more than any other profession. COMBINING MEDIA AND ART What will art look like in the generation of digital natives? These art connoisseurs might just step into artworks and enjoy art by being part of it. Metaverse is a combination
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
October 2021
Nevertheless, numerous people around me have never heard of media art, or they do not know exactly what media art is. The birth of this new art form called “media art” seems to be confusing not only to traditional artists but also to people interested in arts. You have probably seen screens with paintings moving in them in government offices or in museums. And whoever passes through the main expressway tollgate to enter Gwangju cannot miss seeing the media artwork of Lee Lee Nam, the “Light of
Mudeung,” towering over the tollgate. We are living in the world of media art without even realizing it.
“Mudeung Fantasia 2020” by Park Sang-hwa.
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