Online Showcase
〈Code: Hybrid〉
“Code: Hybrid” is a platform for sharing the creative results of the K-ARTS (Korea National University of Arts) “Ars Electronica Academy” program, an art & technology creative education program conducted in cooperation with Ars Electronica Export. This creative international educational program aims to strengthen the global competency of the K-ARTS students. It was held virtually due to the pandemic situation that restricted the movement between countries. During the 2021 spring semester, this team-based, collaborative program offered two courses for students. The first was the “Interactive+” course in which students created games with an artistic flair following the theme of “Humor for Communities of the Future.” The second course was an immersive virtual reality (VR) performance course where students experimented with mixing reality and VR through immersive performances. At the invitation of Ars Electronica, a group of experts from various countries, including the United States, Japan, and Austria, mentored the teams, three times per each subject, and helped students in their creative processes. The playful media of games and immersive performances share the aspects of interactivity in art and the experience of fusing the real and the virtual. By paying close attention to these aspects, the students’ artistic creations explored new horizons, creating hybrid artworks involving digital humanism.
K-arts X Ars Electronica Academy
Martin Honzik (CCO and Managing Director Ars Electronica Festival)
Christl Baur (Head of Ars Electronica Festival)
Laura Welzenbach (Head of Ars Electronica Export)
Interactive+
Main Lecturer : Loopntale(Game designer Duo) www.suspicious-cloud.com
Interactive+ class aims to explore and create game media, an experimental creative tool, based on the theme of Humor for the Future Community. In this class, various artistic elements of talchum, the Korean traditional mask dance that once used satire and humor to promote solidarity and empathy within communities, were reinterpreted, along with the interactive and virtual nature of games.
Associated Professor : Insoo Park (Professor of Korean Traditional Dramatic Performing Arts, K-Arts / Master of Bongsan Talchum)
Technical Mentor : Jinsoo Kim(Game Developer)
Ideation Mentor : Myeongjin Yang(Game Designer)
International Experts : Jeremiah Diephuis(Lecturer and researcher in the Digital Media department, the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria), Seiichi Saito(Art Director of Rhizomatiks), Johannes Pöll(Lead Designer & Artist of FutureLab)
〈City on Edge〉is a simple puzzle game that requires balance to survive in a simulated world of virus-infected crises. The game begins when you become a hacker and receive a mission. The mission is simple! While the ground collapses and the bug spreads, it survives according to the guidelines set forth while waiting for rescue.
Starting with the questions, “why should diversity be preserved?” and “why is diversity so hard to preserve?”, which seek to explain the rationale for preserving diversity in populations, we explore the possibility of being the object, and even subject, of diversity destruction. The game humorously reveals us as divers encroached on the sea called algorithmic systems.
〈No-normal in Wonderland〉 is a work about “normality” defined by society and “individual identity” that is free from the eyes of others. Players face the results of their choice according to the rules presented by the game to clear different levels. Then, what choice will the player who continues to play eventually reach the final stage?
Immersive Performance
Professor : Chungyean Cho(Professor of School of Film, TV & Multimedia, K-Arts)
Immersive Performance Education Program is designed to experiment with a real-time Immersive Content creation process by attempting to merge virtual reality into performance. Various majors from Korea National University of Arts, including dance, music, fine arts, video, animation, and opera, will expand their expressive areas into new artistic creations through virtual reality stages that cross the boundaries between the language of performance and space-time, which enable direct communication between audiences and performers on an impromptu.
Technical Mentor :Jeonghoon Han, Sanghun Heo
Teaching Assistant : Jeeyoun Kim(Majoring in Architecture, School of Visual Arts, K-Arts)
International Experts :Jurgen Hagler(Lecturer and researcher in the Digital Media department, the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria), Miwa Matreyek(Founding member of Cloud Eye Control, Independent Artist), Arno Deutschbauer(Researcher & Artist of FutureLab)
〈30,000ft〉is about Connie, a man who leaves to repair stars. Stars symbolize innocence, innocence, etc., and fixing stars means restoring lost innocence in our minds. Audiences follow Connie’s journey and experience the sea of stars 30,000 feet above.
〈Depth of the Shadows〉is a performance in which the two audiences become connected through VR experience and return to reality. The audience enters each virtual space and moves the spaces under the guidance of the performers present in VR, and the shadow tree grows by the movement. At this time, the audience will rotate the gravity in the virtual space while holding hands together in real life. The audience, who formed a temporary bond through the performance, can return to reality and start a new relationship.
〈Jang-gu in the Club〉is an immersive performance based on Jang-gu, a traditional Korean musical instrument, aimed at restoring the joy of the lost dance. You can enjoy Korean traditional dance to the tune of the jang-gu played by the performer. I hope you have a good time, just like you did at Berlin club Bevckhein and the American club Studio 54.
〈Landing [by accident]〉is a VR performance about diaspora. Diaspora is a scattered group of people whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale by social pressure. In this work, the audience experiences the process of moving to new land while drifting in the open Sea.
〈Do you like Bananas?〉is a VR performance that compares the process of bananas ripening to life. In the work, the audience goes on a trip walking through the space where the banana colors of green, yellow, and brown reflect the time, respectively. By experiencing the difference in time flow between real and virtual space, the audience will interpret the meaning of the present variously.