Last Friday (April 9), during the awards ceremony for the “Art of Tomorrow” exhibition, Yu In-taek, President of the Seoul Arts Center, and Jong-kap Kim, CEO of Korea Electric Power Corporation, pose for a commemorative photo (fifth and sixth from the left in the back row). © Korea Electric Power Corporation

As the master of convergence art Nam June Paik once said, “Without electricity, there can be no art.” In that spirit, Korea Electric Power Corporation (hereafter KEPCO) and the Seoul Arts Center—each representing Korea’s electricity industry and its cultural arts—have come together.

KEPCO announced on the 11th that it held the awards ceremony for the new media art competition “Art of Tomorrow” on April 9 at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

As the first co-organized arts initiative between KEPCO and the Seoul Arts Center, “Art of Tomorrow” invites and exhibits new media artworks that showcase diverse attempts in visual art fused with future scientific technologies.

Following an open call and expert review conducted from November of last year through January of this year, a total of 12 teams across three categories—new media art, visual art, and convergence art—were shortlisted as prize candidates: Minjeong Geum, Junsu Kim, Jisoo Kim & Seungjae Shin, Chanwook Min, Soft Computing & Interaction, Atom & Beats, EastHug, Jangwon Lee, Ipkyu Jang, Younghwan Cheon, JSUK HAN, and Juri Hwang.

At the ceremony, three teams—EastHug, Jangwon Lee, and JSUK HAN—received final awards.

Meanwhile, the two institutions are presenting a special exhibition of works by the 12 selected artists from March 31 to April 18 at the Hangaram Design Museum within the Seoul Arts Center.

The organizers explained that the show introduces new media artworks employing an array of cutting-edge technologies—such as virtual reality (VR), robotics, human–computer interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence (AI)—in a way that is accessible to general audiences. It also offers interactive features that allow onsite and online participation, including a VR virtual museum and mobile voting in the gallery.

KEPCO CEO Jong-kap Kim remarked, “By bringing together art and science, this exhibition presents a new tomorrow for the arts. We expect it will spark the audience’s imagination and satisfy their curiosity about new media art.”

A KEPCO representative added, “As a cultural arts partner of the Seoul Arts Center, KEPCO will continue to collaborate so that the public can enjoy high-quality culture and art even more widely.”

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