Two art exhibitions in Seoul are offering
quite the contrast experience.
One features works by the great past masters...
and the other a preview of what could be the
art of the future.
Kim Hyesung walks us through the timeless
classics and the interactive, hi-tech pieces.
The canvas shows three women bending over
in a field, picking up stray grains of wheat
after a harvest.
This is "The Gleaners" by 19th century French
painter Jean-Francois Millet.
To the right, you can also find three of the
rough sketches Millet used to develop the
masterpiece.
Works by another renowned French painter,
Claude Monet, capture how light changes when
it passes through the waters of a stream.
This isn't Paris, but a gallery in Seoul now
featuring around 130 famous works of art from
the 19th and 20th centuries.
"We opened this exhibition to mark the 30th
anniversary of the founding of the Orsay Museum
in Paris as part of our ongoing cultural exchanges
with France.
Visitors can find rare pieces of art that
have never before been shown outside of Europe."
One of those rare pieces is Vincent Van Gogh's
"Noon: Rest from Work."
It has a setting somewhat similar to Millet's
work, but with a much more vibrant palette.
"I learned of Van Gogh's paintings through
books.
It's great to look at it up and close like
this and see how thick his brushstrokes are.
It helps me understand more about the techniques
of impressionism."
: Connyoung
"If you are looking for something more interactive,
dynamic or contemporary, you can come to this
gallery where the exhibition features works
that combine art and artificial intelligence."
Here, artists have collaborated with scientists
to show how art looks through a so-called
"mixed reality.
You can even create your own work.
In a work called "Brain Factory," you put
on a headset that records your brainwaves
while you watch the screen.
Just think of an image triggered by the words
that pop up, such as "freedom" or "love,"
and a monitor shows the changes in your brainwaves.
Then, a 3D-printer renders the data collected
from your brain... in a form that looks a
lot like a spider web.
You can also play air hockey with a robot
that moves around using an artificial neural
network.
"The goal was to win the machine.
I think it's interesting to combine these
machines, robots,and human action to produce
art piece."
A new form of art, indeed -- one that not
only provides viewers with new experiences
but also offers some provocative notions of
what it means for art and new technology to
coexist in the 21st century.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
