John Gerrard's 'Western Flag' Lights Up Coex Media Screen in Seoul

K-POP SQUARE MEDIA, the giant digital screen at Coex in Seoul's Samseong-dong district, is now showing work by John Gerrard, an internationally known media artist.

The piece, which went on display starting on the 3rd, is Gerrard's signature work "Western Flag" (2017). Set against the vast skies and barren oil fields of Texas, it shows black smoke rising endlessly like a flag. The work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Guggenheim Museum, Tate in Britain and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

The work has been remastered as a Seoul-only version tailored to the curved, asymmetrical screen at K-POP SQUARE MEDIA. Titled "Western Flag (2017) for Seoul," it runs on a continuous loop in segments of about one minute.

The project came together through a collaboration between CJ CGV and media art producer Kinotone. It is notable for bringing fine art to a large urban screen otherwise dominated by corporate advertising and branded content.

CJ CGV provided the medium so that the public could encounter art naturally in daily life through K-POP SQUARE MEDIA. The move extends the use of large digital displays into culture and the arts, allowing people to experience contemporary art on their commute or while moving through the city without visiting a museum or gallery.

Kinotone handled the entire process, from selecting and curating the work to planning the screening and executing it technically. Working with Gerrard and MDAC Production, the company created a Seoul-only version suited to the unusual screen structure of K-POP SQUARE MEDIA.

"Western Flag" takes as its motif the Spindletop oil field in Texas, regarded as the birthplace of the U.S. oil industry. The flag made of black smoke symbolizes the impact of the fossil fuel industry and carbon emissions on the environment. Though it looks like actual footage, both the landscape and the smoke are a real-time simulation built entirely with digital technology.

With sweeping landscapes and slow-moving black smoke replacing the rapid-fire advertising clips that usually flash across the screen, the work is expected to offer an unusual visual experience in the middle of a busy downtown. The timing, which coincides with Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul, adds significance by giving art professionals and visitors from Korea and abroad a new point of contact with contemporary art in everyday settings.

"K-POP SQUARE MEDIA is an urban media space where diverse content meets the public," said Lee Myung-hyung, a division head at CJ CGV. "We will continue to broaden its potential so that it can serve as a space where varied content and cultural experiences reach the public."

Starting with "Western Flag," Kinotone plans to continue a media art series introducing works by Korean and international artists through large digital displays. The aim is to expand the stage for art beyond museums and galleries to corporate-owned large screens and urban spaces.

"Presenting 'Western Flag' in Seoul's urban environment is an attempt to broaden the ways art meets the public," said Park Tae-chun, an executive director at Kinotone. "We will keep working with artists at home and abroad to introduce works suited to the characteristics of each space and medium."