Youth Writer Support Project Part 2
[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Convenience store CU is transforming into the gallery closest to its customers.
On the 23rd, CU announced that it has launched the ‘Our Neighborhood Art Gallery’ project, which collaborates with emerging artists to turn stores into small art museums.
The Our Neighborhood Art Gallery project is the second phase of the ‘Young Artists Support Campaign’ initiated by BGF Retail earlier this year. It provides free indoor and outdoor store spaces to young artists to use as exhibition spaces for their creations.
CU started this project to offer emerging artists offline spaces to meet the public amid the industry downturn caused by COVID-19, which has even raised concerns about some galleries closing, and to provide customers with a space to satisfy their cultural cravings.
The first Our Neighborhood Art Gallery store is CU Olympic Park Branch located in Songpa-gu, Seoul, featuring artists Se-young Yoon and Yo-han Lee. The second branch, CU Gijang Yeonhwari Bada Branch, showcases works by artists Jua Sang-sang and Mina Yeom, who decorated various parts of the store with their art.
Visitors can also see newly created works inspired by CU. For example, near the fresh ground coffee machine, there is a lively painting by Se-young Yoon depicting people strolling while drinking GET coffee. In the ready-to-eat food showcase, Yo-han Lee’s charming illustrations of CU’s signature products such as lunch boxes and sandwiches are displayed, curated to fit the space. QR codes are inserted at the store entrance and below the artworks to explain the meaning of the Young Artists Support Project. Customers who scan the QR codes can access an online exhibition hall linked to the codes, where they can view artist information and more artworks.
To celebrate the opening of the second Our Neighborhood Art Gallery branch at Gijang Yeonhwari Bada Branch, CU is holding an event where customers who upload certification photos of the artworks on social networking services (SNS) with hashtags will receive an art magnet featuring the artwork or a snack from Heyroo’s private brand (PB).
Sunhwa Lee, Manager of BGF Retail’s Design Team, said, “We planned this project to support young artists who lost exhibition spaces due to COVID-19 by utilizing CU stores. We will continue various campaigns to support young artists so that customers can enjoy culture and art as a place of rest in their daily lives.”
Meanwhile, CU plans to continue the first phase of the Young Artists Support Campaign until early next year by featuring works of 22 emerging artists on the packaging of its representative summer convenience store product, iced drinks (Delafe), available nationwide.
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