Starfield COEX Mall Byeolmadang Library Announces Winners of the 4th Open Art Contest

"32% Participation of Writers in Their 20s Boosts Emerging Artists' Involvement, Establishing a Gateway Role"
Grand Prize Winner Kim Jeonghwan's 'Garden of Time' Selected, Expressing the Moment of Immersive Reading
Grand Prize Work to Be Exhibited at Starfield Library by End of May, Excellence Award Works in Metaverse Exhibition

'Garden of Time' by artist Kim Jeonghwan, who won the grand prize at the 4th Open Art Contest held at Starfield COEX Mall Byeolmadang Library.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Starfield COEX Mall Byeolmadang Library announced on the 16th that it has selected 8 winning works for the '4th Open Art Contest' held to celebrate its 5th anniversary.

The Byeolmadang Library's representative cultural and artistic program, the 'Open Art Contest,' which began in 2019, has played a role as a bridge connecting the public and art by discovering talented emerging artists every year and providing a platform to introduce their works to the public. This contest expanded exhibition benefits from only the grand prize to include excellence awards to support emerging artists whose activities have been limited due to cancellations of exhibitions and events caused by COVID-19. This year, over 110 teams applied, with young artists in their 20s accounting for 32% of the applicants, showing a noticeable increase in support from young artists.

The submissions were fairly judged by a panel of professors and experts including Professor Dongcheon Yoon (Department of Western Studies, Seoul National University), Professor Taeman Choi (Department of Fine Arts, Kookmin University), Curator Hyunjung Ahn (Sungkyunkwan University Museum), and Art Director Yejin Ha (Gentle Monster, Nudeike), selecting a total of 8 works that stood out for their artistic value based on story, creativity, suitability, and empathy.

The grand prize was awarded to artist Jeonghwan Kim, who is active both domestically and internationally, for his work 'Garden of Time.' 'Garden of Time,' which shapes an hourglass using stainless steel mirrors, expresses the various moments of visitors to Byeolmadang Library through the colorful light reflected on mirrors and film. It is praised for expressing the immersive moment of reading and the intellectual experience transcending time through light that moves and reflects depending on the angle. Artist Jeonghwan Kim will receive a prize money of 10 million KRW and a production support fund of 100 million KRW. The grand prize work will be exhibited in the central space of Byeolmadang Library from May 27.

The excellence awards (2 works) were given to 'Prelude to Purity' (Juhwan Kim) and 'Box of Contemplation' (SSK ARCHITEKTEN). These will meet the public in the metaverse Byeolmadang Library. The selected works (5 works) include 'Glass BLOCK' (UJU_Kwak Jungwon, Lee Sujeong), 'prologue ← x → epilogue' (Sanghyun Yoo, Eunkyung Noh), 'Library of Babel' (Hanna Yoo), 'Re-view through books' (Woojong Jo), and 'SNS PORTAL' (Taehwan Kim).

Professor Taeman Choi, who participated in the judging, commented, "As the exhibition space has expanded to include the central part of the library, stairs, and ceiling, many works showed deep consideration and ideas about Byeolmadang Library. The increasing number of submissions from emerging artists who take on new artistic challenges every year and the clear improvement in the diversity of works make me look forward to next year's contest," he concluded.