Comprehensive Culture and Content Exhibition '2022 Gwangju ACE Fair (ACE Fair)' Opens

395 Companies from 30 Countries Worldwide Participate with 485 Booths

[At the opening ceremony of the 2022 Gwangju ACE Fair, Kang Gi-jung, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, is delivering a welcome speech.]

The domestic comprehensive cultural and content exhibition, ‘2022 Gwangju ACE Fair (hereinafter ACE Fair, Asia Content&Entertainment Fair),’ opened on the 22nd in Gwangju, the cultural hub of Asia, under the theme ‘Digital Transformation and Expansion of Content Value.’

Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Gwangju Metropolitan City, this exhibition features 395 companies from 30 countries participating with 485 booths covering all digital content categories such as broadcasting, animation & character, AI, metaverse, VR/AR, and games. The event takes place over four days at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center, creating a grand festival of content.

Marking its 17th edition, this ACE Fair saw a large participation of platforms and new technology companies leading the digitalization of cultural content, including online video services (OTT), metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFT), and content monetization. Additionally, the themed pavilion designed under the concept of ‘Content Factory’ attracted attention with its unique spatial composition created by Gyeongbu Office, a Red Dot Award-winning firm, allowing visitors to experience and create various content on-site.

Among the participating companies, in the broadcasting sector, leading domestic OTT platforms such as Wave, ENA, and Tving provided opportunities to explore not only their original content but also various new works including broadcasts, movies, and overseas series.

In the animation sector, representative K-content such as Locus of ‘Yumi’s Cells,’ Studio Button of ‘Jurassic Cops,’ Monster Studio of ‘Bread Barber Shop,’ Iconix of ‘Tayo the Little Bus,’ and Carisoft of ‘Carrie and Friends’ garnered significant interest.

In the metaverse sector, ‘Unity,’ which possesses new technologies that synergize with content fields such as AR/VR as well as real-time 3D game development to realize virtual worlds close to reality, participated. Also, ‘NVIDIA,’ which holds digital twin technology enabling 3D design collaboration without spatial and temporal constraints and rapid testing of car designs in virtual worlds, attracted the attention of content industry professionals.

Meanwhile, the non-fungible token (NFT) sector, which has recently gained attention as the digital value of content is spotlighted, was represented by the digital asset exchange ‘Beeblock,’ and in the content monetization sector, ‘The SMC’ showcased their offerings to visitors.

During the exhibition period, the ‘3rd Gwangju ACE Illustration Fair’ was held simultaneously, featuring the ‘New Illustrator Contest’ in collaboration with NCSoft this year. Additionally, fan signing events were organized with popular artists such as Myung Min-ho, a collaborating artist of Yukiz on the Block, and Na Seung-hoon, the creator of the Naver Webtoon ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind.’ Visitors could also enjoy a watercolor drawing show by Noma, a domestic watercolor illustrator, directly on-site.

Furthermore, the exhibition hall offered VR experiences where visitors could ride moving devices and enjoy vivid virtual world journeys, as well as opportunities to freely try various games. Participatory events were also arranged where visitors could take photos with characters and upload certification shots to receive prizes.

The Gwangju ACE Fair Secretariat stated, “This year, we have prepared not only leading K-content companies with global competitiveness but also abundant side events and experiences for visitors to enjoy on-site. We hope that everyone, including content industry professionals, families, couples, and friends of all ages and genders, will have a joyful time at this year’s Gwangju ACE Fair.”