On May 15, the Korea Foundation celebrated the opening of the KF XR Gallery in Suha-dong, Seoul, whose first exhibition, titled “Pale Blue Dot,” runs through October 27.
The KF XR Gallery is an exhibition space using digital immersive content to facilitate more active communication and exchange between the Korean public and people around the world.
Standing for extended reality, XR is a term for ultra-realistic technology that provides users with a new dimension of immersive experiences and covers augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). XR technology stimulates the five human senses to provide information, thereby enabling users to have reality-like experiences beyond physical restrictions through digital content.
The “Pale Blue Dot” exhibition showcases immersive content on the environment, a universal value of humanity. The exhibition’s title is borrowed from the book “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,” written by American astronomer Carl Sagan (1934–1996), which was inspired by a photograph of Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe, at Sagan’s suggestion, on 14 February 1990. As Carl Sagan caused people to reflect on the environment of Earth through his book, the KF XR Gallery’s inaugural exhibition aims to bring the unseen world and the distant future into the scope of our thought, thereby reminding us of the responsibility we all share for planet Earth.
The exhibition showcases works by outstanding Korean media artists, including Kang Jiyoung, Kim Inkyu, Gim Jeongtae, Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, the creative collective OUR LABOUR, Zin Kijong, and Cha Donghoon. Through immersive content based on VR, AR, and interactive art, they deal with important environmental issues, including the ongoing climate crisis, carbon emissions, and the extinction of various species, and such topics as past and future, highly advanced science, and exploration.
