Seoul's Songpa-gu will begin displaying artworks by young local artists on the exterior billboard of its district office every Wednesday starting in August, District Mayor Seo Gang-seok announced.
The billboard, mounted on the seventh floor of the district office building, measures 8.4 meters wide by 12.7 meters tall and currently carries public service announcements such as district news and heat-wave safety tips.
The initiative aims to transform the large screen into an urban art space, giving busy office workers and residents a chance to pause and enjoy art during their daily routines.
Exhibitions will run every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning Wednesday. The lunchtime slot was chosen to capture peak foot traffic and to align with "Culture Day," a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism program that expanded to every Wednesday starting in April this year.
The billboard will feature works by 10 visual-art teams participating in the district's youth artist support program "The Impact" and 10 artists affiliated with the Songpa Youth Artist Center. Each work will be shown for 10 seconds, producing a 16-minute-and-40-second media art loop that airs six times throughout the day.
For young artists who struggle to secure exhibition space, the initiative turns the heart of the city into an open gallery. For office workers and residents who rarely have time for cultural activities, their daily commute becomes a gallery visit.
The district will also select one of the 30 performing-arts teams in "The Impact" as its "Artist of the Month" at the start of each month, promoting them across four official SNS channels — YouTube, a blog, Instagram and Facebook. Performance footage and interviews will be released to help young artists reach wider audiences.
"The Impact" provides young performing artists with a stage, with activities held over one year at venues including Seokchon Lake Atelier and the Lake Cultural Experiment Space. Launched in 2023 with 17 participants, it has grown to 96 participants this year and has given a total of 198 young artists a stage over four years. The Songpa Youth Artist Center opened in August 2023 on a cultural heritage compensation site in Pungnap-dong and supports young visual artists with studio space and activity grants. Now in its third cohort, the center has served a total of 31 artists.
"I believe a truly world-class city is one where culture and art are woven into residents' everyday lives — that is the philosophy behind our cultural policy," Seo said. "We will step up our support so that young artists can take the stage freely and their work fills the daily lives of our residents."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
