Written by Joon Moon

Joon Yong Moon Showcases His Mastery in Augmented Reality Media Art / by The Hankyoreh

– Solo Exhibition ‘Chasing Stars in Shadow’

Exhibition space of ‘Chasing Stars in Shadow.’ Shadow fairies holding beams of light create windows and fruit trees on the walls as life-giving fish swim past in the videos. A visitor on the left experiences the three-dimensional viewing by shining a lantern-shaped tracker at the lively images before them. – Hyungseok Noh

Tiny light orbs save the world.

It’s not candlelight or a lamp light. Instead, the light from a programmed digital projector and electronic devices held by the viewers mingles, floating around the exhibition space like fireflies. Trapped on the walls, shadow fairies burst out into open spaces, brought to life by these artificial light orbs, dancing and enlivening the walls. The once-dull walls open doors to the universe, nurturing fruit trees and making golden fish fly. The cold digital light of media art warms and softens in this bleak era, carrying hidden hopes and love in people’s hearts.

The exhibition titled “Chasing Stars in Shadow” by media artist Joon Yong Moon (41) is entirely different from the typical image of cold digital art. Light orbs symbolizing stars and shadow fairies create a spectacular stage of life, interacting with the audience. For 15 minutes, the black silhouettes of shadow fairies cultivate the universe and the world, sharing the audience’s hopes and love, transforming confined spaces into open worlds.

A child shines the lantern-shaped tracker light at the shadow fairies on the wall, passing the beams of light to them. The interactive technique allows visitors to emotionally connect with the shadow fairies, who gesture for the light, creating a unique experience. – Hyungseok Noh

The immersive content exhibition, showcased at the Gwangju Media Art Platform under the Gwangju Museum of Art since the 9th, is considered the most appropriately executed piece in a unique media art space over 5 meters high. Moon has been experimenting and developing this augmented reality technique for over ten years. Visitors use the lantern-shaped tracker developed by Moon, experiencing the shadow fairies’ dances, the windows and fruit trees created by light on the walls, and the swimming fish, feeling as if they are part of this space.

Moon, who describes himself as both an artist and a technician, merges technology and art, bringing life to video interface environments. He realized a method to detect the viewers’ positions and map virtual shadows onto real shadows based on the angles of movement using a specially designed lantern-shaped tracker. Moon studied at Parsons School of Design in the U.S. and has been working with experimental media and computation, including augmented reality, tangible interfaces, and sound visualization. His work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and Ars Electronica in Linz. Last year, his work was officially invited to international film festivals in Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Sandbox in China, and Bucheon.

Joon Yong Moon at the exhibition. He expressed his joy in setting up the projectors and creating his work environment in the largest space he has ever exhibited in. – Hyungseok Noh
Exhibition space of ‘Chasing Stars in Shadow.’ Shadow fairies grow trees and pick stars while Joon Yong Moon and a visitor watch. – Hyungseok Noh

Despite facing significant restrictions during the tenure of his father, former President Moon Jae-in, even minor gallery exhibitions became politically controversial. However, after his father’s retirement, Moon was able to focus on his work, achieving his first public museum exhibition. At the opening on the 9th, Moon said, “I’m happy to have installed projectors and created the exhibition environment in the largest space I’ve worked in so far. I plan to focus on finding new storytelling and composition methods for media art that can be integrated with popular video genres like games and movies.” The exhibition runs until July 30th.

Hyungseok Noh, nuge@hani.co.kr