Chosun University Department of Cultural Contents Produces Multiple Award Winners at Media Art Festival

The work by artist Jeong Deok-yong, who won the grand prize, is titled 'Garbologist'. Photo by Chosun University

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Department of Cultural Contents at Chosun University has consecutively produced winners of the Gwangju Media Art Festival contest.

According to Chosun University on the 20th, artists who graduated from the Department of Cultural Contents, majoring in Contemporary Formative Media at the College of Fine Arts and Physical Education, recently won the top prize in the '2020 Gwangju Media Art Festival' contest for young artists and university student media works.

The Gwangju Media Art Festival is organized annually by the 2020 Media Art Secretariat (GMAF) and hosted by Gwangju Metropolitan City and ACC.

This year's event, held from the 14th to the 18th, introduced the concept of a playground project and was themed 'Light of Gwangju ? The Aesthetics of Light and Coexistence,' featuring various linked programs and cultural events throughout the Culture Complex area and around Gwangju city.

Jung Deok-yong, a graduate of the Department of Cultural Contents, majoring in Contemporary Formative Media at Chosun University, won the grand prize in the young artist category of the media work contest.

Jung’s work is titled ‘Garbologist,’ under the theme ‘Trash Does Not Lie.’

Trash, which fully contains human life, reveals even the aspects people want to hide. Although rummaging through trash may seem inhumane, humans have already normalized this behavior, sifting through countless pieces of information waste.

To understand others, people do not engage in direct conversation but rather grasp a person’s image through Google searches or SNS traces left behind. Through his work, Jung conveys the message that more direct communication is necessary to understand the original essence of objects before they became trash.

Geum Eui-su, a senior student in the same department, won the highest award, the Excellence Prize, in the university student category of the same contest.

Geum’s work, titled ‘Survival Method of Modern People,’ expresses the efforts to acquire better qualifications than others in a competitive society. In Geum’s work, competition is not entirely negative; it is given the meaning of a ‘driving force for growth’ rather than a negative view, as competition provides vitality that develops the power of survival.

The award-winning works were exhibited from the 6th to the 18th at Eunam Art Museum and Juan Art Museum.

President Min Young-don said, “Chosun University is known as a cradle of media art, having produced artist Lee Lee-nam, who is called the second Nam June Paik,” and added, “We are pleased that artists from Chosun University demonstrated excellent skills in this competition.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.