Lotte Department Store Presents Media Cube Art Expressing New Year Wishes for 2021

Lotte Department Store Jamsil Branch AvenueL exterior view.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte Department Store will present a giant 6m by 6m cubic media cube themed "Hope Blue" to celebrate the hopeful start of the new year 2021.

The media cube will be exhibited at the Jamsil Lotte World Tower Plaza from the 31st until February 14, 2021, and from the 11th, it will begin pre-accepting public submissions of New Year's messages to be displayed on the media cube.

This project is presented as a media video in collaboration with the Hwang Ki Foundation and Hwang Ki Museum to capture the artistic world of the late Kim Hwan-ki, a pioneer of Korean abstract art. The project features Kim Hwan-ki's "Universe," which was auctioned for 13.2 billion KRW, the highest price ever paid for a Korean artwork. Universe is a pointillist painting composed of countless dots, characterized by a blue cosmos filled with stars.

Lotte Department Store will install the giant cosmic media cube inspired by this work and divide it into spaces to hold hopes for the new year, which will be allocated to the public by lottery. Applications are accepted from the 11th to the 27th. To apply, select the desired display time in the comments of the "Selling the Universe" video uploaded on Lotte Department Store's official YouTube channel, then leave a reply comment with your New Year's hope message to be displayed on the media cube.

Winners will be announced on the 29th via an official notice on Lotte Department Store's YouTube channel, and the 600 selected hope messages will be sequentially displayed on the media cube from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on the 31st, each for 60 seconds (1 minute). This event will be live-streamed on Lotte Department Store's official YouTube channel for customers who find it difficult to visit in person due to COVID-19.

Additionally, on January 1, 2021, a spectacular media art show using Kim Hwan-ki's Universe artwork will be held along with the New Year's countdown, and until February 14, the four faces of the cube will depict the vast cosmos as a wish for a hopeful new year. During the same period, a media archive exhibition showcasing Kim Hwan-ki's life and artistic world will be held at the World Tower AvenueL Art Hall.

Hyun Jong-hyuk, Head of Customer Experience at Lotte Department Store, said, "This campaign was planned with the hope that all Koreans, exhausted by COVID-19 this year, will welcome a warm and hopeful new year," adding, "Seeing the hope messages displayed on the giant media cube will be a comforting and emotional event that creates unforgettable memories."

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