Multidisciplinary design firm Space Popular has created a video installation for the Gwangmyeongmun Gate at the Deoksugung Palace in Seoul, South Korea.
Commissioned by the MMCA - National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in South Korea, the installation, called the Gate of Bright Lights, forms part of the 'Architecture and Heritage: Unearthing Future' exhibit.
It is designed to show visitors how screens and digital interfaces have replaced physical objects - doors, gates, etc - as the gateway between us and the rest of the world.
Located in the central opening of the Gwangmyeongmun Gate, the screen shows a video of a wooden gate that reveals a new scene each time it opens, first opening on a view of the Deoksugung Palace under the rule of the House of Yi, Korea's royal family, more than 100 years ago, before another more ornate door closes on that scene and opens on an internet chat room.
"Every time the doors of the Gate of Bright Lights shut they reveal a different design, and everytime they open a new and stranger space is revealed," say Space Popular founders Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg.
The installation was developed to showcase the parallels between the palace gates, which served as the only connection to the House of Yi, and modern devices, such as smartphones and tablets, which hold a similar significance in people's lives.
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