"Most overseas visitors already came with expectations about Korea. We greeted them with delight."
Choi Gwang-hun, a director at Birthday, shared impressions after taking part in SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 in Hong Kong. He said he sensed a shift in how overseas markets view Korean art-tech corporations compared with the past. Art-tech corporations combine art and digital technology to create exhibition, performance, and experiential content.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Art Korea Lab under the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) took part in SIGGRAPH Asia 2025, held in Hong Kong on the 15th to the 18th, with resident and incubated art corporations. SIGGRAPH Asia is the largest academic conference and exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region for graphics and interactive fields, hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery in the United States. About 9,000 experts, including artists, corporations, researchers, developers, and investors from around the world, gather there.
Art Korea Lab introduced four Korean art-tech corporations through a joint booth and a presentation session. The media art corporation Birthday visualizes creators' intellectual property (IP) with various technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and VR. At this event, it presented collaboration cases with domestic corporations and institutions, including AI collaboration-based media art works.
Choi Gwang-hun, a director at Birthday, said, "Many were surprised to see that a government-affiliated institution in Korea directly supports art corporations," adding, "During the event, we continued discussions on distribution and IP collaborations not only with domestic and overseas institutions but also with schools such as Soongsil University and technology corporations."
Six Dopamine, which produces participatory immersive content, unveiled the performance-type Extended Reality (XR) content "You'stalgia" at this SIGGRAPH. In participatory immersive content, audiences consume content as "co-creators" through movement, reactions, and choices.
Park Eok, CEO of Six Dopamine, said, "The most impressive feedback from viewers was that it felt less like watching content and more like a performance completed through my intervention." Park added, "Overseas audiences found it interesting how Korean narratives and bodily movement operate within technology," and, "Taking part in SIGGRAPH is an important benchmark for our technology and production methods, and we will expand XR performances into exhibition, education, and tourism."
The culture-tech corporation Gieoi drew strong interest by combining Korean traditional culture with advanced technology. Gieoi operated an experiential program called "Immersive Palace." Immersive Palace is VR content that imaginatively reconstructs King Gojong's unfinished banquet from the late Joseon modernization period. It is designed to let participants experience Joseon royal dance and music, architecture, and art physically, like play.
Lee Hye-won, CEO of Gieoi, explained, "We planned this work not as a one-off experiential piece but as an experience that would lead interest in Korean culture to actual visits and exploration," adding, "It was meaningful in that our intent was conveyed naturally to visitors." Lee continued, "Many visitors cited as a strength that they could enjoy it through the story and artistic elements," and said, "We also received specific questions and collaboration inquiries about the production process and implementation methods."
Topos Studio, a corporation that produces "immersive media art," presented the direction of immersive media art with its immersive visual art content The Ethereal World.
Heo Dae-gyeom, CEO of Topos Studio, noted, "Through this event, we were able to engage in substantive business discussions with overseas institutions and exhibition venue operators," and mentioned, "It was an opportunity to confirm the commercialization potential of exhibition content."
SIGGRAPH is not easy for small companies to join. Art Korea Lab lowered participation barriers for art-tech corporations by supporting booth and on-site seminar operations and administrative procedures. An Art Korea Lab official said, "It will give participating corporations a chance to check the latest technology trends and global market responses and, based on that, further advance their business strategies."