Digital design company d’strict was made famous by the public artworks WAVE (2020) and Waterfall-NYC (2021), created with anamorphic illusion, a type of projection technique used to create an illusion of depth and three-dimensionality.
d’strict’s immersive art experience, ARTE MUSEUM, structured around nature-orientated themes, has locations in Jeju, Gangneung, and Yeosu in Korea. The first overseas branch opened in Hong Kong in October 2022, and a location in Chengdu, China opened in April 2023. Now, d’strict is also extending the expansion of ARTE MUSEUM to the USA. The first US venue will open imminently in Las Vegas. Further museums are planned in New York and Santa Monica. Los Angeles.
By 2026, d’strict aims to have around 20 immersive media art exhibitions worldwide.
d’strict’s unforgettable creations are a breathtaking exploration of the essence of nature, presented in a manner that provokes awe. WAVE, Waterfall-NYC and Whale#2 offered visions of raw nature, juxtaposed with the cityscape of their surroundings, in a dissonance that offered balm for the spirit.
Sean Lee joined d’strict in 2007 and has been CEO of the company since 2016. He tells blooloop:
“I majored in Economics and Management – hardly creative, but together with leaders such as Jin, I help in balancing the creativity and management elements of d’strict.”
Jin Lee, creative director of ARTE MUSEUM and vice president, started with d’strict during the Web 2.0 era in the mid-2000s:
“This was at the point a new sector in the design industry emerged, called New Media Design,” she explains. “Since joining the company, I have participated in developing projects using holograms and AR or full-body interactions in commercial projects, like advertisements.”
The origins of ARTE MUSEUM
In 2011, d’strict brought out its LIVE PARK project. This was a theme park entertainment platform using convergent and crossover technologies, in which visitors could interact with various 4D adventure platforms to create their own unique adventure, with avatars personalised to reflect individual facial characteristics.
Comprising eight zones including 13 adventures and three mixed reality performances, as well as three mobile and web integration service platforms in a three-acre facility, LIVE PARK fused virtual and real-world experience. 250 visitors were simultaneously allowed to create the avatars that would guide them through a series of bespoke experiences including multiplayer games, mixed reality and hologram performances, quests, and adventures in a user-generated 4D experience unlike any other.
LIVE PARK utilised one of the world’s largest 360-degree panoramic 3D screens and a 150 x 9m supersized screen. This allowed players to engage in a fully immersive experience using their smartphones, adding a layer of interactivity. Participants could even ‘throw’ virtual items from their phones to the screen. ‘Mana Sound’ translated body movements simultaneously to sound and AR images.
“That is our conceptual background; the premise,” Jin Lee says. “In 2015, we used the K-Pop IPs and celebrities to provide an opportunity for the audience to interact and engage with them in the Metaverse. That was something we called the PLAY K-POP Project. Subsequently, those experiences have developed into what we now know as ARTE MUSEUM.”
ARTE MUSEUM is, effectively, a culmination of her experiences at d’strict:
“The aim behind developing ARTE MUSEUM was to make more people experience and engage with art.”
She realised that nature as a theme was something universal that everyone could enjoy, without needing any prior knowledge of art.
The d’strict vision
Sean Lee outlines the company’s background, and its vision:
“We started our business in 2004 as a web agency. Then we kept pace with the development of media technology. In around 2009, we changed our business from a web agency to a digital agency. By utilising newly developed displays and interfaces, we started to create digital content that could be adapted to offline spaces. As Jin explained, we created our own theme park, LIVE PARK followed by PLAY K-POP in 2015. Finally, in 2020 we opened ARTE MUSEUM with its main theme of ‘Eternal Nature.’
“With ARTE MUSEUM, our vision is to bring more attractive visual experiences to more people. We settled on Eternal Nature as a theme since nature can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of age, nationality, or gender.”
Jin clarifies:
“Much of the empathy and appreciation that our artwork inspires is because there is an element of hyperrealism. There is a surrealism in all our works that lifts it quite far from the reality itself. We have exhibitions on flowers, waterfalls, beaches, and jungles. But, unlike the actual physical experience, when you enter these spaces that we set up, the natural elements depicted are not impacted by us, and they don’t bother us, either.
“In our version, Waterfal-NYCl, for example, doesn’t have rocks, moss, mud, cliffs, or anything that isn’t the waterfall itself as a protagonist. It’s quite a surreal visual.”
An exploration of nature
This distillation of the experience, denuded of any attendant distractions, is something Jin, as creative director, credits with attracting people, and creating the levels of appreciation the work has been receiving.
She adds:
“That distilled version of nature is what we are bringing to the table in terms of experiencing nature with technology. It differs from the VFX effects seen in movies. In movies, the depiction of real-life natural landscapes is often just a replica of what already exists. This distinctly digital language is what resonates with the audience of ARTE MUSEUM. It spills over into feeling the solace and grandeur of nature, at the same time.”
Inevitably, given its core theme, ARTE MUSEUM touches on environmental issues. For example, ICE, a piece to be unveiled at ARTE MUSEUM’s upcoming Busan edition next year, is a work of anamorphic illusion, depicting the Arctic melting.
d’strict’s messaging is implicit rather than didactic. It is, they feel, important to let the audience feel comforted, rather than afraid of what they’re experiencing outside the exhibition space. The experience of the art is designed to convey joy while incorporating messages related to the theme of Eternal Nature. The merchandise sold at the end of the exhibition is sustainably sourced and created from renewable materials. It is also packaged with a view to minimising waste. However:
“We haven’t been putting that in front of the artwork. It’s about helping the environment with positive actions, rather than putting it into words.”
ARTE MUSEUM & generative AI
Some of the creations on display at ARTE MUSEUM are generative art.
Jin Lee explains:
“There are many solutions for creating generative AI pictures or images commercially. But many aren’t directly transferable in terms of exhibition content. What we’re doing is utilizing AI technology that interacts with external factors, such as the weather outside the exhibition hall. We also employ the concepts and technology of generative art to make flowers in our exhibition space bloom and wither, crafting content that evolves scenically and offers unique experiences for all visitors.”
Real-time information about the weather outside the exhibition space was also incorporated. This was translated into visuals so that when it snowed, a flower would be filled with snow; when it was windy, a flower would be wind-blown, and so on.
Another NFT project showcasing generative art technology was a collaboration last year with crypto artist duo Hackatao. The interactive artwork, [SPIRIT FOREST] Incanto celebrated the almost mythic appearance of the sacred deer and featured deer which changed their colour or bloomed with exquisite flowers according to how visitors approached or touched them, turning their heads and responding to caresses.
“To sum up, we have a lot of these cutting-edge technologies incorporated into our exhibition spaces, and we will continue to do so. As Sean explained, we have always kept pace with the development of technology. As new tech emerges, we try to leverage it to create something audiences understand and resonate with through artwork.”
d’strict’sWAVE and Waterfall-NYC
It was the WAVE and Waterfall-NYC installations that first brought d’strict to the world’s notice.
Sean Lee explains:
“Projects like WAVE, Whale#2, and Waterfall-NYC, which put our company on the map, were born out of a curiosity to showcase the company’s capabilities while utilizing LED billboards in the city in a more unconventional way.
“In 2020, we found out that there are lots of digital outdoor advertisement LED screens in the downtown of every city. In Seoul, the L-shaped K-POP square mega screen is the largest LED screen in South Korea. It can be synchronised with another nearby screen, H-Wall, installed on the outer wall of the Hyundai Dept Store on a parallel street.”
“We imagined utilising those screens, which are usually only used for brands or product advertising, for something attractive in media art. We started to consider what material to show on that screen – something new, something unexpected. In the end, we decided to take something from nature, and to show waves crashing into the glass water tank screen.”
“That was how the project started. Thankfully, we discovered that many people in the world appreciate that kind of innovation.”
Having showcased WAVE on that screen to public acclaim, the team decided to extend its reach.
“We focused on New York Times Square and showcased two works. One, shown in July 2021, was Whale #2. This showed a hyperrealistic, 3-D space where the whale made of water danced together with the crashing waves. We also utilised the longest LED screen in Times Square – four vertical LED screens – to show Waterfall-NYC. This was a virtual waterfall pouring in the city centre.”
ARTE MUSEUM & Eternal Nature
In terms of how ARTE MUSEUM builds on the concepts of WAVE and Waterfall-NYC, he comments:
“There are some common areas, in that WAVE and Waterfall-NYC are also materials of nature: we generally do try to represent nature, through media art. WAVE and Waterfall-NYC are public media artworks that were showcased on public LED screens. But ARTE MUSEUM is our exhibition form, where we platform our own media art content.”
“After the initial success of WAVE in its first iteration, we then decided to showcase the work on Times Square, which is almost a symbol of the complexity of cities. The Waterfall-NYC project, which was displayed on the 114-meter LED screen in a staircase-like shape was a contrast: this gigantic element of nature in the middle of a complicated city. We hoped it would bring solace and comfort to those living their busy lives.
“The Waterfall-NYC project also incorporated signature New York characteristics like the red bricks and steel frames of the building’s façade.”
Jin Lee adds:
“The concept underpinning ARTE MUSEUM precedes the release of these projects. The running theme of the experience Eternal Nature, might manifest in different projects – such as flowers, waterfalls, and whales. We are aware of their universal appeal to a wide range of audiences. So, that’s why we decided to have these projects along the line.”
The growth of ARTE MUSEUM
Sean interjects:
“Our brand name, d’strict, means design+strictly. We have been focusing on maintaining or increasing the quality of the content we create. I believe most of our creators have a DNA in common that centres around a high quality of content.
“We started our business around 20 years ago, and were, essentially, pioneers in this industry, because we started to create this kind of content in 2009. We built up significant experience, and have done so many projects, incorporating our own creators’ DNA. d’strict has extensive expertise and know-how around how to showcase content effectively. It is renowned in the industry.”
ARTE MUSEUM is one of the most popular digital art experiences in the world.
“We opened the very first ARTE MUSEUM on Jeju Island in September 2020. After adding two museums in Yeosu and Gangneung City in 2021, a temporary exhibition in Hong Kong and another permanent museum in Chengdu, in April of this year, so far, we have attracted over 6 million visitors in just over three years.”
d’strict and the universal appeal of nature
He attributes part of ARTE MUSEUM’s success to the theming:
“Nature speaks to us all, regardless of age or nationality. The second factor is that we have ensured the space is photogenic. It is somewhere that people will want to take photos and share them on their social media platforms.”
There is also an element of stillness that characterises d’strict’s content and, Jin Lee contends, the way the creators at d’strict work:
“Everyone here has something they’re good at, and we respect that. It doesn’t matter how old someone is, where they stand in the company, or where they come from. You might not see this kind of respect everywhere, especially in bigger companies. We believe that what makes each person special is important. We value and respect everyone’s unique strengths, and that’s part of why our works stand out.”
The Las Vegas Strip is set to shimmer with a new kind of brilliance as d’strict unveils ARTE MUSEUM LAS VEGAS, its first ARTE MUSEUM in the Western Hemisphere this November. Located in the heart of the Strip at 63LV (Suite 208, 3716 South Las Vegas Boulevard), this $25 million, 30,000-square-foot space will feature 14 zones showcasing a ground-breaking fusion of art and technology. Highlights include audience-favourite pieces from the ARTE MUSEUM collection. The LIGHT OF LAS VEGAS will also debut in the museum’s signature GARDEN zone.
Top image: ARTE MUSEUM GANGNEUNG – BEACH ‘AURORA’
