Translated from Korean news story in Veritas Alpha, an education newspaper that covers educational issues, focusing on high school/college entrance exam information. Written by Jeong Da-bin on April 25, 2024
George Mason University Korea announced on the 25th that it will hold an exhibition for works that passed the first screening of the '4th Social Impact Digital Art Contest' until the 7th of next month. The exhibition will be held at Citizen Plaza A of Seoul Citizens Hall. The works on display are those that passed the first round of screening among the contest entries. Afterwards, the winning works will be selected through a second screening. The opening ceremony held on the 24th was attended by Robert Matz, CEO of George Mason University Korea, professors of the Department of Computer Game Design, Seoul Digitech High School, and Gulliver Studio. The 'Social Impact Digital Art Contest', hosted by George Mason University Korea, is a contest that seeks to raise public awareness of social problems and find solutions by expressing various problems and solutions facing our society through computer games and digital media.
It has been ongoing since 2021 and is jointly sponsored by NCSoft and the Game Culture Foundation. The Social Impact Digital Art Contest, which has been running for the fourth year this year, has significantly increased in size compared to last year. The total number of participating works was 363, an increase of more than four times compared to the previous year, and the size of the exhibition also increased from 40 to 69. Student Kwon Oh-jun's 'Environmental Hourglass' on display expressed the waste and polluted air discharged from the city as an hourglass, flowing through the sea to the North Pole and becoming polluted. Student Chaebin Won's 'Polar Bear's Tears' is an illustration showing the melting of ice in the Arctic and the destruction of polar bear habitat due to global warming, and is a work that expresses the rise in sea levels through the tears of a polar bear.
Student Oh Yong-taek's 'Heat of Discord' placed a polar bear on thin ice and a burning sky side by side to emphasize the harsh reality of climate change. Student Hyewon Hwang's 'Earth hours' is a video work that contains her introduction to a ship searching for habitable planets to replace Earth. In a bright atmosphere, as if an alternative planet has been discovered, a warning from a spaceship is provided, along with a message informing people that it was all a simulation and asking people to save the Earth. Games created by students can also be seen at the exhibition. In the college student game category, Lee Dong-ju's 'Mission Recycle: Save Turtles', Madison Jung's 'Get the FOX out', Lee Chae-yeon's '37°131°', Ray Scope The student's 'Echoes from Hidden Highs' will be displayed.
Robert Matz, CEO of George Mason University Korea, said, "I am happy and proud to see George Mason University Korea's Social Impact Digital Art Contest developing and growing every year." “It was a time when I was able to see through digital art how deeply we think about our social issues,” he said.