GANGNAM MAKEOVER
2019-2021
Target Platform | Mobile (Android & iOS), Desktop
Project | Gangnam Makeover is an online participatory augmented reality (AR) intervention. It collects Korean women’s thoughts about beauty and superimposes them over cosmetic surgery advertisements at Sinsa subway station.
The project aims to “makeover” two subway stations in the Gangnam district in South Korea from a place that propagates a narrow definition of beauty to a space of solidarity where women can share, imagine and establish their own visions of beauty.
The project explores the potential for AR to augment our society by envisioning alternative realities.
Role | Creator
On-site Demo
Virtual Sinsa
Virtual Sinsa station is a WebXR version of GNMO AR.
It was set up as an alternative experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.
process
STEP 2
20 messages are selected from the archive every two weeks and displayed on top of cosmetic surgery advertisements in the Apgujeong and Sinsa subway stations through an augmented reality application.
STEP 1
Thoughts about the definition of beauty are collected through an online form and twitter hashtags. These messages are archived in the official Gangnam Makeover Twitter account.
Problem Space
The Apgujeong-Sinsa neighborhood in Gangnam district is the Mecca of plastic surgery, and is a place that shows the standard of beauty for women in South Korea. The moment you arrive in Apgujeong station, the many plastic surgery advertisements reflect this standard.
Big double-lided eyes, a high nose, a V-line chin, "water-gloss" skin, and 45kg. The standard is set. Many plastic surgery advertisements further brand words like 'complete', 'perfect', and 'confidence' and suggest that one needs to fulfill the set beauty standards to attain these traits.
Do women need to change, or spaces like this?
Through this intervention, women can share their thoughts on what beauty means to them. The collected texts will be overlaid on and substitute the homogeneous advertisements at Apgujeong station.
By using augmented reality as a tool to present alternate/preferred realities, the station will be transformed into a public gallery for discussion and empowerment.
Advertisements at Apgujeong station, July 2018.
Gangnam Makeover featured in:
Unleashed Unbounded Unforgiving Exhibition (2021)
Curated by Mel Clemmons and Liss Lafleur with New Art City
DIGITAL POWER Exhibition (2020)
Curated by Kathy Rae Huffman with the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community
ACM SIGGRAPH Art Show Archvies