Former luxury hotel cabaret awash with Klimt's golden art

Installation view of the immersive multimedia exhibition, "Gustav Klimt, Gold in Motion," at the newly opened Theatre des Lumieres at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul / Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol

Walkerhill Theater transforms into immersive art exhibition venue

By Park Han-sol

Nestled at the foot of Mount Acha in eastern Seoul, Grand Walkerhill Seoul has long been more than just a luxury hotel that offers a panoramic view of the Han River.

For nearly half a century, its underground Walkerhill Theater has played a symbolic role in Korea's performing arts scene since it was unveiled in 1963 as the country's first commercial performance venue decked with the most up-to-date facilities.

It has hosted shows of American jazz legends Louis Armstrong and The Mills Brothers, as well as other world-class entertainment, including "Las Vegas on Ice Show," "Paris Amour Show," "London Piccadilly Show" and its own signature "Honey Bee Show."

Due to its cultural significance, the theater also served as the venue for the banquet during the 1972 inter-Korean Red Cross Talks and the 1985 reunion for families separated during the 1950-1953 Korean War, before eventually fading into history in the early 2010s.

On May 27, the former 3,400-square-meter cabaret gained new life as the "Theatre des Lumieres," awash with the quintessential golden art of Austrian creator Gustav Klimt from the floors to the walls.

As part of the global immersive multimedia art exhibition projects realized by French company Culturespaces, the Theatre des Lumieres is the second digital art center to open its doors in Korea, following the "Bunker des Lumieres" in operation on Jeju Island since 2018.

Upon entering the theater, visitors will find themselves in a dark, monumental hall that still keeps its traces of the past as the cabaret ― such as chandeliers and stage lifts.

An installation view of "Gustav Klimt, Gold in Motion," directed by Gianfranco Iannuzzi; created by Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto and Massimiliano Siccardi; designed (graphics and animation) by Cutback; and produced by Culturespaces Digital / Courtesy of Tmonet

As the overture from Wagner's opera "Tannhauser" plays, the once-forgotten venue comes alive to greet the audience again with the images of Klimt's lavish, golden hues projected onto walls towering up to 21 meters high.

While entitled, "Gustav Klimt, Gold in Motion," the show is more than just a chance to take in the shimmering art of Klimt, according to the exhibition's art director, Gianfranco Iannuzzi.

"In addition to his creative achievement, I wanted to bring the culturally historic era of 19th-century Vienna and the pioneering artistic movements that took place at the time under the spotlight as well," he said during a press preview held last week.

As a result, the multi-sensory exhibition surrounds visitors with not only the Austrian art master's instantly recognizable "The Kiss," "Judith" and "The Tree of Life" from his signature "golden phase," but also the neoclassical frescoes produced during his early years and his journey into ― and eventual separation from ― the revolutionary movement called the Viennese Secession launched in rejection of historicism.

Against classical musical pieces such as Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9" and Rachmaninoff's "Cadenza," the show also seamlessly brings in the art of other Austrian icons ― including architect Otto Wagner and painter Egon Schiele, who was Klimt's mentee and friend.

It then eventually transports viewers to 1950s Paris, where they can plunge into the infinitely blue world of Yves Klein, a French artist and a leading member of the Nouveau Realisme movement, the influence of which reaches into the realm of pop art.

Installation view of "Gustav Klimt, Gold in Motion," directed and designed by Cutback and produced by Culturespaces Digital / Courtesy of Tmonet

Why has the Walkerhill Theater been chosen to reanimate the masterpieces of Vienna and Paris?

"The theater has been such a historically meaningful place in Seoul for the last six decades, as a window of iconic overseas performance arts and culture," said Park Jin-woo, CEO of Tmonet, the Korean operator of the Theatre des Lumieres and partner of Culturespaces.

"As time passed by, the capital city became more advanced and the theater's role (as a once-thriving, singular cultural platform) gradually disappeared into history. It was our aim to revive this now-forgotten venue with art, light and music for people to enjoy."

In fact, one central goal of the "Des Lumieres" digital art centers across the globe lies in breathing new life into abandoned or unused facilities with unique histories by projecting newly interpreted masterpieces onto the building's imposing installations, Iannuzzi noted.

"I do not try to adapt the space for my show. Rather, it's the other way around," he explained.

"Each venue we select to host the immersive art shows has a story of its own ― whether it's in Paris, New York or Seoul. So, even if the exhibition itself deals with the same subject matter or theme, it's never simply a reproduction. Instead, it breathes a sense of novelty and power into each of the reborn spaces."

Some of the notable examples of such "artistic refurbishment" include "Carrieres des Lumieres," an abandoned quarry-turned-digital art center in Les Baux-de-Provence in southern France, and "Atelier des Lumieres," which turned a 19th-century foundry in Paris into a must-see digital museum of fine art.

Bunker des Lumieres on Jeju Island, which has attracted over 1.5 million visitors in the last three years, is itself a former fiber-optic cable bunker tucked away under the island's eastern hillside.

"My ultimate focus is to provide the audience with an immersive artistic experience that is not confined to the pages of the books… (or) framed paintings hung in art galleries. The choice is up to the viewers ― what they see and where they go," Iannuzzi said.

"Gustav Klimt, Gold in Motion" runs through March 5, 2023, at the Theatre des Lumieres.