Gangnam Makeover
Target Platform | Mobile & Web
Gangnam Makeover is an online participatory augmented reality (AR) intervention that took place in 2019 to 2020. It collected Korean womens’ thoughts about beauty and superimposed them over cosmetic surgery advertisements at Sinsa subway station.
The project tried to “makeover” a subway station 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 explored the potential for AR to augment our society by envisioning alternative realities. The mobile app was available on Android and iOS until 2021.
MY ROLES
Designer
Developer
(Solo Project)
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 1
I asked women about their own definition of beauty online via Twitter and online forms. These messages were archived on the Gangnam Makeover twitter feed.
STEP 2
I selected 20 messages from the archive every two weeks, and displayed them over the cosmetic surgery ads at Apgujeong and Sinsa subway stations using mobile AR.
Project Context
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.
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