Pop-Out Art Exhibit

A few weeks ago, a friend mentioned to me that there was a pop art exhibit showing at Expo Park. Daejeon is not exactly a cultural hot bed like say Seoul, or Busan, so a pop art exhibit is not something to be taken lightly! Turns out it wasn’t pop art, rather pop-out art, but it was still pretty rad. I actually meant to write this a few weeks ago after we went, but if you are living in Daejeon, the exhibit is running until May 29 so there is still lots of time to check it out.

We arrived at Expo Park with no clear idea of where to go, but as it was my first time at Daejeon’s premier tourist attraction I was quite happy to wander around aimlessly. Expo Park was built for the World Expo in 1993, and it is clear that although the park is reasonably well maintained little or no effort has been made to keep it up to date. We made our way in the general direction that the few other people in the park seemed to be going, but not without a few distractions.

Photo credit: Samantha Nell
After passing several deserted, but amusing children’s diversions we came across one that we couldn’t resist: tiny bumper cars! Notice Ben’s expression, and the fact that he is too large to sit in the car normally like all the girls are doing. An absolute steal of an activity at 500won (0.44 CDN) and absolutely amazing.

Photo credit: Samantha Nell
Next distraction takes some explaining. We noticed that there was some kind of tram/monorail vehicle that was running a course over Expo Park when we arrived. We followed the airborne tracks to a building, but when we arrived the building was locked. We tried to get some info at the building next to it, and instead purchased tickets for a 4D ride. The supposedly 4D ride started with a 10 minute film that looks like it was made when the park originally opened. It featured great scenes like a guy working on his corvette and then him wailing on an electric guitar that wasn’t actually attached to anything. It was pretty spectacular. Following this cinematic masterpiece, we were led to the actual ride which was one of those rides where they show you a clip on a projector while your seat jars you around for 10 or 15 minutes. Anyways, after the ride was over we followed the ramps out when we happened on the gem that was the Stage of Participation. The man who was in charge of the ride thought we were nuts, because we spent more time in this 12 by 12′ area with flashing lights and oddly comforting midi music than we had in the actual ride.

Finally we wandered down to the pop-out exhibit. After initially being disappointed at the lack of pop art, the exhibit turned out to have some really cool pieces. I say pieces, because my favourite two were probably the mirrored rooms, and forced perspective room. All the paintings were painted to look 3D and had suggestions for how to interact with them. Turns out, there were also instructions on the best angle to take photos from, but we didn’t realize that at the time.

Hold your cursor over the photos to read the captions.