Dassault Systèmes Presents Urban Renaissance, Featuring a 3D Mapping Project Illustrating the City of Tomorrow by Korean Artist Yiyun Kang

• Urban Renaissance is part of Dassault Systèmes’ “The Only Progress is Human” initiative to inspire the use of virtual worlds to drive sustainable innovations 
• Exciting collaboration is with renowned Korean artist Yiyun Kang, who was recently awarded the British Council Alumni Award for Culture and Creativity in 2022.
• Immersive experience taking place at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul explores how sustainable cities can thrive as urbanization increases 

VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France — January 12, 2023 — Dassault Systèmes today announced Urban Renaissance, the most recent installment in its “The Only Progress is Human” initiative to shape a better future.  Urban Renaissance showcases Dassault Systèmes’ vision of the city of tomorrow through an innovative 3D video mapping projection designed by Korean artist and researcher Yiyun Kang and projected onto the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.  

“‘Geofuture’ is my large-scale public projection work that maps the DDP in Seoul. Inspired by Dassault Systèmes’ vision of designing our city, this project imagines our future life that will be realized by sustainable innovation,” said Yiyun Kang.

“The city of tomorrow needs to be resilient to be sustainable.  We need new solutions that enable citizens to benefit from a virtual twin of their city to test solutions in the virtual world before implementing them in the real world,” said Victoire de Margerie, Vice President, Corporate Equity, Marketing & Communications, Dassault Systèmes. “Urban Renaissance will explore how sustainable cities can thrive as urbanization increases.  For this, we chose the vibrant city of Seoul, and to collaborate with Yiyun Kang, an exciting, renowned local artist who reflects our vision of urban renaissance – a vision for the sustainable and healthy city of tomorrow.” 

The reveal of Urban Renaissance and a related talk show will be broadcast during a live event on LinkedIn, YouTube and Dassault Systèmes’ website on January 31 at 17h00 CET.  Viewers will have the opportunity to discover the artist’s monumental artwork projected onto the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and learn what the city of tomorrow will look like according to Dassault Systèmes and experts such as Bogdan Zaha from Zaha Hadid Architects. To watch Urban Renaissance live, click here.

The virtual twin experience of a city improves quality of life for its citizens  
With growing populations and an increasing number of climate issues, cities need to be more sustainable and healthy in all aspects, while also continuing the pursuit of a better quality of life for all.  This will be possible by creating sustainable buildings, using renewable materials, involving citizens in the definition of the city of tomorrow, providing more inclusive public services, and finding new solutions for mobility, agriculture and greener energy. 

Dassault Systèmes is leading the way by providing the technology to model, simulate, analyze, visualize and experience complete cities in the virtual world, to improve how they are built in the real world and the quality of life within them.  These virtual twin experiences – visual, digital, 3D models that represent reality with scientific accuracy and are tested and perfected in the context of their use – consider the city environment as well as the infrastructure and commodities needed to build it.  Citizens, businesses and city officials can use them to work together to imagine a more sustainable, circular future while simulating and understanding the social and ecological impacts of every design decision they make, before implementing the optimal solution.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza: a symbolic building for Urban Renaissance
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza is the perfect example of what can be designed using Dassault Systèmes’ software, as it was conceived and designed by Zaha Hadid Architects using CATIA - one of Dassault Systèmes’ solutions. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza, abbreviated as DDP, is a major urban landmark in Seoul with a neofuturistic design characterized by its powerful curving forms. The building is the centerpiece of South Korea's design, art and fashion hub and a popular destination for both local residents and tourists. 

About Yiyun Kang
Dr Yiyun Kang received her BFA from Seoul National University, MFA from UCLA’s Design & Media Arts, and PhD from Royal College of Art (RCA). Kang is currently a visiting lecturer at the RCA and a fellow of Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). She held exhibitions at numerous art institutions including the Seoul Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, and participated in international events such as Venice Architecture Biennale (Venice, Italy) and Shenzhen New Media Art Festival. Kang did her artist residency in V&A, Korea National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and Seoul Museum of Modern Art. In 2020, she participated in the transcontinental contemporary art project CONNECT, BTS as the only Korean artist; in 2017, she received the Red Dot Award with Deep Surface, a commissioned exhibition by Max Mara. Kang’s work has been acquired by V&A. Kang is featured in Bloomberg’s Art+Technology series and her writings have been published in the Leonardo Journal (MIT Press) and Practices of Projections, published by Oxford University Press. Kang has been awarded the British Council Alumni Award for Culture and Creativity in 2022. She participated in several conferences and symposiums including SIGGRAPH and NEXUS Pavilion, organized by La Biennale di Venezia. Kang also gives lectures at Politecnico di Milano (Milano), SOAS University of London (London), and Sotheby’s Institute of Art (London), Seoul National University (Seoul) and KAIST (Daejeon). Recently Kang had a solo exhibition Anthropause at PKM gallery (Seoul), and her group exhibition Cubically Imagined is traveling from Paris to Hong Kong, Moscow and Beijing.