With its Grand Hall and Museum set to open in 2025, Art Center Incheon to rise in popularity as shooting locations for TV serials and programs​

The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) is eying its next leap forward as an international city of culture and art with the Art Center Incheon.

Already two and a half years into its life, Art Center Incheon has built quite a reputation on the domestic performing arts scene with its spectacular lineup of performances, unrivaled sound, and planning capacity. The Center has also introduced a variety of cultural and arts education programs to provide citizens with opportunities to enjoy culture.

Art Center Incheon is fulfilling its role in satiating the thirst for more culture and art among Incheon’s citizens, who expect more sophisticated lifestyles living in an international city (IFEZ). Once Incheon opens the Center’s Grand Hall and Museum, both of which are part of Art Center Incheon’s second phase, by the end of 2025, Art Center Incheon is expected to strengthen the cultural competence of IFEZ, and become a driving force propelling Incheon as a city of culture and art.

▲Art Center Incheon has built quite a reputation on the domestic performing arts scene with its spectacular lineup of performances, unrivaled sound, and planning capacity. The Center has also introduced a variety of cultural and arts education programs to provide citizens with opportunities to enjoy culture.

For the first phase of the Center, Incheon invested KRW 260 billion, and opened the 9-story (two stories in the basement, seven stories above ground/total floor area 51,977m²) building with a total seating capacity hall of 1,727 seats inside its Concert Hall.

The exterior of Art Center Incheon, which was designed to mimic a maestro’s hand conducting an orchestra, has helped the Center become Incheon’s premier performance facility and a landmark of Songdo International City. It has a color-exposed concrete construction facade, and it is designed to withstand the elements for the coming decades. The Center is also equipped with a media façade system that uses interior light to create a seamless view along its exterior walls.

The Concert Hall’s beautiful interior space design was inspired by the shape of the sea, and the lobby area uses design features that look similar to white porcelain to express the purity of art. Overall, the architectural flourishes come together perfectly to create a harmonious look for Art Center Incheon.

Inside, the Concert Hall features seats that are more closely positioned to the stage, and a sophisticated anti-noise and vibration system. It mixes the strengths from “vineyard” and “shoebox” auditorium designs to optimize the seating arrangements and maximize sound reverberation from the walls to deliver a more immersive experience.

The Concert Hall, which was carefully designed so that sounds from the stage felt virtually the same from the front row to the back row. As such, it provides the perfect sound conditions for solo and chamber music as well as large orchestra performances.

▲The Concert Hall features seats that are more closely positioned to the stage, and a sophisticated anti-noise and vibration system. It mixes the strengths from “vineyard” and “shoebox” auditorium designs to optimize the seating arrangements and maximize sound reverberation from the walls to deliver a more immersive experience.

In November 2018, both the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, a leading performing group based in Incheon, made headlines and turned the heads of classical music fans when they sold out their tickets with in one minute of opening the ticketing system.

This year, Art Center Incheon is getting ready to take itself to the next level by introducing a wide range of cultural and artistic education programs along with special performances and various interactive programs for Incheon’s citizens.

Of course, the Center will look to remain in strict compliance with the government’s social distancing guidelines, and host performances involving mostly domestic artists. As for overseas artists, especially those that were previously booked to perform at the Center, they will get their chance to visit Incheon depending on the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roughly 40 performances are scheduled this year. In particular, popular signature performances such as the “Saturday Stage,” “Matinee Concert,” and “Concert Opera Series” will continue throughout the year, and the general public will be able to purchase tickets for upcoming sessions.

Art Center Incheon, which has built a reputation as an outstanding classical concert venue, is also receiving plenty of attention from the general public for its new Art Education Academy.

 Created in order to give people a chance to enjoy different cultures, the Art Education Academy offers lectures on culture for adults with two theory courses on music and art, art education programs designed to help children express their thoughts and emotions, and develop their creativity by composing music, and special in-depth lecture programs with renowned figures in various fields such as politics, economy, and society as well as culture. The Academy, ultimately, hopes to bring culture and art closer to Incheon’s citizens.

Art Center Incheon, which also serves as a major tourist attraction for Songdo International City thanks to its beautiful exterior and architectural beauty, is attracting attention not only as a venue for performances, but also as a filming location for music videos and TV serials. 

It featured as one of the main backdrops in Wheein’s (Mamamoo) music video filmed in March, and also as a set on the TV show “Now, We are Breaking Up” on the SBS channel. 

In Now, We are Breaking Up, Art Center Incheon was set as the headquarters of a fashion company. Moving forward, the Center is expected to become a major set piece for the entire show’s plot, and showcased with impressive and sophisticated shots of the building from both inside and outside.
 

▲Art Center Incheon, which also serves as a major tourist attraction for Songdo International City thanks to its beautiful exterior and architectural beauty, is attracting attention not only as a venue for performances, but also as a filming location for music videos and TV serials.​​​

Moreover, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority will soon start devising its master plan and conduct a feasibility study service together with the New Songdo International City Development (NSIC) to help kick-start the city’s transformation into an international city of culture and art.

The second phase of the project is to build a Grand Hall and a Museum in the plot near 80-9 Songdo-dong, adjacent to the Concert Hall completed and opened as part of the first phase of the project. The Grand Hall will be a 1,515-seat performance facility that accommodates various performances, including operas and musicals, while the Museum is expected to feature five floors of exhibition halls and amenities, including recreational facilities for local residents. Incheon estimates that phase-2 of the project will require a total of KRW 220 billion won investment (funded by the central government and the Incheon Metropolitan City government).

The need to push ahead with phase-2 of the project has been raised on multiple occasions over the past few years. The Concert Hall at the Art Center Incheon, which opened in November 2018 as part of phase-1 of the project, lacks the capacity and features to facilitate performances of various genres, including musical performances that are popular among its citizens, given the fact that it was designed exclusively for classical music. In particular, the foundations and underground structures built for phase-2 during the construction of phase-1 have been left unattended and neglected for several years now, raising concerns about safety, urban aesthetics, and deterioration in quality.

In relation to the second phase of the project, the IFEZ Authority plans to complete the central investment evaluation and secure the required budget by the first half of 2023. Thereafter, it will iron out construction-related issues, complete a blueprint for the buildings, and break ground in November 2023, with the prospective complete date for phase-2 set in December 2025.

When the second phase of the Art Center Incheon project is completed, the Grand Hall and Museum will be added to the existing Concert Hall, meaning that the Center will be fully capable of hosting performances of various genres such as opera, dance, plays, and musicals as well as classical music performances. With a more comprehensive set of facilities, Art Center Incheon is expected to become the ultimate venue for culture and art in Incheon. Moreover, the Center is expected to make significant contributions to the growth of IFEZ and Incheon as an international city of culture and art.