New online game platform celebrates Seoul’s underground club scene

News

Seoul Community Radio has launched a new virtual gaming and exhibition platform, which aims to shine a light on the city’s underground club scene. 

The platform, onit.life, launched on 17th March with its first interactive exhibition, titled ‘A Decade of Seoul Parties 2010-2020’. Until Wednesday 24th March, users will be able to explore the 3D virtual world within the platform, designed in the style of the iconic Doom video game series. In it, they will find photography, videos and other artefacts relating to the evolution of Seoul’s underground clubbing landscape over the past decade. The exhibition aims to raise awareness of the challenges being faced by the scene at the moment, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. 

The platform has been designed in partnership with Korean developers Nose Studio, and each user will be able to explore within it for free for 15 minutes. On leaving the virtual world, users will be given the option to make a donation, which will go toward funding similar community-led virtual projects. 

The exhibition has been soundtracked by 15 Korean artists, including DJ Bowlcut, Apachi, Yetsuby and Xannex, and will be available from next week. DJ Conan has also curated a special mix for the exhibition, celebrating the sounds that have defined the past 10 years in Seoul’s underground club culture. Photography for the exhibition comes from Korean artists Stillm45, Hansy, Kaipaparazzi, Hyunkeem, Chosen1 and Sung1.

Speaking about the project, Seoul Community Radio co-founder Richard Price said:  “With the physical club scene facing a triple-threat at this time from Covid restrictions, a lack of govt financial support and negative societal perceptions, we wanted to create something that was a type of time-capsule of all the positive contributions the community has made to Korea’s reputation as a nightlife destination of note.”

Step into ‘A Decade of Seoul Parties 2010-2020’ here, or take a look at a gameplay trailer below. 

Check out State Of Play, our monthly column in which Cherie Hu explores the fast-growing intersection of music and gaming, here