A piano made of barbed-wire from inter-Korean border

Client: Korean Ministry of Unification

Agency: Cheil Worldwide

Market: Korea

Name of campaign: ‘Piano of unification’

Campaign scope: Online, exhibition

Press release comments:

Seoul Museum of Art, the National Chorus of Korea and Samick Cultural Foundation took part in the project. The creation of piano was undertaken by a world music group ‘Gong Myung’ who are famous for designing and rendering creative instruments. Musicians of Gong Myung brought barbed-wires from frontline military camp and transformed it into a new instrument in three months.

The Piano of Unification will be showcased in the lobby of Seoul Museum of Art from July 21 to September 29 as part of ‘North Korea Project’ exhibition. Seoul Museum of Art will display the various artworks that embody division along with the piano. Music performed with the piano and video footage of making it will be introduced in order to help audiences to commemorate the meaning of reunification.

Moreover, the Piano of Unification will be on stage for concert. On August 15, The Liberation Day, it will be played at ‘70th Anniversary of Liberation Chorus Festival’ held by the National Chorus of Korea at Seoul Arts Center where chorus consisted of Koreans from all around the world will be gathering and performing.

Koo Chun, art director of the National Chorus of Korea:

As it is a sound made with a symbol of division, the Piano of Unification has a significant meaning in terms of history and music. Like Piano of Unification brings music out from the rough piece of iron, I will play the piano with a hope of realizing our long-cherished dream upon this divided country.

Campaign Asia-Pacific’s comments: We like that the piano is handcrafted and that the materials used to construct the piano bear some significance. For the video’s score and sound design, the musicality and garage-style beats add a nice touch to the message being conveyed. While this kind of music is nothing new, the technique is not a bad weapon of choice around musically themed narratives. All in all, we would love to see the live performance of this piano.  

For those that want more, here's another similar video using layered sounds to tell a story (by Canon in 2011):