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If you are an ARMY, MOA, CARAT or honestly just a kpop fan in general, then this is the place for you - the second stop on the Kooky K-Pop tour is none other than the HYBE Insight Museum!
Located in the Yongsan neighborhood of Seoul, below the HYBE company building is a museum dedicated to HYBE’s artists and the process of making music and performance; from BTS to TXT to SEVENTEEN, there’s something for every fandom to enjoy and with so much to do, it’s an experience I would recommend for fans of all ages.
HYBE stated that the primary goal of HYBE Insight is to “offer a holistic, stimulating experience consisting of sound, music and story”, and as such, when you visit you are immersed in the world they’ve created through sound, music, and space, telling the story of how powerful music can be.
Why don’t we take a closer look inside and see what the museum has to offer for you to do?
Before going to the museum, you have to download and sign up for the HYBE Insight app to book a space - you can also do this on their website. From there you can decide the date and time for your visit and purchase your ticket. (They take both domestic and foreign cards so no need to worry!) The app told me to arrive at least 30 minutes before my allotted time, but I arrived just 10 minutes earlier and was still able to check in fairly quickly. I followed the stairs down to the B2 level and was soon transported into the world of HYBE Insight.
[Inside the HYBE Insight basement floor 1 | Credit: Korea JoongAng Daily]
Absolutely make sure to take headphones with you so you can enjoy the guide docent narrations provided by the HYBE artists in the app. With my headphones on and j-hope softenly narrating, I wandered into the first room (aptly named ‘The Portal’) that would serve as the museum's path into the first museum space full of interactive exhibits. In this area you could see the interiors of the different HYBE producers, as well as actually play with the various composition tracks from actual songs, and in another section, there were giant screens demonstrating how the choreography was created to match the beats of each song.
Unfortunately, pictures aren’t allowed on the first floor, but I can guarantee that it is a must-see; there is so much memorabilia from different artists like BTS’ microphones, headsets that artists have worn, and a display of each artist's lore. But I think my favorite part of this floor was the artist interviews! There’s a space on this floor where you can watch an interview with artists who wrote the lyrics for different songs and it was very interesting listening to what the artists had to say about the music they create.
At about 12:30pm, everyone who had a ticket for 12pm was ushered into a big empty room where we watched an emotional video presentation where HYBE gave their mission statement, and at the end a huge showcase of awards won by HYBE artists and CEO Bang Si Hyeok were lit up, spanning from floor to ceiling.
[The trophy wall is roughly 6~8 meters (19~27 feet) tall | Photo Credit: HYBE]
Moving from the B2 up to B2 level, HYBE is currently hosting a gallery project for the artist Tom Sachs titled “Boombox Perspective.” While viewing the temporary gallery, I found it interesting to see how the artist would use boomboxes to express the idea that music could come from anywhere and everywhere.
Once you’ve wandered through the gallery, you’d next find yourself in the ‘Soundwave Room.’ In this space you can play rhythm games on some Samsung tablets (personally I found the songs by BTS and TXT the hardest), and you can also feel the gentle vibrations of music through the black soundwave sculptures in the center of the room.
After that, the next room I found myself in was a beautiful room decorated with florals on the ceiling, text on one wall and many holes on another. This is the “olfactory” room where scents were pumped through the holes into the room themed after the song ‘Euphoria’ by BTS. The simple and minimalistic design of the room was very pretty and the room smelled great; the description of the room said that the scents were paired with the song to provide a more “sensory experience.”
After this, I finally came to the last exhibit space, the highlight of which was the BTS concert series and a display of some of their most recent achievements. In this section they displayed the famous DIOR stage outfits BTS had worn at their pre-covid ‘Speak Yourself’ concerts, and it was fun to be able to take photos and get a closer look at them. The exhibit also showed how the members prepared themselves for the ‘Permission To Dance’ concerts, from rehearsal all the way to being on stage, with quotes from the members about each process.
There was also a plethora of photos and videos of the process, truly showing BTS in their element along with a display of their records for their hit song ‘Dynamite’, and the ‘Butter’ albums’ the members had decorated themselves. As an ARMY myself, this floor was very fun to be on since I got to physically see the things that BTS have accomplished; being able to get a glimpse of the hard work they’ve done was a treat, and you really get to feel like you were part of the experience.
For the last part of the exhibition tour you’re ushered into in a completely sound-proofed with padding all over the walls and ceiling, and for just a moment, everyone is asked to be silent so we can consider what a world without music would be like… and then you get to spent some money in the HYBE Insight store, where you can get some exclusive merch and souvenirs to commemorate your trip.
All in all I really enjoyed visiting HYBE Insight, and even though it’s clearly enjoyable for ARMYs, I would definitely also recommend this to all K-Pop fans because it really does allow you to experience music in a new way. Not only that, the whole process was really fun and foreign friendly, so it’d definitely be easy for you to visit! There was so much to do and I definitely teared up a couple of times seeing all of the pieces that have been collected and displayed. Overall, I think this makes for an amazing experience for K-Pop fans of all ages.
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Writer: Taryn Novak
Editor: Han (O.L)