HiKR Ground

A travel bureau became a media playground

Video artist Lee Lee-nam's Landscape of the New City fills HiKR Ground's giant screen. Upstairs, a K-pop XR studio and regional exhibitions lead to a travel information desk overlooking Cheonggyecheon

HiKR Ground opened on 22 July 2022 in Korea Tourism Organization's Seoul Center beside Cheonggyecheon. The Ministry of Culture and the tourism agency had spent more than a year converting the previous K-Style Hub into a participatory five-floor centre aimed at younger travellers. Its name combines a greeting, "Hi", with "KR" for Korea. Visitors can film pop-inspired videos before seeking practical travel advice upstairs

The first-floor HiKR Wall spans 32 metres with Lee Lee-nam's animated Landscape of the New City. Do Ho Suh's North Wall (2022), a work on the theme of Korean travel, occupies a window facing Cheonggyecheon. A digital landscape inside and the actual stream outside are visible at different edges of this public art space

Playing the starring role on the second floor

The second floor is the K-POP Ground, built around an XR Live Studio with staged environments for music-video-style recording and photography. Subway-car and coin-laundry sets resemble backgrounds familiar from K-pop videos. Visitors choose music and lighting to film their own short performances and photographs

The sets, backgrounds and specific participation programmes can change; the creative premise remains the attraction. Some organised studio experiences need separate booking or payment even though general admission to HiKR Ground is free. A visitor should check the specific activity, not assume that walking into the centre secures a private video session

The third-floor HiKR Street recreates Korean alleys through graffiti settings, coin-karaoke rooms and photo booths; AI and augmented-reality activities explore everyday city culture. The HiKR Tower carries media across the third and fourth levels. On the fourth, Local Ground presents regional stories and interactive displays introducing Korean cities and possible trips. Themes rotate, while street culture and destinations remain the two different approaches

The top floor makes the tourism mission explicit

The fifth-floor HiKR Lounge overlooks Cheonggyecheon and includes a café and a staffed Tourist Information Center. After four levels of spectacle, there is a practical place to ask how to plan an actual trip. The organisation also offers Korean guided presentations at scheduled times and enquiries for other languages, although interpretation availability should be verified with staff rather than presumed from an exhibition label

The building's operational rhythm is split in two. Floors 1–4 run Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 20:00, with last entry at 19:40; those main experience floors close on Mondays. The fifth-floor lounge and tourist information service operate Monday through Sunday. Consequently, a Monday visitor can still seek travel help or see the stream, but cannot count on the K-pop studio or exhibition floors being open

Before you go

Entry is free, though selected programmes may carry charges or reservations. Participation in a specific XR or event-based activity is not guaranteed by the free entrance policy. The permanent floor layout is more reliable than a particular temporary installation, so the programme listing is useful for choosing what to do

The address is 40 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jung-gu. Jonggak Station on Line 1, Exit 5, is around two minutes on foot; Euljiro 1-ga on Line 2, Exit 2, is around four minutes. Gwanghwamun Station on Line 5, Exit 5, is a longer alternative at about eight minutes. The entrance sits near the stream, so the visit combines easily with a walk along Cheonggyecheon