Cultural Code & Flag Works

Cultural Code:
Designing Flags: Seoul x San Francisco Design Workshop 2025

Workshop Planning & Tutors
Daeki Shim x Chris Hamamoto

This workshop is an international collaborative project jointly conducted by students from Seoul National University (SNU) and the California College of the Arts (CCA). Its primary objective is to explore the unique cultural codes of Seoul and San Francisco and to visualize them in the form of symbolic structures—specifically, flags.

Adopting a symbolic and cultural-theoretical perspective, the workshop analyzes the two cities through both material and immaterial dimensions of urban culture, attending to the duality of the visible and the invisible. By reinterpreting each city’s cultural codes into a structured visual language, the workshop aims to render visible the complex affective and experiential layers embedded within the urban fabric.

Participants form interdisciplinary teams that integrate members from both institutions. Together, they analyze the cultural codes and identities of their respective cities through symbolic, typographic, and graphic elements, culminating in the co-creation of a single flag as a unified visual outcome. The project seeks to propose a new relational context between urbanity, culture, and identity—facilitated through visual media—as it fosters dialogue between two cities shaped by differing cultural backgrounds.

The resulting flags will be exhibited at the San Francisco Art Book Fair, the California College of the Arts in the United States, and 019 Ghent in Belgium, offering further platforms for public engagement and cultural exchange.

Guest Critic for the Workshop
Sara Raffo (California College of the Arts)

Workshop Hosts
+ Seoul National University, California College of the Arts, DAEKI and JUN

Flag Works Exhibition
+ Exhibition Planning: Chris Hamamoto
+ Exhibition Period: July 10—13, 2025
+ Exhibition Partner & Venue: MSP Foundation, SF Art Book Fair
+ Host: Seoul National University

Cultural Code Exhibition
+ Exhibition Planning: Daeki Shim
+ Exhibition Period: July—September, 2025 (Two Months)
+ Exhibition Partner & Venue: 019 Ghent
+ Hosts: Seoul National University, California College of the Arts, DAEKI and JUN

Cultural Code Exhibition
+ Exhibition Planning: Chris Hamamoto
+ Exhibition Period: TBA
+ Exhibition Partner & Venue: California College of the Arts