Seoul reimagines derelict oil depot as year-round cultural hub

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Seoul reimagines derelict oil depot as year-round cultural hub

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By

Lee Kyung-min

Published

Apr 27, 2026 3:52 pm

KST

A poster for Seoul Metropolitan Government's "Oil Tank Culture Park" event / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government

A former oil depot on the western edge of Seoul is fast becoming one of the city’s most ambitious cultural experiments, as officials push to turn the industrial relic into a year-round arts and events hub drawing 1 million visitors annually.

Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday it plans to expand programming at Oil Tank Culture Park, a repurposed oil reserve facility built in 1976 and closed in 2000, into a multidisciplinary cultural complex blending exhibitions, performances, festivals and wellness events.

Built from massive steel storage tanks once used for fuel reserves, the site was reimagined as a public cultural space in 2017 that preserves its industrial structure while hosting immersive media art, concerts and participatory programs.

The city said it is aiming to attract 1 million annual visitors for this year as it scales up about 20 major events per year, ranging from music festivals to sports and wellness programming.

This month alone, Oil Tank Culture Park has hosted a series of large-scale events focused on inclusion and environmental themes. An inclusive arts festival held April 18 featured performances by artists with and without disabilities, along with a virtual reality wheelchair experience, Braille-based beverage workshops and other participatory installations aimed at broadening accessibility.

On April 25-26, the venue hosted a rock music festival drawing about 20,000 attendees, featuring major Korean bands and pledging a portion of proceeds to biodiversity conservation efforts, including protection of endangered Korean fir trees.

The site will next host a major international digital exhibition showcasing the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The immersive show, running April 30 to July 30, uses high-resolution scanning and large-scale projection to recreate artworks by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt.

Officials said the exhibition will allow visitors to experience museum interiors and masterpieces in an immersive format, marking its first presentation in Seoul.

The site also offers free docent-led tours twice daily, giving visitors a chance to explore the tanks and learn about its transformation from fuel storage facility to cultural landmark.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.