The moment rain kisses the pavement in South Korea’s capital, something quietly magical happens. In a stretch of asphalt and concrete, colours rise from invisibility. A fish leaps from a puddle. A turtle glides across a curb.
A pink whale swims along a slipper-wet sidewalk. This is the enchanting vision of the project known as Project Monsoon, an imaginative undertaking in Seoul, South Korea — where the drear of monsoon skies is transformed into a moment of delight.
Rain-Painted Art: The Dream And Its Making
The idea behind Project Monsoon is as elegant as the rainy season is uncelebrated. A team of designers from South Korea — including Seunghoon Shin, Yoonshin Kim, and Nu Ri Kim — in collaboration with Pantone and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, conceived a way to brighten up the city’s wet season.
They painted sections of sidewalks and streets with hydrochromic paint: a special coating that remains transparent when dry but becomes vividly visible when wet.
As the designers explained, they were inspired by the cultural importance of rivers within South Korea — the flow of water, the way it connects, renews, and reflects.
The murals were placed in portions of the city where monsoon puddles often form, so that when the rain arrives, the artwork emerges as if awakened. The pieces include rainbow-coloured fish, turtles, and even a giant pink whale, all emerging from what are typically drab, grey-toned pavements.
The Independent reported on November 2, 2015: “The paintings are inspired by the importance of rivers in South Korean culture and feature rainbow fish, turtles and even a giant pink whale.”
A Hidden Gem, Or A Concept-Art Mirage?
Yet, for all its visual allure, Project Monsoon lives somewhere between imagination and execution. Several later investigations raised questions about whether the installations ever materialised on the ground at scale.
A September 2025 article in Korean Topik noted that despite global buzz, the murals appear to have been more a conceptual campaign than a fully realised city-wide rollout.
It writes: “The team imagined murals painted with hydrochromic paint … but locals reported they had never seen these artworks in person, even during monsoon season.”
Similarly, online discussions among expatriates and locals echoed scepticism. One Reddit thread observed: “These articles are mostly from 2015 to 2017 … yet I’ve never seen these murals nor heard of anyone, expat or Korean, ever talking about them.”
So while the project garnered media attention for its novelty and whimsy, the question remains: was it fully implemented in the streets of Seoul? Or did it serve more as a creative statement — an invitation to reimagine public space rather than a widespread installation?
Why The Idea Matters Regardless
Whether fully realised or partially realised, Project Monsoon matters. It offers a fresh way to think about urban life, public art, and the interplay of environment, design, and citizen experience.
Rain, usually regarded as an inconvenience in urban life, is reimagined here as a source of beauty and curiosity. The ordinary pavement, once seen merely as a surface to walk on, turns into a living canvas that awakens with colour when touched by water.
Through the use of innovative hydrochromic paint—designed to remain invisible when dry and burst into vivid patterns when wet—the streets of Seoul are transformed into artworks that come alive only in the rain.
In this gentle act of reimagining urban architecture, the city invites its residents not simply to pass through, but to pause: to look again at the classroom, the sidewalk, the overlooked puddle.
The ephemeral nature of the murals — only visible when it rains — also speaks to a subtle beauty: art that emerges, disappears, and invites surprise.
What People Felt
Walking along a rain-slick street in Seoul, a passerby might pause. A child might point. A commuter bogged in umbrella-folding might find a small moment of joy.
One image frequently reproduced shows a puddle glistening in a fish-shaped formation, as if the puddle itself were the art. It’s these human moments — the spontaneous smiles, the little glances upward through a rain-rippled lens — that lend the project its quiet strength.
The designers intended to “give people something to look forward to in monsoon season.” And even if not every mural has been verified by all residents, the notion that public space can hold this kind of subtle surprise already matters.
The Ripple Effect: Beyond Seoul
The idea of rain-activated murals has sparked coverage across the world, from lifestyle blogs to engineering journals, showing how art, design, and urban environment can combine in inventive ways. For example, Yahoo News ran a piece titled “These magical street murals appear only when it rains.”
It raises a broader conversation: How might our cities embrace delights born of everyday weather? How might art be hidden, revealed, prompt reflection, and break the routine? In Seoul’s case, the monsoon season — three heavy weeks of grey skies and people staying indoors — becomes the canvas for brightness.
A Final Glance At What’s Possible
Imagine you’re a commuter in Myeong-dong or jogging beside the Han River after a downpour. You glance down: the sidewalk, that plain stretch you’ve walked a thousand times, now teems with colour. A turtle pauses beneath your feet. A whale arches in a puddle. Rain becomes more than weather — it becomes art.
And even if you discover only a trace of it — a solitary fish in a puddle — the effect lingers. It reminds the city that art doesn’t always have to roar; it can whisper; it can emerge in the drop of water. It reminds us that cities, even in their most practical forms, can surprise.
So next time the skies open over Seoul, slow down. Look at the street beneath your umbrella. Among the reflections and raindrops, you might just find that the city has chosen to dress itself for the rain — in colours, in creatures, in delight.
And perhaps you’ll carry one question home: what if your city did the same?
