A Practice-based Study on Reinterpreting K-pop Worldviews into Traditional Korean Documentary-Painting Formats Using Generative AI - Focusing on the Visual Forms of Uigwe and Banchado

This practice-based design research examines how generative AI can remediate K-pop worldviews through the visual grammar of Joseon court documentary painting, especially uigwe and banchado.It connects three areas that have usually been discussed separately: K-pop transmedia narratives, traditional documentary painting, and generative-AI image production.Six formal elements were derived from prior studies and primary visual materials: horizontal temporality, hierarchical arrangement, rhythmic repetition, parallel or bird's-eye viewpoint, screen division and space, and the cartouche as a written record space.A six-stage narrative sequence-paradise, rupture, enthronement, elevation, union, and transcendence-was translated into six works through a fixed-form and variablecontent prompting protocol.The final works were selected according to formal fidelity, narrative correspondence, K-pop-specific visuality, technical integrity, and ethical suitability.The analysis found that hierarchy and repetition were transferred most consistently, while chronological continuity and the cartouche underwent the greatest transformation.As illumination and digital screens intensified, visual authority shifted from written record to luminous spectacle.This pattern is conceptualized as Latent Uigwe, an AI-mediated configuration that organizes dispersed symbols into documentary form while revealing tension between archival authority and performative visibility.The study proposes a transferable workflow and applications for design education, exhibition graphics, cultural-content development, and visual identity systems.