And now it's time for our daily Arts & Entertainment segment with Lee Tae Ho.
Good afternoon, Tae Ho.
Good afternoon, Conn-young.
To start us off, I hear you're going to tell us about a very interesting and innovative
performance festival being held right here in Seoul?
Yes indeed.
Here's a chance to take in some absolutely breathtaking performances by companies from
around the world.
The 2013 Seoul Performing Arts Festival is in full swing in the Daehangno area of Seoul.
Performances by homegrown artists and world class companies from around the globe are
currently taking place.
The United States, France, Japan and China are just a few of the countries that have
come together here in Korea to provide both single company and collaborative performances
between performers from the different nations.
In total, there will be 19 fantastic venues with a total of 21 companies from seven nations
coming together to provide the audience with spectacles of theater, dance and multi-genre
productions.
The theme for this year's festival is "Surrealism vs. Reality."
And the aim is to inspire a new era of creativity in the performing arts among aspiring and
working artists in Korea.
Surrealist productions from France and multimedia theater groups from the United States have
been invited to hopefully usher in and break through the existing imbalance of realist
theater and conceptual dance in the Korean performing arts scene.
There will also be satellite events throughout the festival period.
One such event is a Professional Symposium with artists who are dealing with the difficulties
of working in the performing arts scene, not just here in Korea but around the world.
The 7th Annual Seoul Dance Collection and Connection and the 10th Annual Young Critics
Award ceremony will also be held in conjunction with the festival.
The festival is being held in the Daehango area of Seoul and will run through the 26th
of October.
It certainly seems like this festival is not just a feast of fantastically choreographed
performances, but that the event will also foster cultural exchange, which is one of
Korea's major goals at the moment.
It really does seem that way.
For instance, the symposium was reserved first and foremost for artists currently in working
in the industry here in Korea and abroad.
It offers professionals to a nurturing environment that promotes an exchange of ideas.
But what about the younger generation of choreographers and performers?
It seems they were left out of the symposium?
Perhaps, but another one of the festival's major satellite events is the Seoul Dance
Collection competition, which is strictly for emerging choreographers.
The artists will go through an intensive selection process with a panel of judges, who will offer
advice on their work.
The nine finalists will present new work during the festival and the winner will get to participate
in a long-term residency and international workshops.
Well, it sounds like a wonderful festival to check out in this month of cultural festivals,
but I hear there is even more going on?
Yes, there is, and with that, I'd like to introduce everybody to several wonderful exhibitions
that are definitely worth checking out this week in Seoul
The most beautiful colors can be found in flowers.
And that is why Parisian artist Michel Henry has devoted his life's work to the source
of those colors: flowers.
Henry has been called the "great colorist" and 40 of his works have been flown into Korea
and are being showcased at the Seoul Arts Center
These are works that make the background seem far off, yet the flowers that are closest
to us seem so real that one could reach out and touch them.
And heading north to the Nowun-gu area of Seoul is the brand new extension of the Seoul
Art Museum: BukSeoul, which literally means North Seoul.
As you step into the museum, you are welcomed by figures hanging from the ceiling that seem
alive, as they receive life from the sunshine that streams throughout the museum.
This is just one of many special exhibitions on display for the opening of the brand new
venue.
The museum is a timeline of Korean art as works from the past as well as more current
works are on exhibit from the ground up to the second floor.
And lastly, a group of talented young artists is exhibiting work in the Sinsa neighborhood
of Seoul at Gallery Planet.
The title of the exhibition is "Art of the Straight Line" and the exhibition features
paintings, photos and sculptures.
Make sure to check out the works of a brand new generation of up-and-coming young artists.
A little bit of everything, works from the older generation, works from a younger generation
and also a little bit of everything from the past to the present.
That is exactly correct.
These exhibitions are a great way to get a glimpse of the differences in perception through
the ages, although with art there is always the aspect of the life within all the works
that remains consistent no matter when they were made.
Well, thank you very much, Tae Ho, and we'll see you back again tomorrow
Thank you and have a wonderful afternoon