Street art

Seoul Street Arts Festival wows audiences across city

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• published: 02 Oct 2016
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서울거리 예술 축제 (09.28~10.2) The Seoul Street Arts Festival is on now, inviting world-renowned performance artists from around the globe to showcase their talents in various spots dotted around the Korean capital. Kim Jung-soo reports. Formerly known as the "Hi-Seoul Festival", the re-branded Seoul Street Arts Festival has been running for the past few days. Seoul Plaza was packed with visitors as Friday night began with a unique tightrope-performance called "Sodade' by the group "Circus Suages". Mesmerized spectators watched in silence as the France-based team performed daring physical feats while balancing themselves on a cable several meters above the ground. The circus told the story of a deported man stranded on a beach...who took a literal walk down memory lane. The festival's art-director explains that audience participation plays a crucial element in making this year's event a success. "We have over 40 groups from eight nations. Audience members are the singlemost important factor to our success,... so we want them to enjoy the shows upclose and become part of the performances themselves." Seoul Plaza is just one of many locations serving as a backdrop for the festival. " thanks to a special "fire installation", the Cheonggyecheon Stream in downtown Seoul has been transformed into a garden of dancing lights" The installations were planted by a French street theater group that specializes in making urban public spaces come alive with the help of nature. "The atmosphere is truly amazing,...almost surreal. I hope there are more festivals like this that provoke us to see our surroundings in a new light." The festival stayed true to its element of championing "audience-participation" on Saturday with a performance called "Mission Roosevelt" near the same Cheonggyecheon stream. Named after former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who famously said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", the show helps people experience, and overcome, the fear of "living" in a city environment, by making them traverse Seoul in a wheelchair. The Seoul Street Art Festival run through Sunday. Kim Jung-soo, Arirang News. Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages Facebook(NEWS): http://www.facebook.com/newsarirang Homepage: http://www.arirang.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/arirangtv Twitter: http://twitter.com/arirangworld Instagram: http://instagram.com/arirangworld