WEBZINE ACC

Asian culture festivals
where you can share, enjoy, and learn
about various Asian cultures![2021 Asia Culture Week]
Overcome COVID-19
and make friends with 4.5 billion Asian people

The COVID-19 pandemic has erected many global barriers that slow down humankind, which was running as fast as the speed of light. Some said it was a foretold catastrophe, while others called it an unavoidable rest or temporary pause for the planet. Whatever it is, we will have to endure it by stopping, reducing, and rethinking for the earth and its future. However, even amid COVID-19, there is one thing that we cannot give up: “friendship” between people. How isolated and lonely were we in the face of COVID-19? Considering that meeting a person is like learning about the time he or she spent with his or her world, how sad is it that COVID-19 has prevented us from meeting and befriending others? Thankfully, the 2021 Asia Culture Week, with the theme “Empathy, Asia,” is a unique program by the Asian Culture Center (ACC) that solves this problem.

Asia Culture Week “Empathy, Asia” Poster

Twelve culture letters sent to Asian people!
I cannot meet them,
but I can be friends with them
through “Culture” and “Art.”

Although we cannot meet new Asian friends because of COVID-19, ACC chose “culture” as the best way to remember them. From October 8–24, 2021, ACC’s online and off-line platforms fully represented Asia. Twelve diverse Asia-related programs were presented, including performances, exhibitions, events, forums, lectures, and festivals. Most of the programs were designed to understand and empathize with Asia, comfort people suffering from COVID-19, and pray for their recovery.

The 2021 Asia Culture Week, held over three weeks, was created in cooperation with 10 Asian countries, embassies, and related organizations in Asia. Let’s look at the programs about sincerity, like writing a letter to a distant friend. Cultural people from various Asian countries were invited to the previous opening ceremony. This year, COVID-19’s aftermath necessitated an online opening ceremony broadcasted live on YouTube on October 8, the Asia Culture Week’s first day. People could enjoy the opening ceremony and various programs, such as ACC Citizens Academy and Asia Culture Forum online.

During the 2021 Asia Culture Week, three special performances were presented. First, the musical “I am Koryoin,” depicting the Goryeo people’s wanderings and bitter history, was held in Theater 1 on October 8. This performance showed how Korean and Central Asian cultures are still alive and stream into the lives of the Goryeo people. The ACC Citizen Orchestra, a performance from citizens, was held at Theater 1 on October 24, the 2021 Asian Culture Week’s last day.
On October 8 and 9, the audience was treated to a performance of the pansori media drama “The Two Eyes,” created by the ACC. Wasn’t this performance, a reinterpretation of “The Tale of Shim Chong” infused into Korean DNA from a “blind Shim” rather than a “filial piety” point of view, a kind letter sent by the ACC to Asian friends to help them understand Korean emotions and skills in the past and present?

Furthermore, there were many other exhibitions and performances. The ACC’s existing exhibitions, such as “Adorable Big Brother: On Never Being Alone Again,” “The Earth’s Memories,” and “Sensory Garden: Night Falls, Light Fulls” continued in the ACC ACT Center and outdoor space. In addition, the “2021 Gwangju Media Art Festival: The Prologue to Great Transformation” was also held during the 2021 Asia Culture Week, until October 10. The exhibitions and media art that combined art and technology allowed me to confirm contemporary Asian culture’s diversity.

Moreover, the lectures and forums allowed me to contemplate the potential and meaning of current Asian culture. The Asia Culture Forum, which was held online on October 13 with the theme of “K-Culture and Asian Youth,” was a place to examine the possibilities, bright and dark sides, and social issues of K-culture now being highlighted all over the world. Other notable events included a special interview with Kim Bo-ram, the CEO of Ambiguous Dance Company, whose performance of “A tiger is Coming” gained popularity, and the activities introduction of young people from Quanzhou and Yokohama in East Asia. The “ACC Humanities Lectures” held in the ACC Library Park Theater 3 on the same day were also fascinating. The writer Jeong You jeong, who returned with her new work Perfect Happiness, talked about true happiness under the theme of “Conditions of Happiness – A Narcissist at Our Side.”

The theme of the 2021 Asia Culture Week is “Empathy, Asia!” Among the 12 diverse programs, the Asia Culture Plaza may have been the program that maximized empathy between Koreans and Asians across all generations, regardless of age or gender.

The Asia Culture Plaza was held for two days, from October 8 to 9. It is an exciting cultural arena created by three countries representing Asia (Korea, China, and Japan) with Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Central Asia. The ACC and Gwangju International Center hosted the event with the participation of five embassies (Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Korea, Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of South Korea, Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic to the Republic of Korea, Mongolian Embassy in Seoul) and two institutions (Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat, International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO). In addition, Asian migrants and international students living in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do operated the cultural experience booths, making the event much livelier. Throughout the two days, the sound of laughter around the Asia Culture Plaza was constant, thanks to migrants and international students who thoroughly enjoyed the event.

How can we meet Asia in a more friendly way?
Through games and experiences!
Transform an unfamiliar into an enjoyable Asia!

I went to the ACC Asia Culture Plaza, where the autumn sun sets. The sun seems to whisper, “Come out quickly! Let’s play together.” The plaza was already crowded as if there was a pleasant commotion. People gathered after completing the thorough quarantine procedures, and they were smiling brightly behind their masks. Is it because it’s been a long time since they last had picnics? Migrants and international students were dressed in their traditional clothes and prepared props to show off their traditional cultures.

It was a “game” that opened the hearts of the attendees who were initially hesitant! Migrants fell in love with Korean games, such as jegichagi and biseokchigi, and visitors fell in love with Sri Lanka’s polkaldu sela. After warming up with the games, visitors then began looking at the booths. In particular, the popular stops included the Philippine booth’s bingo game, operated by charming migrant women in beautiful dresses, and the Bangladesh booth’s natural henna tattoo station, which had a long queue of people waiting to receive tattoos.

It was confirmed through the “games”
that Asian people resemble each other!
They could play together even on the first day they met.
We first met each other at the Asia Culture Plaza,
but we will be friends from now on!

As I was busy playing the traditional games, I noticed that some of them were similar. The Korean “stilts play” where people walk in things resembling wooden shoes was almost the same as the Sri Lankan game polkaldu sela, which uses coconut shells. (In Sri Lanka, pol means “coconut,” kaldu means “shell,” and sela means “play.” So, polkaldu sela is literally a game of riding on coconut shells). In the Indonesian booth, the migrants and visitors played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” together using a wooden instrument, angklung. It was a beautiful experience that made us realize that we are part of one Asian community, and we can do anything together if we open our minds.

People had a memorable time experiencing Asia through the games held at the Asia Culture Plaza. While enjoying the same Asian culture, diverse yet similar, I naturally thought, “Ah! I want to meet more Asians, and I want to know Asian cultures. I want to play more games and have more experiences with Asians.” Yes! When the ”Living with COVID-19” era comes, and air travel becomes an option again, I can travel directly to Asia. I will then bring out the games I learned today and say “Hello!” to the people I meet. I will also say, “I was thinking of you while playing this game, so isn’t this the beginning of our friendship?”

• Written by Min-im Choi. samagg@hanmail.net
  Photo. In-ho Hwang. photoneverdie@naver.com
  
  2021.11