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Korean artist, groups invited to Edinburgh fest

April 29, 2013 - 21:06 By 박형기

Three big names in the Korean art world are among the lineup of this year's Edinburgh International Festival, sponsors of the event's Korean programs said Monday.

Nam June Paik Art Center, an art museum run by Gyeonggi Province; photographer and media artist Kim Hyung-su and YMAP, a contemporary dance troupe, have been invited to the festival scheduled for Aug. 9-Sept. 1, according to the British Council, one of the sponsors.

The provincial government established the art center in 2008 in honor of late renowned Korean-born American media artist Paik Nam-june.

Edinburgh International Festival is an annual festival of performing arts in Edinburgh, Scotland, that runs for more than three weeks from around the middle of August. It brings together top-class performers of music, theater, opera and dance from around the world to perform. The festival also hosts a series of visual art exhibitions, talks and workshops.

This year's event will feature some 3,000 artists from 40 countries under the theme "Art and Technology," according to the event's organizers.

Nam June Paik Art Center located in Yongin, just south of Seoul, will present an exhibition "Transmitted Live: Nam June Paik Resounds" at the University of Edinburgh's Talbot Rice Gallery from Aug. 9-Oct. 19 jointly with the gallery.

Organized to mark the 50th anniversary of Paik's debut exhibition in Germany, the exhibition is the first retrospective of Paik to be held in Scotland, the birthplace of electromagnetic theory and television technology, which Paik often used for art, the council said.

On display will be some 70 masterpieces by Paik, including "Global Groove" and "Video Commune," it said. Your Media Arts Project, led by Korean choreographer Kim Hyo-jin, is a group that has pioneered a new genre called "media performance" in contemporary Korean dance with a piece combining media and dance in 2006.

The group will perform "Madam Freedom," which combines footage of '50s and '60s Korean TV shows and films with Korean dance, at the 1,300-seat King's Theater on Aug. 20-21.

Korean photographer and media artist Kim Hyung-su will explore new artistic expressions in public spaces through an exhibition titled "Media Skins."

The exhibition will present LEDs displaying videos on "invention" and "reinvention" outside Usher Hall on Lothian Road and at Festival Theater, Edinburgh, from Aug. 9-Sept. 1, according to the council. (Yonhap News)