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| Olivecon / Courtesy of CJ E&M |
By Yun Suh-young
The convention center COEX in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, will be a hot go-to place this weekend as it is hosting two major culture-related festivals until Sunday.
The C-Festival, an annual culture festival hosted by the foreign ministry and the trade association, will feature 200 programs throughout the weekend, spanning from arts and culture to food and music. An aerial art performance, K-pop showcase and live performances by 30 hipster Asian musicians will be available alongside food festivals held outside of COEX such as Eat the Seoul and the Great Korean Beer Festival which will both be held until 10 p.m. on Sunday.
For the beer festival, admission to which is free, 27 craft breweries and six food trucks will participate. There will also be a wine bazaar held at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas hotel next door until Sunday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. where a variety of imported wines will be available for tasting.
Olivecon, a food and lifestyle exhibition hosted by CJ E&M's local food TV channel Olive, will also be held until Sunday at the same venue. The event features a variety of local lifestyle brands exhibiting their products at Hall C on the third floor.
On the sidelines, the festival also hosts talk events and cooking shows featuring well-known TV personalities and chefs. Supermodel Song Kyung-ah held a styling talk session on Wednesday on how to dress and style while chef Raymon Kim held a cooking show Friday for children's snacks.
Many more events are in store for the weekend. On Saturday, a home party drink class will be hosted by American kitchenware brand Williams Sonoma. A styling talk with stylist Han Hye-yeon and a dessert show by chef Park Joon-woo will also take place. On Sunday, a cooking show by food creator Soap is scheduled for noon.
A lengthy food booth of 11 brands will be available inside the exhibition hall prepared by online restaurant information platform Poing, offering food from trendy locations in Seoul including Woo Mi Hak, Motor City, Stubborn, I Am Burger and Ryunique.
"Until now, we've focused mostly on food, but we're trying to expand our coverage to lifestyle in general such as living and travel. This year is the first year we launched the festival under the new name Olivecon which includes conferences," Shin Jong-soo, lifestyle director at Olive channel, said during a press conference, Friday.
During the three-day conference hosted by Olivecon from Wednesday through Friday, speakers from lifestyle-related brands held talks.
"There's a global shift in mindset of individuals of what they're looking for in life and how they want to get there," Matt Shampine, general manager of WeWork Korea, said during his talk on Thursday.
"I think food is actually something that is interesting -- it's an easy way to bring people together and expose them to different cultures. At WeWork, we also use food to bring people together at events."
