Top Artists Join Jeju Delphic Games
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Top artists in various genres from around the world will participate in the third Delphic Games which will take place in Jeju City from Sept. 9 to 15.
Prominent masters ― French mime artist Philippe Genty; his wife and collaborator Mary Underwood; Mongolian morin huur (stringed instrument) player Tseyen Tserendorj; Korean folk play master Sim Woo-sung; French poet and critic Claude Mouchard; American typo designer Jill Bell; German architect Kristin Feireiss; and Japanese book designer Sugiura Kohei ― will hold ``maestro programs'' including workshops and exhibitions during the event.
``This year's event will have more Asian participants than Europeans, probably because of geographical reasons. But many world-class artistic masters from Europe and other countries will come to Korea. The maestro programs will enhance the event's status,'' Shin Sun-hi, art director of the Games, said in a press conference Tuesday.
The committee said that among the masters, Genty, renowned for his visual theater productions with the manipulation of puppets, materials, object theater, dance and movement, is particularly not to be missed. Genty's master class is known as a ``dream workshop,'' which performer-aspirants have to wait years to take part in. He will hold a master class with his wife and collaborator from Sept. 11 to 13 and present his new work on Sept. 15 with the master class participants.
The committee revealed detailed plans for the event after Lee Jong-duck replaced You Hong-june, the former chairman of the organizing committee. You stepped down in May for personal reasons, along with executive director Lee Geon-yong.
``Now everything is back on track, although the committee experienced some problems in the early stages. I took the helm of the organizing committee in the middle of the event preparation but I am sure it will be successful with the good programs,'' Lee Jong-duck, said.
The committee estimated that some 800 people from 40 countries will participate. As of Tuesday, 431 participants from 30 countries had registered and more are expected to apply before the deadline on July 24.
The event will see art competitions in six categories and 18 disciplines ― Music and Acoustics Arts, Performing Arts, Craft, Design & Visual Arts, Lingual Arts, Communication and Social Arts, Architecture and Ecological Arts ― under the motto ``Tuning into Nature.''
The Jeju Delphic Games will widely embrace the sprit and goal of modern Delphi and serve as an opportunity to promote the cultural characteristics of the host nation.
There will be various festival programs, including a shamanism festival. Venues on Jeju will include Halla-dom, Shinsan Park and Jeju Culture & Art Center.
Also, the committee said that water from the Castalian Spring at Delphi will be brought to Jeju to honor the event. The sacred water from the spring will be collected on July 25 in a Greek traditional ceremony, attended by the Korean committee members.
The spring in the ravine between the Phaedriades at Delphi is where all visitors to Delphi ― the contestants in the Pythian Games, and especially supplicants who came to consult the Delphic Oracle ― stopped to wash their hair; and where Roman poets came to receive poetic inspiration. This is also where Apollo killed the monster, Python, which is why it is considered sacred.
The organizing committee will combine the sacred water with the island's water from Mt. Halla and exhibit it during the event.
``We've decided to hold a Greek traditional rite as the sacred fire comes a long way from Greece in the Olympic Games, so the sacred water will be put in a heobeok, Jeju's traditional jar,'' said Lee Jong-ho, executive director of the event.
The Delphic Games were named after Delphi, in Greece, where the Temple of Apollo stands. While the Olympic Games presented sports contests as a platform for military drills, the Delphic Games dedicated a cultural festival to Apollo, the god of the sun, and featured various musical instruments such as the lyre, flute and songs, and pantomime and drama.
The Delphic Games was a competition of culture and arts among ancient city nations of Greece that ran for about 1,000 years from the 6th century B.C. to A.D. 394.
The Games were reborn after 1,600 years as an international festival of arts and culture thanks to Dr. J. Christian B. Kirsch, of Germany, who desperately felt the need for a global celebration of culture and thus initiated the modern Delphic Games.
Kirsch has promoted the importance of global cultural understanding and the strengthening of identity, and proposed the artistic competition as an educational exercise to facilitate international understanding. Thanks to his initiative, representatives of 18 nations founded the International Delphic Council (IDC) in Berlin, Germany in 1994.
With the IDC launch in 1994, the first Delphic Games were held in December 2000 in Moscow, Russia with the participation of 27 countries. It was followed by the 2nd Delphic Games, held in September 2005 in Kuching, Malaysia, with 21 countries taking part.
Jeju City was selected as the host city of the third Delphic Games on March 31, 2006, at the IDC General Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
For more information, visit www. www.delphic2009.com or call (02) 722-8711.