Int’l photo festival to open for month-long run
By Ines Min
Staff reporter
Yeongwol County in Gangwon Province may be a sleepy region for most of the year, but locals and tourists alike cool down from the heat each summer with a cornucopia of art photography.
The ninth Dong-gang International Photo Festival 2010 opens this month throughout the county, in a celebration of new and old photographers that features eight different exhibitions, and a range of special lectures and workshops.
This year's main exhibition, ``Chill My Seoul,'' brings together 11 German artists who provide their interpretations of portraiture. Curated by Kai Uwe Schierz, an honorary professor at the Bauhaus University Weimar, the exhibition brings some of Germany's best to Korea, selected by the natives themselves.
``Rather than seeking to identify and present whatever might be considered relevant or acceptable national characteristics, the German contribution to the festival has chosen to focus on the human image in photography,'' Schierz said in a statement. ``As an expression of encounter, empathy and interpretation.''
Walter Bergmoser, the exhibition's coordinator and a visiting professor at Chung-Ang University, worked with Schierz to finalize the theme of the show. The range of original works, which spans more than five decades from Stefan Moses to Carina Linge, is part of what makes the exhibition unique.
``It should invite a view of what's actually happening, so it's not only a documentary style, we have really a side variety of how to approach portraits, and I think this is one of the powers of German photography,'' Bergmoser said .
Other exhibitions include ``War Leaves Traces Behind,'' ``Woman, Thy Name Is...'' and ``Photo Diary from Elementary School'' (actually created by schoolchildren). Four artists were gathered to create new works for the special outdoor show, ``Yeongwol's Wishful Breeze,'' which will see the installation of large images, printed on sheets of fabric, straight into the community.
A special exhibition by Kang Yong-suk also takes an in-depth look into the effects the divided Korean peninsula has had on its people, in the Dong-gang Photography Award exhibition. A series of commemorative photographs taken in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, investigates the lives of Korean women who make a living from their interactions with American military, such as prostitution.
In the Dong-gang Photo Workshop, participants will have a chance to meet with 12 domestic photographers to learn about the art and receive advice over a two-night, three-day trip. Two people will also be selected for a portfolio review, and will go on to hold a solo exhibition in 2011.
Free open lectures will be held for photography amateurs who wish to speak with experts. The public can expect to hear from Lee Wan-gyo and Yuk Myeong-shim (need to double-check spelling), as well as attend a panel discussion with Schierz, Bergmoser and photographers Erasmus Schroter and Carina Linge.
For those looking for more detailed suggestions on their work, a portfolio review by Schierz, Judith Keller, chief curator of photography at the J. Paul Getty Musuem, and Sarah Lee, an independent curator, will be available for 50,000 won.
The Dong-gang International Photo Festival 2010 runs from July 23 to Aug. 22 throughout Yeongwol County. Some of the exhibitions will be held at the Dong-gang Museum of Photography ― the country's first public museum dedicated to the medium ― while others will be in the near vicinity. Yeongwol is located east of Seoul, two-and-a-half hours by bus. For more information visit www.dgphotofestival.com.