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Provincial News Colorful arts festival brings fantasy world to Seoul streets

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“Fire Installation,” a festival-opening performance by French group Carabosse that runs for three days from Friday, features about 1,700 “fire plants” along Cheonggyecheon. / Courtesy of The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

By Hong Dam-young

City streets are about to get a new burst of color and action when the “Seoul Street Arts Festival 2016” comes to life on Wednesday.

The event is one of the city’s biggest annual arts festivals and features a wide range of free performances and programs that visitors can participate in.

Co-organized by Seoul City and The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture (SFAC), the festival runs until Oct. 2 in multiple spots around the city.

The event was known as the “Hi Seoul Festival” since 2003, but changed its name this year.

With the new name and identity, this year’s festival features 47 shows by groups from nine countries, ranging from street art performances to modern circus.

The festival’s aim is to bring people together across the city. Major venues include Seoul Plaza, Cheonggye Plaza, Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul Museum of Art, Sejong-Daero, Cheonggyecheon-ro and Deoksugung-gi. Other sites include Platform Changdong61, Gireum New Town and Mangwon Market.

As the event's finale, “Guille&Passage,” with the theme of “life and death,” invites people to walk with the performance team along Cheonggye Plaza to Seoul Plaza, where they can reflect on their lives. / Courtesy of The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

“Fire Installation,” a festival-opening performance by French group Carabosse that runs for three days from Friday, will feature about 1,700 “fire plants” along Cheonggyecheon -- with other structures -- to create a giant flame garden.

And as the event’s finale, prominent pyrotechnical theatre work “Guille&Passage,” with the theme of “life and death,” invites people to walk with the performance team along Cheonggye Plaza to Seoul Plaza, where they can reflect on their lives.

“This year’s festival is different from the previous ‘Hi Seoul Festival’ events in that the performance venues have been extended to broader spots and there are more performances in collaboration with foreign arts groups,” Kim Young-kyu, an assistant manager of SFAC’s festival team, told The Korea Times.

“The festival has been popular among foreigners and we are promoting the event through various channels.”

For more information, visit www.festivalseoul.or.kr/html_eng.