Seoul Fringe: Risky, experimental art

For lovers of non-mainstream art, performance, theater and music, the words "fringe festival" are sure to grab your attention.

Dozens of productions offer the chance to experience some of the more risky, and at times experimental, work by up and coming (and established) artists and production companies.

For the most part, Seoul offers a host of productions, concerts and exhibitions, big and small. But these are limited to the "blockbuster" genre. Fringe, on the other hand, allows both artist and audience the chance to move beyond the limitations of traditional codes and conventions.

The Seoul Fringe Festival was established in 1998 under the "Indie Festival" banner with the unusual motto of "Grope & Experiment of Korean-style Fringe." It was an attempt to establish a niche in the cultural arts arena, which had been dominated by commercial pop culture and high art. The festival, comprised of spontaneous participation of artists, has become a place for alternative cultural arts by providing options for active creation of independent arts.



According to the official website, "Seoul Fringe Festival is a mix and match of various arts genres. Without any screening process, the festival provides open participation for artists to make new attempts and experiments. Thus, the festival is making a plentiful basement and fresh harmony for independent arts."

Running through to Aug. 29, the 12th Seoul Fringe Festival offers more than 150 indoor and outdoor performances, exhibitions and concerts.

Ranging from gigs featuring bands like Ska Sux (any ska band that lists Motorhead as an influence has got to be worth checking out), to an outdoor gig called "comfort" featuring music played on the haegeum, a two string fiddle dating back to the Goryeo dynasty.

The biggest draw card for any fringe festival is the chance to seek out works by the next generation of writers, directors and choreographers.

One piece that stood out on the program for this writer was a work entitled "GODa Gardiner" by Thai based production company B-Floor Theatre, that was staged at Club 500 (misleadingly labeled Club Obeg in the program), a basement cave-like open space.

Highly aware that, with the exception of the highly stylized Japanese dance-drama Kabuki, a person familiar with the highly physical and provocative European themes inspired by the late Pina Bausch, it seemed an appropriate choice for a genuine foray into Asian dance and movement.

Founded in 1999 by a group of actors, directors and designers, B-Floor Theatre is renowned for generating provocative theatre work about society, politics and the human condition using a combination of physical movement, dance, and multimedia.

"B-Floor`s productions strive to raise social awareness by communicating the points of view of suppressed ideas and events, in new forms that are viscerally, artistically, and intellectually challenging," a spokesman told The Korea Herald in an e-mail interview.

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"B-Floor`s performances are developed through improvisational `theater labs` where the group experiments with the expressive abilities of the human body by combining contemporary dance, mime, masks, gymnastics and martial arts. B-Floor also emphasizes exploring and incorporating the elements of theatre creation - objects, lights, sound, puppets, and film - alongside body movement to create the play`s narrative."

GODa Gardiner is a one-man piece about a happy farmer who works on his land until a plague of bugs destroys everything, leaving him with no choice but to seek work in the city.

Set to music and sound effects in a minimalist setting, the performance features an occasional narration in English, Korean and Thai.

Teerawat Mulvilai plays the part of the ill fated farmer.

Through unique Thai gestures and tableaus, in a theater in the round setting (the audience surround the performer, and there is no raised stage) GODa shares with the audience his joy and love of the land - at one point sharing a watermelon with spectators.

In an almost Kafkaesque turn, the space is takes on the properties of hall as the sound of bugs reign chaos transforming GODa into a huge bug himself.

A large pile of what appear to be empty beer barrels are utilized to symbolically represent industrial chaos, with GODa at one point meaninglessly stacking them in a circle as he toils away at his meaningless factory job in some industrialized part of town.

At another point the drums are stacked up to the ceiling with GODa climbing them only for the entire structure to collapse - shades of Einstrzende Neubauten (a German band using industrial objects as musical instruments).

The final multimedia montage as GODa enters heaven through a back projection puts a perfect mellow finishing touch to a highly physical body of work.

"I wanted to show the alienation of Thai farmers, being forced off their land and having to search for low paid work in industrialized towns, not only in Thailand but elsewhere, said Teerawat Mulvilai after the performance.

"This is not only about Thai people but has a universal theme," he added.

"We plan to continue this work and will be working with a Japanese company," said Jaruun Phahtachat, another core member of B-Floor.

With that the two then moved on to give a lecture to a gaggle of Korean students.

With plenty of volunteers scattered around the Hongdae area, the only problem some may encounter is that the program is in Korean only. All 88 pages of it.

The festival runs till Aug. 29. For more information log on to the festival`s website www.seoulfringefestival.net, which is available in Korean and English. Go to www.bfloortheatre.com for more information on B-Floor.

(johnredmond@heraldm.com)



By John Redmond