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| An official poster for this year’s 37th edition of the Veranos de la Villa Festival in Madrid, Spain / Courtesy of Madrid Destino |
By Park Han-sol
From K-pop to temple cuisine and new media art, a wide range of Korean cultural content will appear in the heart of Madrid, Spain, during its hottest summer months.
Korea has been invited as the first Asian guest country to the 37th edition of the Veranos de la Villa Festival, one of the biggest cultural events in Madrid since 1985, drawing more than 110,000 visitors annually, according to its organizers and the Korean Cultural Center in Spain. This year’s festival kicked off on July 6 and will continue until Aug. 29.
Among the more than 50 featured performances that will take place in multiple venues throughout the city, the Korean program will start off on July 24 with the K-pop Competition, Spain edition. With the K-pop wave leading to the birth of an explosive number of international dance cover groups, Spain has quickly followed suit in recent years. The competition will invite ten groups to compete in the song and dance categories, with the winners scheduled to perform at a grand finale in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
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| Media artist Lee Lee Nam’s “Reborn Light – Mother of Pearl” (2016) / Courtesy of the artist and Veranos de la Villa |
From Aug. 12 to 14, the media works of the prominent artist Lee Lee Nam will decorate the facade of a former sawmill building at the center of the city, Serreria Belga, as part of the street exhibition, “The Signal of Light.” For more than a decade, Lee has built a reputation as a pioneer of media art, as he has transformed classical East Asian landscapes and Western still life paintings into animated digital videos.
At the event, five of his pieces will be presented, including “Reborn Light ― Mother of Pearl,” a digital reinterpretation of the Joseon-era painting, “Gyehwedo,” where the ancient natural landscape of Korea transforms into a society armed with modern technology complete with the arrival of a UFO.
Another highlight of the festival, “Where Does This Food Come From?” will be led by Buddhist chef and nun, Jeong Kwan, at the end of August. Since at the age of 17, she’s lived in the Buddhist temple Baekyangsa in South Jeolla Province, where she has developed her extensive knowledge of fruits, roots, weeds and flowers, as well as fermentation techniques, to develop her iconic version of temple food.
Her culinary works were showcased in the popular Netflix series, “Chef’s Table,” appealing to international audiences including in Spain. In the event, the Buddhist nun will explain her philosophy and the value of monastic Buddhist cooking that has been passed down for over a thousand years to Madrid’s residents and professionals.
“In the last 10 years, Korean culture has been gradually gaining a foothold in Spain. Just 10 years ago, in 2011, when the Korean Cultural Center in Spain first opened, it was deemed a rather minor culture that was shared and enjoyed among a limited fan base. But today, Korean culture is becoming more mainstream, receiving the attention of the media outlets and the general public of Spain,” Oh Ji-hoon, the center’s director stated.
All sorts of Korean culture, from K-pop to media art, to be showcased in heart of Madrid
Source: Buhay Kapa PH
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