The Sungkyun Times

        There was a time when it was easy to tell what music was and what it

wasn't. However, such rigid boundaries of artistic genres are collapsing

nowadays as modern art pursues crossovers of various genres. Anything inside

and outside a genre can be made to converge in order to create an artwork in a

brand new form. If you are not satisfied with a traditional form, which does not

please your senses at once, here you go. 2006 Heyri Pan Festival was held to

meet your many demands.

        Before talking about the festival, you should know something about Heyri

Art Valley (Heyri), in which the festival took place. Heyri was only a dream when

its founder Kim Un-ho (CEO of Hangil Publishing Company) visited Hay-on-wye

in Wales. It is called a town of books, where residents run major bookshops

selling second-hand books and which eventually became a mecca for bibliophiles.

     Kim aspired to create such a community and began to work on it with his

colleagues. While planning a book town, he came to know that many people

engaged in artistic and cultural endeavors were interested in the project and

wanted to join him. Therefore, his dream was expanded into an artistic community

where people involved in the fields of art and culture reside and work together.

        The dream has been a reality since 1997: people who in the fine arts,

music, literary, architecture, movie, book publishing, concert planning, and more

became Heyri members. They bought land in Tongil Park, Paju, near the

Demilitarized Zone and began building their homes and studios in the valley.

There are some rules that the residents in Heyri should follow:  First, prospective

residents should be people who involved in the arts and culture in some way, or

they should establish cultural facilities in Heyri in order to preserve Heyri's identity.

Secondly, construction should be conducted according to guidelines that respect

the relationship between inhabitants and environment: the environment has to be

kept in harmony with the surrounding nature. If any construction is necessary, it is

limited to minimum superficial embellishments on the surroundings. This was

made a top priority. Third, two- third of the buildings should be open for the

public as cultural spaces (galleries, museum, concert halls, and book cafes).

Residents' artwork, collections, or cultural pursuits are showcased and shared

with visitors in these spaces. So far 370 people joined Heyri and 80 of them have

moved into the town. Heyri is not complete but still evolving with influx of new

residents and visitors who support and nurture its artistic spirit.

The Heyri Pan Festival (HPF) was organized on the condition that people

with diverse artistic talents in Heyri collaborated to enrich their work. Art directors

from France, Switzerland, and Korea with experience in planning various art

festivals worked together, and more than a hundred international artists from

diverse genres participated. A Korean word "pan" literally means a place.

However, the word pan in this festival refers to a special space where people

fond of art and culture play creatively regardless of any form or artistic boundary.

For the entire month of September, Heyri became a real Pan-a gathering

place where artists with different backgrounds chased the muse through ongoing

communication and inspiration with one another. Different art genres or sub-

genres converged. Brand new forms of artwork were created and performed with

exciting momentum. Peter & Pan Opera directed by Hong Sung-min was its

highest exemplar: An opera in which wacky and meaningless characters lip-sync

opera songs but act in total opposition to the narrative of the opera songs.

Making an experiment on theatrical and non-theatrical elements dissolves a

hierarchy of senses and questions the language-centered western theatrical

custom. Also, many art exhibitions in unique galleries scattered all over Heyri

opened here during the festival. Fantastic illustrations of nature and animals from

Finn graphic artist Klaus Haapaniemi's exhibition, Dream & Forest, really caught

people's attention.

While working toward its goal of providing artists with space for their

experimental works, it has also helped artists meet the public. Therefore, easily

accessible and popular performances were given on weekends. The Pan

crossover concert was a party in which artists and audience members could enjoy

each other's company together. People appreciated that a famous jazz singer Na

Yoon-sun sang in her unique and attractive voice to a French electro-jazz group,

Refractory. During the festival, Heyri was full of artistic activities to enjoy, and

plenty of people visited to partake of the festival.

The 2006 Heyri Pan Festival eventually dropped the curtain, but festivals

never really cease in Heyri. There have been many trials throughout history where

people lived together in a community and cooperated in pursuit of a common

ideal. Today, Heyri adds one more intriguing instance to history. Heyri people

have made attempts to create inspiration and nurture imagination and will

continue to do so for long time to come. A person's dream was small, but it has

become reality through the cooperative effort of many people. Thus a small dream

has finally come true, and it is getting bigger and bigger.

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• September, 2007 by 성균타임즈