Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

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14. Seoul Olympic Arts
Festival
Support Organizations: International
Olympic Committee (IOC)
International Council of Sport Science
and Physical Education (ICSSPE)
Cooperative Organizations:
International Federation of Physical
Education (FIEP)
International Federation of Sport
Medicine (FIMS)
Association International des Ecoles
Superieures d'Education Physique
(AIESEP)
International Association of Sport
Press (AIPS)
International Association for the
History of Physical Education and
Sport (HISPA)
International Association for Sports
Information (IASI)
International Committee for History of
Sport and Physical Education (ICOSH)
International Committee for Sociology
of Sport (ICSS)
International Federation on Adapted
Physical Activities (IFAPA)
International Society for the Advancement
of Kinanthropometry (ISAK)
International Society of Bio-mechanics
in Sports (ISBS)
International Society on Comparative
Physical Education and Sport
(ISCPES)
International Society of Sport Psychology
(ISSP)
Philosophic Society for the Study of
Sport (PSSS)
World Leisure and Recreation Association
(WLRA)
14.5
Review and Evaluation
The Seoul Olympic Arts Festival contributed
greatly to introducing the timehonored
history and cultural tradition
of Korea to the world.
Korea has been known to the world for
the Korean War in the 1950s, the
military rule in the 1960s, the
economic growth in the 1970s, the student
demonstrations in the 1980s, and
for sports after the awarding of the
right to host the Olympic Games, but
her culture has seldom been
publicized in the broad international
arena.
In this regard, the Seoul Olympic Arts
Festival was a meaningful occasion
that brought the world's spotlight to
the traditional culture and arts of
Korea. At the same time, the festival
served as a marvelous opportunity for
the exchange of culture and arts of different
parts of the world by inviting the
top-notch artists of various countries,
and helped introducing in Korea the
cultural and artistic achievements of
the highest standards and current
trends in the arts of the world. The
Seoul Olympic Arts Festival, which
included 41 official events and 130
programs mounted by artists from 80
countries, was the greatest of all Olympic
arts festivals in terms of participation.
The festival also left a permanent
monument by turning the 1,652,900square-meter
Olympic Park into a
wonderful showcase of modern
sculpture of the world.
In spite of these successes, however,
the festival caused some problems,
too, in the course of planning and
execution of programs. In some cases,
the initial plans had to be changed to
accommodate the opinions of critics
and the original goals had to be
readjusted.
The objectives of the festival were:
First, to introduce traditional culture of
Korea to the world and seek exchange
with other cultures;
Second, to stimulate the Korean artists
by providing opportunities to display
their creativity;
Third, to heighten the festive mood of
the Seoul Olympics;
Fourth, to build a monumental cultural
heritage for future generations.
The festival had an impressive curtainraiser,
Puccini's opera Turandot
staged by the Teatro del La Scala from
Mian at the Sejong Cultural Center
one month before the opening of the
Olympics. The festive mood gradually
expanded across the country as provinical
arts festivals unfolded to welcome
the arrival of the Olympic Flame. The
festive mood culminated in the surge
of wolrd-class performances by artists
from various countries, especially the
Eastern European countries which had
long been unknown to the Korean
audience due to the high ideological
barrier. The festival presented at the
same time numerous presentations by
Korean artists of all schools and trends
— traditional and modern, and ethnic
and universal. The festive atmosphere
bore a tangible result-the formation an
international sculpture park in the
Olympic Park. Adorned with as many
as 190 sculptures donated by
renowned artists from around the
world through the International Open-
Air Sculpture Symposium and the
World Invitational Open-Air Sculpture
Exhibition, the Olympic Park will
remain as a permanent symbol and
heritage of the Seoul Olympiad.
All in all, the Seoul Olympic Arts
Festival contributed remarkably to
increasing festive atmosphere for the
Olympic Games. But the festival left a
few regrets as well. First, the festival
failed to produce a distinct theme or
ideal. It pursued "Harmony and Progress,"
the motto of the Seoul Games,
but failed to find the right methodology
for the artistic and cultural manifestation
of the theme. The festival,
therefore, tended to remained a mere
collection of world-famous artists and
groups, amid criticism that its
character and goal was rather
ambiguous.