Art aficionados will be able to see major works by media art pioneer Nam June Paik and experience how media art interacts with public space and performing arts at the annual festival of performing arts in Edinburgh this summer.

Korean artists who will show different dimensions of media art at the Edinburgh International Festival, scheduled from Aug. 9-Sept. 1, include the late renowned Korean media artist Nam June Paik, media artist Kim Hyung-su, who is known for his media installations in public spaces, and performance group Your Media Arts Project, which incorporates media art into dance performance.

Under the theme of “Art and Technology,” innovative displays of media art by Korean artists will be presented at different venues in the Scottish city.

“Three fantastic Korean projects will take place and demonstrate how international your culture and your cultural context are,” said Jonathan Mills, artistic director of the festival, at a press conference held in Seoul on Monday.

Some of the major works of Nam June Paik from Nam June Paik Art Center in Korea, including “TV Cello (1971)” and “Global Groove (1974),” will be on exhibit at Talbot Rice Gallery. 

“Nam June Paik’s media artworks is perfect for the festival which aims to show the new form of convergence between art and technology,” said Park Man-woo, director of Nam June Paik Art Center.

Mills decided to invite the Nam June Paik Art Center to the festival when he visited the “TV Garden” exhibition at the art center last year, which he thought would be the most appropriate exhibition to meet the theme of the festival.

“What’s important is that Nam June Paik is the central figure predicting the role of media in our lives,” said Mills.

The festival will also show how media art is incorporated deep into the lives of people with media art installation in public spaces in Edinburgh.

Kim Hyung-su, the media artist behind some of the major urban media art projects in Seoul such as the media art faade work on the KT building in Gwanghwamun and Seoul Square, will again bring media art into a public space in Usher Hall, a major venue of the festival, Lothian Road, and Festival Theater during the festival period.

“The role of professor Kim Hyung-su is that he is bringing many different dimensions and fragments of the festival into one place. Many years of the festival will be brought to one moment using archival material and very up-to-the-minute material from this year’s festival,” said Mills. Kim currently serves as a professor of media art at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Performer Kim Hyo-jin, the head of Your Media Arts Project that incorporates media art into dance, will present a fusion of dance and media art in collaboration with Kim Hyung-su in “Madame Freedom” at 8 p.m. at Kings Theater from Aug. 20-21.

“Hyo-jin Kim not only makes work that looks beautiful on the human body, but also shows a very sophisticated dimension of technology. She’s bringing a different approach to what the space of choreography has been in the early 20th century and how it will continue to be,” said Mills.

The exhibitions and performances by Korean artists are organized by the Korea Arts Management Service and Nam June Paik Art Center and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, Korea Foundation and British Council.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)