Hi! Seoul Festival-Summer

Seoul city in the middle of summer is so hot, because of the heat from the asphalt, too many people, cars, and high buildings blocking out the wind. People in the city cannot help becoming irritated and want to escape the city. That’s why the 『Hi Seoul Festival 2008 - Summer』 is based on the theme “Passion of the Hangang”, which was held on the Hangang river. It affords citizens, who are left listless from the heat, to feel that they are in a magical vacation spot where culture, art, and nature come together.
“Into a festival that could blow out the summer’s heat”
At the opening, there were few people at the festival. The festival’s preparations were not perfectly ready, maybe that is the reason why people did not come to the festival, in addition to the high temperatures.
However, at the Mapodaegyo site, there were people playing and getting their clothes wet by sprinklers. This was the Water Park & Benni’s Hill (Interactive Air Sculptures). It was composed of four parts such as Sky Sculpture, Water Cannon, Water Sprinkle Zone, and Hangang Sands. The Sky Sculpture, Water Cannon, and Water Sprinkle Zone shared their spaces so people could touch the sky sculpture and get wet by water cannons and water sprinklers at the same time.
The Sky Sculptures were made by Benni Seidel, art director of the Australian theater company Stretch Mk1. He made the sculptures out of fiber and waste materials. Kids played by pulling rubber gloves hanging on the sculptures. The Water Cannon shot water bombs every 30 minutes, and the Water Sprinkler rotated 360 degrees spouting water everywhere. In this area, people played as they forgot about the heat from summer.
In contrast, the Hangang Sands were separated, and the weather was too hot to play. So, there were only a few people in the Hangang Sands. It seemed that the original intention that citizens would build sand castles, massage themselves with sand, and make lasting memories with their family disappeared.
On the other side of the Hangang, the Hangang Canoe Festival was held in the southern site of the Mapodaegyo. It was the best site for the Hi Seoul Festival, which aimed to make a citizen-friendly festival where citizens could participate in riding canoes, which they could not usually, experience. Any citizen could try them out after just a few minutes of instruction.
The Hangang canoes had several rides citizens could experience, such as the Citizen Canoe experience, Zorb experience, and old Hangang waterway experience. The Citizen Canoe experience was divided into two parts- dragon boat and leisure canoe experience. The dragon boat was a canoe that many people rode in and paddled together. On the other hand, the leisure canoe was a personal canoe. Perhaps the Zorb experience was unfamiliar to most people. The Zorb was a transparent balloon that a person entered, went round, and round on the water. The old Hangang waterway experience was literally a program that citizens could experience in the old Hangang waterway riding a sailing ship of yellow fabric.
I participated in the leisure canoe experience and the zorb experience first hand. First, I experienced the zorb. Before I entered into it, I was very afraid because of the fear that I might fall into the river. After I entered it, however, it was very exciting and safer than I had thought through instructions from guides. If I had any difficulty, it was the difficulty of going round the zorb on my own in the direction that I wanted.
Later, I would ride the leisure canoe. Before ridding it, I had to take a few minutes of instruction from a guide. During instruction, he said that there had only been one person to fall into the river among a thousand people. However, while I was waiting for my turn, I saw a person fall into the river as she left the starting line, and the people, who got into the dragon boat and dove into the river all together simultaneously. This made me extremely tense. Fortunately, I knew the skill of paddling the canoe systematically and I did not fall into the river.
At 8 p.m., almost all of the experimental programs finished, and the performances started in the Yeouido, River Side Stage. Regardless of the weather, more citizens crowded into the festival field than those during daytime did. The evening performance were composed of three parts- Hangang Fantasy Show, Monster Ballet, and Voice of the River. During the preparation time, the Host OST streamed out and reverberated. That song also streamed out between performances, and seemed to create a tense atmosphere. 
The Hangang Fantasy Show presented a message of hope delivered by the Sea King of Hangang. Shenzo’s Electric Stunt Orchestra, acrobatic aerial theater troupe Dislocate, and large balloon sculptures came together with fantastic images and music. Whenever Shenzo’s Electric Stunt Orchestra went up 14 meters above the ground and played musical instruments, almost all spectators exclaimed with admiration. It was the same atmosphere that Dislocate used to perform a sophisticated circus show, too. Their performance was exciting enough to attract all the audience’s attention; however, a message of this show seemed to be covered. Though it was good to see unfamiliar and wonderful performances by foreigners, it felt that it lacked the spirit of the festival’s title.
After the Hangang Fantasy Show finished with enthusiastic response, the Monster Ballet started with sound made by large heavy machinery weighing more than 20 tons. This ballet was so fresh compared to an original ballet due to a big difference of appearance of large cranes. Thanks to that difference, the motto of this ballet, harmony between man and machine, was well presented. Through the large cranes moved up and down powerfully and largely, these were viewed as violent, barbaric, and unemotional. On the contrary, when these assimilated to the beauty of a man, these moved smoothly breaking a prejudice that the large crane would move violently to make a rough sound. There was only one inconvenient thing that it was difficult to see dancers on the stage without a screen.
The last performance of that day was the Voice of the River. An exciting and powerful performance by male vocal bands such as Gang San-e, Serengeti, and the Sister’s Barbershop was performed live. The first stage was Gang San-e. His performance was so great that he could make all the audience sing together and stand up for joy. There were no more enthusiastic bands than Gang San-e, who made the whole audience become one. Audiences went away little by little after his performance. The final schedule of that day ended after his performance.
The Hi! Seoul Festival achieved its purpose in that it held a citizen-friendly festival. Citizens were handed out water, fans, and paper hats for free. Almost all the programs were citizen experimental programs that citizens did not need to pay for at all. In addition, each program had volunteers so that citizens could easily participate and not feel inconvenienced. However, it was insufficient for the other purpose as a venue to let the world know the attractiveness of Seoul and reinvigorate the pride and energy of Seoul. Foreigners among all participants were few. Above all, it was difficult to find a special one that Seoul could only have compared to other cities and nations through the festival.
The Hi! Seoul Festival still has problems to be solved. However, it also has the possibility to develop itself and represent Seoul.

저작권자 © 중앙헤럴드 무단전재 및 재배포 금지