chapter 30
30. Anyway, I hope for good work. young and stupid artist
Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival & International Snow Sculpture Contest
The preparations for the event, hosted by Taebaek City and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, and supervised by the Korea Sculptor Association, are nearing completion.
“Mister Porclain! Not there, but a little further to the left! uh uh Be careful not to collapse there!”
In the meantime, the Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival has been held almost 27 times, but it has not produced a great tourism effect compared to the input budget, so it has become like a gyereuk.
It has become a symbolic event of Taebaek City and is held every year, but due to lack of content and lack of other alternatives, there have been many cases where it has been carried out in a hurry.
However, this time, Secretary General Kim Jeong-hwan’s plan received favorable reviews and support from the Department of Tourism and Culture of Taebaek City and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, and was supported with a budget of 3.5 billion won, three times the previous budget.
The point Kim Jung-hwan persuaded them was simple and clear.
“We will surpass the stronghold of the world’s three major snow festivals: the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada, and the Harbin Ice Festival! Are the snow scenes in our country lacking compared to those there? I don’t think so. Shouldn’t Korea also have at least one world-famous winter festival? Isn’t it!?”
Perhaps thanks to Kim Jeong-hwan’s sincere persuasion and solid plan, the dominant reaction among insiders was that it would be good to look forward to this Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival.
First of all, this Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival has more than 50,000 ice sculptures and 150 ice and snow sculptures built on a site of about 80,000 pyeong.
Although it was lacking compared to the scale of the world competition, it was the largest snow festival held in Korea.
Also, unlike before, there were many things to see and enjoy.
Starting with the opening ceremony, a variety of events were scheduled, including a winter swimming competition, concert, snow sledding, skating, ice photo exhibition, laser show, ice lantern festival, and fireworks.
However, the main event among them was the International Snow Sculpture Contest.
The International Snow Sculpture Contest was held over 3 days and 25 teams from 11 countries participated.
The level and pride were high enough that most of them had won prizes in sculpture contests in their countries. Among them, there were strong teams that were predicted to win whenever they participated in the tournament.
There was a team led by Professor Kai Jun from Luxun University of Fine Arts, one of China’s three major art universities, and a team led by Professor Ilya from Lepin University in Russia, who were familiar with snow.
And there was Team Maria from the Royal College of Art, which was considered a strong candidate for the championship.
Taebaek Mountain International Snow Sculpture Contest, where many strong teams participated, no matter who won, was receiving more attention than expected.
Of course, in the meantime, the fact that actor Kyu-ha was participating in this snow sculpture contest became a big issue for the general public, and the festival was properly promoted.
However, it was not that there were no similar cases at all. The other day, when actress Lee Young-ah was cast as a female boxer in an independent film, she practiced boxing for several months, but unfortunately the film was canceled.
However, Lee Young-ah learned the fun of boxing while practicing boxing, and starting with amateur competitions, she participated in national sports competitions, won championships, and eventually became the national boxing team.
At this time, after Lee Young-a became a national female boxer, there was a time when she breathed life into the stagnant Korean boxing to the extent that the boxing population increased by nearly 10% according to official statistics.
Expecting this kind of effect, I just hoped that it would become a bigger issue because it was the top priority for the people involved in the event to promote the festival in any way.
And the long-awaited first day of the Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival International Snow Sculpture Contest has arrived.
“Hmm… is this Mount Taebaek? For a small country in the Orient, the snowy scenery is pretty good.”
Maria from RCA (Royal College of Art), wearing a thick winter coat, took off her sunglasses and spoke about her feelings of arriving in Taebaek.
He said it lightly, but his eyes twinkled as he looked around here and there to see if he liked Mt. Taebaek.
“Maria. I really like Taebaek. The people are very friendly and the food is delicious.”
First-year Victoria, who came as a team with Marie, squatted down and talked while touching her eyes.
“huh. Even so, it’s just a country that doesn’t even know the art of art.”
In fact, Maria really liked Korean food, but she didn’t show it because of her vain pride.
I just tasted grilled Korean beef briquettes and pork ribs and finished two bowls of rice and cold noodles without a word.
“This year, we should keep an eye on China’s Kaijun Team, Mongolia’s Eulji Bator Team, and Russia’s Ilya Team, right?”
“Even if it is, it won’t work for us. They may be the best in their country, but since we came out, we must win the championship with RCA’s honor on the line. OK, Victoria? Be sure to talk to Joseph, too.”
Maria firmly told Victoria with a burning desire to win.
Just then, other participating teams began to arrive at the venue one after another.
“Hey Maria, long time no see. Why did RCA, which is famous for its heavy hips, participate in all these competitions?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Kaijun, but it’s still the same, isn’t it? You must be so confident, right?”
“We are always confident. We’re different from people who dignifiedly confined themselves to art studios.”
“What did you say!?”
At that time, Ilya from Russia also greeted us warmly.
“Hi guys! It’s like seeing everyone together after 3 years. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh~ Illya! how have you been doing? How do you think your face has gotten better?”
Most of the athletes participating in this international sculpture contest knew each other.
Maria may not be aware of it because she did not participate in the Harbin International Snow Sculpture Contest for the first time and won the championship three years ago.
In fact, although it is called a competition, there are many parts that are ambiguous to approach with the concept that art itself competes for a certain skill.
Of course, the strong contenders had a slightly different idea.
Just in time, Euljibatar appeared in Mongolia, and all the candidates for the championship were gathered.
Just then, a man appeared in the far corner carrying a large, long bag.
“Who is that person?”
Compared to the fact that everyone was in a team of three, it was inevitable that he would stand out by himself.
“Oh, is that the person? You’re a Korean movie star, but I heard you’re participating in a sculpture contest this time? But did you participate alone? without a colleague? Aren’t you crazy?”
Maria was dumbfounded when she heard what Kaijun, the Chinese team, said.
“What? Who to enter in the Festival of Sacred Arts? Actor? even alone? under! Aren’t the organizers of Korea crazy? What do you know about art?”
Then, Maria went straight to Kyuha.
Joseph, a team with Maria, shook his head.
“It’s a start again. It really stinks.”
Maria approached Kyuha and smiled in her mother tongue, Italian, and asked Gyuha to shake hands.
However, unlike the bright smile, the content was not at all.
“Lieto di conoscerti. Stai dicendo che sei una star del cinema coreano? Penso che tu sia venuto a questo concorso per essere un clown. Voglio che ti vergogni di sapere che le tue azioni stanno umiliando i nostri artisti.”
(Nice to meet you. I’m Maria. A Korean movie star? It looks like you came to this contest to act like a clown. I hope you have a sense of shame knowing that your ridiculous behavior is an act that lowers the authority of our artists.)
Maria smiled kindly and asked for a handshake, and Kyuha also smiled and shook her hand.
“Piacere di conoscervi. Non sapevo che esistessero ancora brutti artisti elitari che pensavano che l’arte fosse qualcosa che solo i privilegiati potevano godere.
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Non sarebbe giusto vergognarsi di te stesso per essere stato catturato dalle ristrette idee artistiche tradizionali senza pensare affatto al motivo per cui l’arte è necessaria?”
(I’m glad too. I didn’t know that there would still be some ugly elitist artists who believed that art was something only the privileged class could enjoy. Do not think about the reason why art is necessary, and find yourself trapped in the narrow idea of traditional art. Isn’t it right to be shy?)
Maria’s mouth dropped wide in utter amazement, and her face soon turned red, and she didn’t know what to do.
It was because I never imagined that Kyuha could speak Italian as well as a local.
“Comunque, non vedo l’ora di fare un buon lavoro, giovane artista.”
(Anyway, I’m looking forward to a good work. Young and stupid artist.)
Then he let go of Maria’s hand, and Maria went back to her seat.
“Uh…what happened? Why does that Asian know Italian? Didn’t you say you were an actor?”
Maria’s head went into a panic, and at the same time, shame came flooding in.
“huh! I didn’t know you could speak Italian! And what did I say wrong!”
Joseph, who guessed the situation, looked at Maria pitifully and spoke.
“I thought I would be in trouble one day, but I didn’t know it would be Korea, Maria. Obviously you made a mistake. Apologize later.”
“I will! After the competition, later.”
At that time, the staff of the Sculpture Contest gave information on simple rules and schedules, and the three-day Snow Sculpture Contest began, announcing the start of the contest in earnest.
At the competition site, a huge snow cube was prepared in advance, and the size was huge, about 4M in width, 4M in length, and 4M in height.
The reason why the snow sculpture contest is held as a team is that it was physically and mentally difficult to work alone for about 8 hours a day in -20 to 30 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, when you sculpt for a long time, mistakes are bound to happen, but once you make a mistake, you have to reattach the eyes to correct it.
At that time, the corrected part becomes transparent or discolored, so the perfection of the work falls.
Therefore, during the competition, there were many cases where conflicts arose because they became sensitive to each other.
Based on the design they had envisioned, each team began organically creating sculptures according to their respective roles.
Usually, strong teams like Russia and the United States used a variety of unheard of equipment, and the speed and quality were very high.
While Maria was also using her own equipment to shave her eyes, she glanced at the Asian actor she had made a mistake with.
“Absolutely impossible. It is impossible to make snow sculptures of this size by one person in 3 days… Impossible? What… what!”
clap clap clap clap
The eyes of all participating teams naturally focused on one place.
In the place where their eyes met, there was Gyu-Ha, who was holding a long chisel and cutting down the snow at breakneck speed.