National Asian Culture Center of Korea (ACC) presents two SF dramas and an annual summer music festival

Focusing on contemporary social issues to seek out answers for better human lives is one of the most important concerns of the ACC. Thus, their programmes bring up topics about the very near future or what might be already happening somewhere.  

ACC SF Series ① Surrogate Dignity (12 – 13 Jul)

Showcase of Surrogate Dignity in 2023 (Photo credit: ACC)

The background of the play has already begun and it’s quite a good business in many underdeveloped countries – the “Surrogacy Industry”. This could be one solution for many infertile couples but what if this inevitability changes its purpose and meaning? 

In the future not far from now, people no more deliver children with their own body; instead, “Artificial Womb” and “Children Plant” are popular ways for people to be free from pregnancy. Unsurprisingly, the privileged in society are using a surrogacy service to entrust pregnancy and childbirth to a human surrogate mother instead of using an artificial womb. 

This is a story of Alice, a surrogate mother of very high quality, who has been training hard to join this programme for her poor family. This work describes the possibility of the creation of a new class in the virtual future society and makes us think about human dignity through the protagonist Alice, the lowest and weakest class in the new capitalist society. (It is virtual of course, but who can’t say it’s rather “probable?”) 

ACC SF Series ② Near Human (23 – 24 Aug)

Near Human (Photo credit: National Jeongdong Theater of Korea)

Near Human (Photo credit: National Jeongdong Theater of Korea)

In 2022, the draft of this play was developed at the ACC Residency, and after two years, two national theatres gathered together to make it happen on stage. 

It is a story centered upon two female main characters; one is a dancer who chose to have a child as an artificial uterus in an era when performing arts were greatly reduced, and the other, a human writer whose work is to support an AI writer, not to create her own. In this version of future society, artificial uterus is generally used for childbirth, but the Abortion Restrictions Law still exists that put women’s human rights to the corner just like the current days we live in. 

This work talks about the possible future that arts are no longer created exclusively by humans. So, are we eventually anti-technology? In an era of technology development, how can we make relations to machines and keep on living in symbiosis with it/them? Now is the time to think about what makes us human.  

Near Human premiered from 8 to 20 May 2024 in Jeongdong Theater of Korea, Cecil, Seoul and will take its tour on 23 and 24 Aug in ACC, Gwangju. 

The 15th ACC World Music Festival (30 Aug – 1 Sept)

ACC World Music Festival (Photo credit: ACC)

Since 2010, about 300 teams performed at the ACC World Music Festival to celebrate music across the world. This year, please meet 15 teams from nine regions: Omnion from Czech, Iberi from Georgia, Kayhan Kahor & Erdal Erzincan from Iran/Türkiye, Tengger and Yosi Horikawa from Japan, Khusungtun from Mongolia, Element of Braka from Morocco, Li-chin Li from Taiwan, and other singers from Korea. Some might be based on their tradition, but mostly they are modern popular music groups. Bring your friends and family to a special picnic featuring diverse music and culture.  

For more information, please visit https://www.acc.go.kr/en