Hanging around: The bojaggi installation by artist Lee Sung-soon at the Korean Cultural Centre.

by Park Nark-jong, director of Korean Cultural Centre

HA NOI (VNS) — The Korean Cultural Centre in Viet Nam is hosting a fabric art exhibition by well-known artist Lee Sung-soon, who has been successful in recreating traditional bojaggi culture.

The exhibition, entitled Seon-Beyond Bojaggi, along with artist Lee, is part of the Next Expert Training project funded by South Korean's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Arts Business Supporting Centre.

Lee's specialises in the study of fabrics and has included many experiments with this material.

She has created a new trend using bojaggi culture, while representing a new method of developing traditional values through preservation and creations. The traditional culture has been modelled by the hands of artists to become an art and bring viewers a new concept of traditional culture.

South Korea and Viet Nam posses many traditional cultures which were enriched in a long history. Traditional culture is a nation's identity and the pride of its people. Nations worldwide are putting forth their best efforts to preserve and pass on their traditional cultures.

However, in another point of view, people living in modern society, and only seeking personal conveniences, normally disregard traditional cultures due to their being old and obsolete.

Bojaggi, an old culture that was dependent upon the skills of Korean women, is now receiving much attention in Korean society. Bojaggi is a piece of square fabric used to wrap goods to create beautiful shapes and provide an easy method for carrying goods.

Currently, Korean people use plastic bags, resulting in bojaggi having been ignored for many years.

However, in South Korea, bojaggi has been revitalised because of its values.

It has now been reborn as a popular culture. In the past, Korean mothers took advantage of old pieces of clothes and other cloths to create bojaggi.

Such bojaggi pieces were made for daily use by cutting and carefully sewing small pieces of fabric or cloth.

Today, this traditional concept of bojaggi has become fashionable as design in modern life and has been transformed into a new field as a cultural industry.

Bojaggi is used as both decorative items for elegantly wrapping packages and as fashionable cloth in an abstract manner, and has becomes inspirational in creating art.

At present, traditional cultures are becoming more popular in South Korea. The world's eighth largest country in trade volume has great expectations for its cultural industry, believing it to be a new area for growth.

South Korean managers are learning that culture is competitive and provides high-profit values that will be used to build a developing cultural industry. Such culture has been reaffirmed, as it comes from traditional culture and springs from unique historical stories.

Traditional culture and arts, such as dance, traditional music (pansori), vegetarian food, temples, old villages, traditional costumes (hanbok), and traditional houses (hanok) were disregarded in the past, but are now being revived and developed. — VNS