‘2023 Busan Record Festival’ Held ... Confirming the Current Status of Busan Records

November 17-19 at Busan Modern History Museum Annex, Modern History Themed Records Event

Lectures, Exhibitions, Experiences, Documentary Screenings Introducing Busan and Nationwide Records Achievements

The Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum will hold the ‘2023 Busan Records Festival’ for three days from November 17 to 19 as a venue to check the current status of public and private records in Busan.

2023 Busan Records Festival Poster.

The ‘Busan Records Festival,’ the first records festival held in Busan, is an event planned to raise awareness of the importance of records and spread the culture by allowing people to encounter record achievements not only from Busan but also from all over the country.

This event offers a variety of programs such as lectures, exhibitions and experience booths of record achievements, and documentary screenings to experience today’s record activities and record culture.

The official programs of the Busan Records Festival will take place on the first and third days. On the first day of the event, November 17, a lecture program under the theme ‘Speaking Records’ will be held.

Starting with a keynote lecture by ▲Seol Moon-won (Professor at Busan National University) on the importance of records in the preservation and reproduction of Busan’s modern and contemporary history, record research achievements conducted in various regions will be presented by ▲Busan: Cha Cheol-wook (Director of the Korean Ethnic Culture Research Institute at Busan National University), ▲Daegu: Kwon Sang-gu (Executive Director of the Time and Space Research Institute), ▲Seoul: Lee Kyung-min (CEO of Seoul Collection), and ▲Yangsan, Gyeongnam: Shin Eun-je (Adjunct Professor at Dong-A University), who collect and study various forms of record materials such as documents, items, and oral histories.

On the third day, November 19, as the management and sharing methods of records have recently become important, lectures on platform construction cases are prepared. Under the theme ‘Evolving Records,’ the rapidly changing methods and sharing ways of records will be examined.

▲Ahn Dae-jin (CEO of Archive Lab) will introduce a case of building a digital archive platform based on open source, and ▲Ko Yoon-jung and Park Ji-hyun (Center Director and Archive Manager of Yeongdo Cultural City Center) will introduce the recently launched Yeongdo-gu online record platform.

Today’s changing record subjects and methods can also be explored. ▲Mok Ji-su (CEO of Site Blending) will share cases of recording and sharing the increasingly disappearing public bathhouses in Busan through 3D and documentary videos, magazines, etc., and ▲Yeom Su-jeong (Researcher at Red House) will present cases of ‘community record activities’ where any citizen becomes the subject of records.

Additionally, on the second day of the event, November 18, a networking session with outstanding local record organizations will be held to encourage their activities and provide a sharing platform.

The team participating in this networking event, ‘Silheomshil C (Laboratory C),’ has been active since 2016, conducting record activities based on the local area and sharing and spreading the results in various forms such as artworks, tours, exhibitions, and books.

From 2016 to 2020, they conducted site-specific record and art activities in the Dong-gu districts of Choryang, Sujeong, and Yeongju-dong, in 2021 around Jungri Beach in Yeongdo-gu, and in 2022 around Dadaepo in Saha-gu. This year, focusing on the Nakdong River area where salt fields once existed, they carried out local research activities and presented performances and art exhibitions expressing the ‘salty taste of life.’

At the Busan Records Festival, under the theme ‘Network of Salty Things ? Until Salty Things Connect,’ the process and results of record activities will be explored through lectures by experts ▲Ryu Seung-hoon (Curator at Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum), ▲Koo Mo-ryong (Professor at Korea Maritime and Ocean University), and ▲Koo Ja-sang (CEO of Climate Change Energy Alternative Center), as well as a discussion program with participating artists.

In addition, related exhibitions and experience booths where various forms of records can be seen will be operated as programs linked to the festival. Also, documentary screenings about Busan and conversations with directors are programs not to be missed.

The record achievement exhibition booths will be set up on the first floor of the annex building of the History Museum’s Busan Library, with about 10 booths. These will showcase public records published by organizations such as the Busan City History Compilation Committee, as well as record results (books, videos, items, etc.) from private record organizations across Busan and nationwide.

‘Today’s Original Downtown’ is an experience program where participants create a small time capsule. This experience involves writing down what they saw, heard, felt, and experienced about the original downtown on prepared record sheets on the day of the festival, then enclosing these with items such as photos or receipts. The capsule is scheduled to be opened at the 2024 Busan Records Festival, and it is expected to show how small everyday records become the foundation for reconstructing past history.

On November 17, an independent film director Oh Min-wook’s short documentaries ‘Sang’ (2012, 20 minutes) and ‘Last Night’ (2016, 14 minutes), which capture spaces in Busan that have disappeared into the back alleys of history, will be screened.

Kim Ki-yong, director of the Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum, said, “Records are a very important element in Busan’s modern and contemporary history. This small but significant first step embodies our museum’s vision and commitment to produce and engage in dialogue about the history closest to us with citizens.” He added, “We hope many citizens will spend time empathizing with the necessity and value of records through this event.”

Pre-registration is required for lecture and screening programs and is currently open through the Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum website. Experience programs are available for on-site participation. For other detailed information about the event, please refer to the website or contact by phone.