The Korean Cultural Center in Belgium opened a special Korea-EU comic exchange exhibition on September 6th, 2023

At the Brussels Comic Strip Festival, artists Yong-kwan Kim, Yu-jin Eom, Silky and So-yeon Lee held autograph sessions and workshops

The Korean Cultural Center in Belgium (director KIM Dongeun) held the opening ceremony of the special Korea-EU comic exchange exhibition “Pop the bubbles, Blur the boundaries” on the 6th (Wednesday). , blur the boundaries)”. The Korea-Belgium special comic book exchange exhibition, which has been held annually since 2014, will be expanded this year by inviting artists from European Union member countries to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of relations diplomatic relations between Korea and the EU.

This exhibition, featuring a total of eight artists, including four Korean artists, as well as Belgian, Swiss and French artists, features works that uniquely express cartoon elements such as speech bubbles and squares.

Silky, an artist based in France, spoke about the discrimination and prejudice she faced as an Asian in <Kimchi Baguette>. This work, which adds satire to a printed image, has already attracted attention at the Angoulême Cartoon Festival.

In <펀자이씨툰(Punjaictoon)>, a new cartoon format called "Instatoon (Webtoon + Instagram + Webtoon)", artist EOM Yu-jin expressed small stories of family and daily life with simple pencil lines, as if he were writing in a journal.

Artist LEE BIN So-yeon, who combines various genres such as sculpture, video and installation with comics, expressed various groups seen in media with dreamlike colors through <Shape of Shame>.

Through his work <New Wave>, artist KIM Yong-kwan gave meaning to "kan (rectangular)", which is considered a secondary element in comics, and expressed it in various ways such as geometric patterns, puzzles and semi-abstract elements. The original animation of the work is also displayed, allowing the different expressions of the two works to be compared.

Martin Panchaud, Swiss artist, participates with <The Color of Things>, which won the prize for best work at the Angoulême Comics Festival this year. This work goes beyond specific descriptions and maximizes the reader's imagination through extremely restrained descriptions of circles, dots, lines, and letters.

Two Belgian authors, Mathilde Van Gheluwe and Valentine Gallardo, use unique publishing methods. In <While the Wolf is Away>, based on real events, two different drawing styles are used alternately when the two speakers are replaced.

The French designer Jérémie Moreau reflected in his works his vision of man as an integral part of nature. In <Les pizzlys>, the deep resonance felt by humans in the face of Mother Nature is expressed through the charm of digital work.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition took place on the 6th (Wednesday) at the Korean Cultural Center in the presence of the artists, and through the conference, we were able to hear about the artists' working methods and working world. The exhibition continues until December 29.

In addition, the Korean Cultural Center in Belgium will hold a Korean Cultural Center stand in the international hall of the Brussels Comic Strip Festival, which will be held for three days starting on Friday 8. We will organize various experience events and sessions autograph sessions, including Webtoon workshops with artists such as Kim Yong-gwan, Eom Yu-jin, Silky and Lee Bin So-yeon, as well as creating your own AR filter.