By Kim Minji and Lee Jihae
Photos = Kim Minji
Seoul | Nov. 4, 2020
"A history of blood never once revealed throughout the centuries."
An exhibition featuring "Kingdom," the historical zombie drama that is a worldwide hit, has opened in Seoul.
Called "The Massacre of Kingdom," the event runs through Nov. 8 at Songwon Art Center in the capital's Jongno-gu District and shows reenactments of major scenes from the series and items used in production.
"Kingdom" has fueled a "K-zombie" boom in fusing the historical and zombie genres, with its first season coming out last year in January and its second in March this year. The New York Times named the series one of last year's ten best international shows and Forbes called it a "must-watch."
Korea.net on Nov. 4 visited the exhibition.
"The Massacre of Kingdom" exhibition uses the fictional notion that "Kingdom" is based on real history. The event covers three floors and all spaces are colored red.
The music playing in the background is from the series' soundtrack and elicits the atmosphere of the Joseon Dynasty, the period when the drama is set; the plot has a mysterious plague turning the kingdom into a living hell.
The skull of a person infected by the epidemic and weapons used in the drama are displayed complete with written explanations that make it seem as if they were found after years of research and excavation.
The third basement floor has a space with a sign saying "This shows parts of living history." To reflect its theme, the exhibition showed zombies and the only magical herb on Earth to revive the dead as shown in "Kingdom."
After a minute, a bright light illuminated the small exhibition room and then a siren rang. An emergency announcement told people that they were in danger and to evacuate. The mannequins in display cases began to move, causing some visitors to scream. To their relief, the figures in the cases were simply actors from the drama, but to visitors, the zombies seemed as if they had just popped out from the drama.
This zombie performance was the highlight of the exhibition, as visitors got to see the globally popular K-zombies right before their eyes.
This is a replica of the only remaining magical herb on Earth that can revive the dead (left) and real scripts from the drama are on the right.
The exhibition is free to attend but limits the number of visitors to 15 per slot for social distancing. Because of the numerous "Kingdom" fans out there, all spaces were quickly filled.
Netflix has a virtual reality tour for "Kingdom" fans unable to visit the exhibition in person. Released on Oct. 30, the video is in English for the benefit of the series' global fans and can be accessed on the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BPsKWYH0bk&feature=youtu.be
kimmj7725@korea.kr
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