This shot of the sunset at the Port of Busan is part of the exhibition "Busan, the World within Reach" that the Korean Cultural Center in Paris opens on May 31. (KCC in Paris)

By Park Hye Ri

An event in Paris from late this month will offer an interactive experience in the history, food, culture, arts and tourism of Busan, which is bidding to host the 2030 World Expo.

The Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in the French capital on May 24 announced its hosting of the event "Taste Korea" from May 30 to Sept. 16 jointly with the Paris office of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan and Busan Metropolitan City.

Now in its fifth year, the event will feature Hansik and Korea's outstanding culture and arts content. With Busan as its theme, a cultural program during the event will raise awareness of the southern port city and foster an atmosphere of support for the expo bid in Paris, where the International Bureau of Expositions aka BIE is based.

Over the event period, the KCC will host the exhibition "Busan, the World within Reach" showing the city's history from when Korea opened its ports to the West in the late 19th century to the industrialization period, as well as the lives of Busan's residents and culture and arts like the Busan International Film Festival.

Photographer Park Jong-woo's series "Busan Evoked," which focuses on the city's unique urban landscape where modern and contemporary history and art coexist, is also part of the exhibition, as well as "Project - The Sound of the Factories" by sound artist Kim Seo-ryang and "Welcome to Busan" by visual artist Jung Yoon-sun.

A display of non-fungible tokens or NFTs will show collaboration among eight Korean and French artists who use artificial intelligence. Under the theme "Busan at the Time of Artificial Intelligence," the exhibition from May 31 to Sept. 30 will offer a new visual experience by using digital art to feature Busan.

The media artwork venue "In the Heart of the Wave" will cover all four sides of the wall with media art videos highlighting Busan's appeal. Running from June 26 to Aug. 30, it will show six works including "Aurora Beach" by Korea's globally known media art company D'strict.

This media artwork is called "Aurora Beach" and was made by the Korean media art company D'strict. (D'strict)

The KCC and Busan National Gugak Center (BNGC) will jointly host performances and interactive events to introduce the city's cultural heritage to the French public.

The center on June 1 will hold the performance "Korean Healing Music and Dance" at Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts, which holds the largest collection of Asian art in Europe. The show will feature salpurichum, a spiritual purification dance influenced by shamanic rituals; Binari Jinsoe, a traditional music genre of shaman prayer songs; and seungmu, a monk's dance that is designated National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The day before this show, a conference on Busan's intangible cultural heritage will cover the origins of such heritage like Dongnae hakchum (crane dance) and Busan nongak (traditional farmers' music). Visitors on May 31 and June 1 can make Jedae gaksital (bridal masks) and learn talchum (mask dance) movements.

The Busan National Gugak Center on June 1 will put on the performance "Korean Healing Music and Dance" at Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris. Shown is a scene from the ritual dance Binari Jinsoe. (Busan National Gugak Center)

The KCC and Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan will jointly run a promotional center for the expo to honor Korea's first pavilion at the World Expo at the 1900 edition in Paris.

The KCC's public relation hall will display contemporary reinterpretations of items popular at the pavilion in 1900 including giwa (traditional roof tiles) and gat (traditional men's hat). A photo zone there will use augmented reality and media art in the form of traditional folding screens is expected to grab attention.

Other events will allow visitors to sample Korean food. The KCC has invited leading officials, journalists and influencers to the May 30 opening ceremony to serve them leading Busan specialties such as neobiani (thinly sliced meat for the royal court of the Joseon Dynasty) and bibim dangmyeon (spicy glass noodles).

The KCC's courtyard under the concept of a pojangmacha, or tent-style street food kiosk, will serve Busan specialties such as Dongnae pajeon (scallion pancake), eomuktang (fish cake soup) and ssiat hotteok (sweet bun with seed filling)

To run for 10 days through May 30, the pop-up Busan Cafe was inspired by Mildawon, a famous teahouse frequented by writers and artists during the Korean War (1950-53), to highlight the varying tastes of Busan, which is an emerging "coffee city."

This promotional poster is for "Taste Korea," an event to promote Busan that the Korean Cultural Center in Paris will host from May 30 to Sept. 16. (KCC in Paris)