Meiro Koizumi

Commissioned by the 14th Gwanju Biennale, Theatre of Life is a 5 screen video installation reflecting on the cultural history of the Koryo-saram – the Korean communities who were deported to central Asia from Soviet Russia in the 1930s. Koizumi organized a two-day acting workshop for teenagers from the Koryo-saram community in Gwangju. These teenagers (age between 13 to 19) arrived to Korea within the past few years; some came with their parents who found jobs in the country, and others recently escaped from the war in Ukraine. They mainly speak in Russian, and still struggle to learn Korean language and to find their positions within Korean society. Using historical photographs of Koryo-saram Theater as a starting point, a professional acting coach taught the youths the basics of how to act on stage, and encouraged them to imagine characters, to transform themselves with the costumes, and to actively re-invent the scenes depicted in the archival documents. The workshop was aimed to help the youths to objectively see the historical burden of Goryeo heritage, and to learn the skills to actively transform one’s own identity through the power of role-playing.