Dancing State Seal, Rapping Buddha: National Museum of Korea's Costume Play Finals Draw Attention

[Anchor]

The National Museum of Korea's "Costume Play," where participants dress up as museum artifacts and enjoy the experience, has been the talk of the town since the preliminary rounds. Today, the final round took place.

Reporter Park Ha-jeong has the story.

[Reporter]

Participants meticulously apply paint to their faces to match the colors of the artifacts.

[Jeon Eun-seul: It's in a similar color family to a (cute) character. I focused on choosing something I could easily make.]

They also practice the poses they will strike on stage in advance.

[Jeong Saet-byeol, Kim Seung-ju: We are natives of Gwangyang. We also want to let people know that there are such wonderful artifacts in our region.]

The National Museum of Korea's "Costume Play" is an interactive event where participants dress up with motifs from artifacts in museums nationwide and add their own interpretations. Expanded to a nationwide scale for the first time this year, a total of 275 teams comprising 643 people participated. Following regional preliminaries over the past month, 25 teams advanced to the finals today.

[Does the state seal have legs?!]

From the State Seal Jegojibo, depicting its journey from being used during the Korean Empire to being looted by Japan and eventually repatriated, to a Pensive Bodhisattva who also performed a rap expressing personal contemplation, a Celadon Incense Burner with Inlaid Peony and Chrysanthemum Design—the essence of Goryeo celadon—that even burned incense, and the Twin Lion Stone Lantern of Jungheungsanseong Fortress expressing the structure of a stone lantern through two people's poses, the participating teams armed with ingenious ideas stepped onto the runway to express our cultural heritage with their entire bodies.

[Kim So-hyun: It used to be just something I would glance at as I walked by, but I think it became an opportunity to learn more about cultural assets.]

After fierce competition, the grand prize went to Jeon Eun-seul, who portrayed the White Porcelain Water Dropper in the Shape of a Carp.

[Yoo Hong-jun, Director of the National Museum of Korea: The high creative desire and imagination with which (young people) have expressed themselves were clearly demonstrated through this costume play, leading me to think it might become a representative festival for young people.]

Building on this interest, the National Museum of Korea plans to continue the Costume Play next year.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News / Video reporting: Lim Woo-sik, Video editing: Lee Seung-yeol, Design: Seo Seung-hyun, Footage provided by: National Museum of Korea)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.