[naewoeilbo내외일보] Lee Su Han 이수한 기자 = Due to COVID-19 many people have forgotten the joy of travelling to a new country along with the feeling of being able to experience the unique culture of a foreign land. Fortunately, thanks to the collaboration between the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in Korea and Gimpo Cultural Foundation the Korean public is now able to travel and experience Latvia with the help of the exhibition “The world we meet again, Latvia”.

This exhibition consists of three different exhibitions, each showcasing a different aspect of Latvian cultural heritage. Visitors will be able to enjoy the exhibition from March 25 to May 29 on the premises of Gimpo Art Center (Gimpo Art Village) in the city of Gimpo located 24 km west from the capital city of Seoul. The Latvian culture program will introduce the visitors with the wonders of the Latvian Architecture, Latvian Traditional Folk Costumes as well as various Latvian children’s book illustrations. In addition to the exhibition people will also have the opportunity to experience various Latvia related handcrafting activities along with the Latvian cinema. It is family friendly and will entertain all generations including - children, parents as well as elders.

By visiting exhibition, hall Nr. 1, visitors will be able to learn more about the Latvian architecture as well as its historic development. Here one can truly learn why capital city of Latvia, Riga is known as the UNESCO World Heritage site due to its diversity of Art Nouveau Architecture present in the Riga old town as well as see other unique parts of Latvia. At the same time, thanks to the technology of OCEAN Multimedia, a one of its kind Latvian interactive audio-visual production company, the audience can experience the feeling of flying in the skies of Riga by experiencing it from a birds eye view, while standing in the VR room.

After learning about the Latvian architecture, visitors can move onto the Exhibition hall Nr. 2 where they will be able to learn about the rich folklore that is still deeply imbedded in the lives of Latvian people. This room offers people the chance to learn about Latvian folk costumes, folk dance, folk music, meaning of the Latvian ethnographic signs as well as the overall folklore that is still very much present in Latvian mentality. Along with the visual materials, for the first time Korean public will also be able to get a glimpse of real exhibits of Latvian folk costumes that show the cultural diversity of many Latvian regions like Alsunga, Kuldiga, Barta and Priekule regions.

After experiencing these historical cultural aspects, people will move on to the Exhibition hall Nr. 3 which dives deeper into a more modern cultural expression in the form of Latvian children’s book illustrations. Here families will be able to see the original drawing made by famous Latvian children’s book illustrators, dedicated to “THE HORSE” catalogue, which was published with the help of many famous Latvian authors and illustrators. In addition to visual drawings, children will also be able to read Latvian children’s books as well as embody themselves in the role of illustrators by drawing and coloring famous Latvian illustration designs.

All this and many more activities will be available for children to explore, including a Latvian movie festival dedicated to Latvian animation that will be shown in Gimpo Art Village outdoor cinema. This movie festival is planned to start in May once the weather becomes warmer, giving people yet another beautiful way to spend an evening with one’s family.

Exhibitions “Latvia Architecture at Convergence” and “From Fork Costume to Modern Day clothing” are both part of the Public Diplomacy Programme dedicated to Latvia’s Centenary and coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whereas exhibition “THE HORSE” is a project made by Latvian Literature platform with the goal of promoting Latvian literature abroad. This event aims to celebrate both the Latvian centenary as well as the Latvia- Korea 30 year anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1991.