As warm potatoes on my table
Close to anyone
Harvested with truthful heart
Not forgetting the value of sweat each other
Essential nutrients to live soul
So… ART IS POTATO
Performing arts company - ART is POTATO aims to recreate the works(stories) from different cultures or traditional music(Opera, Pansori, etc.) which make you feel distant from old-fashioned style into our own story that anyone living here at this time can understand. It was founded by opera director Sun-Young Jung in 2010 and has been attracting the attention of critics for its unique attempts to preserve the original works of the existing opera as it is, but combine it with “Madangnori” which is a traditional theater style in Korea, or absorbing subtitles into the dramatic space so that the audience can grasp the actor's movements and contents at a glance.
It was selected as a visiting concert hosted by Gyeonggi-do in 2011-2012 and the <Performing Project for Everyone> with Sejong Center, and started with expanding the base of the educational field and the opera audience. We got an excellent review of “A new role model of Korea Chamber Opera” for <World Literature in Music - Romeo and Juliet & Spring Spring>, the opera series for youth, and was selected as a post evaluation in 2013 by Performing Arts Creation Fund, so performed <World Literature in Music –Spring, Spring> at Seoul Arts center IBK Hall with the support of Arts Council Korea. <Yangchon-ri Love Scandal(2015)> at Seoul Arts Center (premiere) received fervent responses from critics and audiences: “Opera that have both audience empathy and artistry(Yonhap News)”, “Love elixir in ears, pesticides on the stage, laughter like drugs in the auditorium(Monthly AUDITORIUM Column: From ‘Should I wait an opera director or raise’)”. We got an official invitation to the 15th Uijeongbu Music Drama Festival in 2016. After receiving a commendation from the Minister of Culture and Sports for the major achievement of “Koreanization of Opera” in 2017, it was selected as a resident organization of theater of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture in 2018. The following year, Carmen, an opera highlighter, was invited to the Yeongdeungpo Cultural Foundation's <Journey of Opera>. In addition, through the activities of the education and learning system <Opera Acting lab>, differentiated opera acting methods that arouse sympathy from the audience are projected into the works.
Transcendence of construction / communication empathy
Anyone can understand easily with our own empathetic background transformation.
Clear Text Delivery
A unique subtitle device is used for original language performances to more clearly communicate the musical essence and meaning of the work. Depending on the work, we continue to study the possibilities and completeness of Korean translations.
Ensemble-oriented acting
Opera acting using method acing and enhancing the analysis process
Each performer is the main character.
History
2010 Art is Potato was founded
2011 Sejong Center Nanum project
2011 Culture activities to visit, Gyeonggi-do
2012 World Literature in music I - Spring, Spring Gyeonggi Arts Center
2013 World literature in musicⅠ- Spring Spring Seoul Arts Center,
sponsor by Arts Council Korea
2015 Yangchon-ri Love Scandal(premiere) Seoul Arts Center
2016 Uijeongbu Love Scandal: an official invitation
- Uijeongbu Music Drama Festival
2018 Wangsimni Love Scandal
2018 Seoul Foundation for Arts & Culture Performance theater resident - Seongdong Foundation for Arts & Culture
2018 World literature read in music Ⅱ - Carmen
2018 Opera acting class for Amateur (vocalist)
2018 The Marriage of Figaro Sowol Art hall
2019 Journey of Opera- Carmen Yeongdeungpo Art hall
General/Artistic Director Sun Young Jung
Director Sun-young Jung began her training by studying voice at Seoul Arts High school and Ewha womans University. She earned her Master’s degree in Stage Direction for Opera at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana USA. Ms. Jung makes sensation with <Don Giovanni (2014)>, for Korea National Opera at Seoul Arts Center, which expressed the symbolism of the subject with a huge crane and apple, and <Le nozze di Figaro (2010)> for University Opera Festival at Seoul Arts Center, of which the background was changed to the Joseon Dynasty to add depth and unique subtitle.
She has been invited four years in a row (2012 to 2015) to direct at the Daegu International Opera Festival. Her productions often bookend the season as the first and last productions each year. Productions for Daegu International Opera Festival include <Turandot> by G. Puccini, <Aida> and <La forza del Destino> by G. Verdi, and <Carmen> by G. Bizet. She also directed <Sixteen times of Hello and Goodbye (2016)> for Seoul Metropolitan Opera’s newly commissioned opera, <Tristan und Isolde> and <Otello> for the Great Series with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Myung-whun Chung. <The Prince and Christmas> by Geun-yong Lee presented with the Seoul Metropolitan Junior Chorus was celebrated for its 10th year of annual performance at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in 2019. This production also received a special invitation to perform by Showa University in Japan in 2015.
She directed <Il Trovatore> for La Bella Opera D, which received the 7th Korea Opera Awards, and presented another interpretation of <Don Giovanni (2017)>, which expresses the progressiveness of the times by installing an old Korean tiled roof on the entire stage. Her latest work is <Turandot (2019)>, produced by Daejeon Arts Center.
Ms. Jung served as a full-time member of Korea National Opera and an adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University. She has been recognized for her many artistic achievements, and in 2017 she received the Official Commendation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea. She is the General and Artistic Director of the Performing Arts Company <Art is Potato> since 2010. Currently Ms. Jung also trains the next generation of young singers and directors at Korea National University of Arts and Ewha Womans University.