In an exciting twist, following the Australian Performing Arts Market Lee Jinyeop (Charlye) brokered a presentation by the Marronnier Summer Festival in Seoul, Korea. Nathan Stoneham joined her, as lead artist to engage local children and audiences in The Walking Neighbourhood.
The artists spent two weeks in Daehangno neighbourhood, working with local children to cerate tours, through visual art workshop and walking exercises. For the performance, 11 children departed from the rooftop studio of Arko Theatre, which was transformed into a colourful departure lounge. They guided audiences on walks through narrow traditional streets, parks and shopping malls to art galleries, theatres, florists, second hand book stores and hidden spots of interest. Each walk offered a different experience of the local area – audiences met a local florist, drew chalk drawings on a concrete wall, saw digital locks on ancient doors, touched and smelt a rosemary bush, listened to a budding actor sing in a theatre carpark, ate cake, heard poetry, searched for owls and chatted with children as they wandered the busy Seoul streets.
On her walk, eleven year old Jin Seo Yeon asked audiences “Who is making the neighbourhoods in this world? Is it children or adults? Who is handling this society? Is it adults or children?”
