Seoul Fringe Festival in Hongdae

Last week we went to Hongdae, a the suburb around the Hongik University, the university of Fine Arts. It is a special place in Seoul, and here live a big portion of the young artists of Seoul. Although you can find sensibly more tourists and westerners compared to the rest of the city, it keeps that charm given by a mix of old and new, and you can still find a very special crowd.

During our lunchtime, last year, a group of students, maybe not korean (?!) absolutely wanted to shot a photo with us. They were quite funny and many of them had strange very stylised handmade portraits with them. 

We discovered later that the drawings were the famous "10 seconds" portrait made by an industrious (student?) artist there in Hongdae. I have made a movie of two of his performances. Slightly longer then 10 sec, but still remarkable

although not everybody is happy of the result !

The artistic touch is present a bit everywhere.
Many bars and restaurants are have painted front walls

The language barrier is really not a problem when it is time to go to a restaurant...

...as all the details are shown in nearly perfect plastic productions

We found the korean omelettes have an artistic profile here

There are kebabs, and ice-creams.
In the photo one can see a turkish guy creating the largest ice-cream ball that I have ever seen! 

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These weeks in Hongdae there is the Fringe Festival. Street shows, exhibitions, and more. Many artists are invited to exhibit their productions on the street. So we went there...

Doro and Marlen liked a lot the place

Marlen in particular was impressed by this giant cat

And also for pottery...

There are many live concerts. On can see them on thin cushions on the street.

Cool cafes are a breath of fresh air from the Paris Baguette and Paris Croissant, ubiquitous in Seoul

and try something special in Korea, like a place in a garage.

the finished bottels are finally elegantly ordered on the street

However by far the best was the music in the street. Here some great stuff

and an exceptional Bossanova in korean!

Also Latin American influence is strong here

The closing performance was a poetic one

The good night was given by the elegant packing 100 gloves left to try... used to manipulate wooden fire  in Korean Barbecue restaurants