An international festival on the world's oldest extant book printed with movable metal type will kick off in Cheongju in September to shed new light on its creative value, bringing together world-renowned writers and scholars, organizers said Tuesday.
The Jikji Korea Festival will open Sept. 1 in the central South Korean city, some 130 kilometers south of Seoul, for an eight-day run under the theme of "Jikji, Enlightening the World," with the main venues including the Cheongju Arts Hall and the Cheongju Early Printing Museum.
Printed at the city's Heungdeok Temple in 1377 during Korea's Goryeo Dynasty, Jikji is the abbreviated title of "Jikjisimcheyojeol," a book on great Buddhist priests' Zen teachings.
UNESCO confirmed Jikji as the world's oldest metal-printed book in 2001 and included it in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme that year.
Cheongju, home to the world's oldest movable metal type, has held the Jikji Festival since 2003 as part of efforts to develop the city into a "hub of printing culture" like Germany's Mainz and to further promote the metal-type text around the world.
According to the organizing committee, a gigantic wall of lanterns, dubbed the "Jikji Wall," has been erected before the Cheongju Arts Hall, featuring a total of 16,021 Chinese characters contained in the second volume of the metal type-printed book.
The main exhibition with the theme of "Jikji, Golden Seed" will feature 57 works created by 35 teams of writers and artists from Britain, Canada and nine other countries. The works range from analogue to digital and media arts, giving visitors a glimpse into the creative and historic value of Jikji.
In particular, world-renowned industrial designer Ron Arad will take part in the upcoming festival by designing a pavilion that is capable of accommodating some 30 people and will be used as a space for various cultural lectures. It is shaped like the Jikji book placed face down, and made of iron, wood and paper.
Printing-related relics, including the printing press used by Johannes Gutenberg, will also be displayed during the festival, whose programs also include experiencing ancient printing methods and performances of traditional plays and music.
On the opening day, the organizing committee will present the 6th UNESCO Jikji Award to an archives established jointly by six Latin American countries.
"The organizing committee has arranged a variety of programs in order to revive the creativity of Jikji," a committee official said. "The main exhibition will be able to give visitors more fun than imagined." (Yonhap)
