Legendary artist has grand vision for DMZ

His voice is so soft, barely audible at some points, that strong concentration is required to hear his words.

Achim Freyer, a legendary theater and opera producer, stage and costume designer, installation artist, and painter ― a singular figure in the world of arts ― exudes a quiet sort of charisma with his wild silvery mane and deep-set blue eyes. He may be soft spoken but he is a tour de force in his unique way and his words carry weight.

He is best known here for his 2012 production of “Mr. Rabbit and Dragon King,” an adaptation of the popular pansori “Sugungga” for the National Theater of Korea that opened up a whole new vista for how the traditional music performance genre of pansori could be rendered and appreciated in a thoroughly modern way.

Freyer began the interview with The Korea Herald on Oct. 27 at Sungshin Women’s University, where he had just finished delivering a lecture to an audience of more than 450 students from all disciplines of art, by explaining why he speaks so softly. His wife, Esther Lee, a Korean opera singer, sat next to him and interceded as an interpreter when necessary.

An East German who escaped to the West in 1972 while in Italy for a theater production, speaking quietly was a habit ingrained in him while living under a repressive Communist regime.

“I was in Italy doing a Brecht piece. I realized East Germany was not my world, Italy was more my world. People were more open. In East Germany we spoke very silently. Even now I do not speak loud. This is a problem forever,” he said with a gentle chuckle. Freyer is a protege of Bertolt Brecht, a renowned German poet, playwright and theater director.

When Freyer defected, he left behind his family as well as his works. His family, he smuggled out of East Germany with 90,000 marks he had borrowed; his works, he could not.

“When the (Berlin) Wall broke, a man called me and said you can have your works from the East,” Freyer recalled. For 20 years, the man had lived with the works Freyer left behind, the sheer volume of the works filling up the apartment. “Except for the bathroom, the sink and the bed, the entire place was filled with my works,” Freyer said.

The man wanted nothing in return. “‘Your work is important,’ he told me. It was phenomenal. You don’t find such people,” Freyer said. “He said, ‘You left your art world behind. You didn’t sell them.’”

Settling in West Germany was an “unsettling” experience for Freyer, who had been a prolific artist in the East. “I preferred to work with left-leaning theaters but I was told, ‘Please go home to the East. We don’t want conflict with East German artists,’” Freyer recounted. “In the end I made a progressive theater; it was very successful. I never had to ask them again,” he said.

As an artist who defected from a communist state to settle in the West, Freyer has a unique perspective to offer Koreans. “It is important to find ways of exchange with North Korea,” he said. Reflecting on his own experience, he said, “We didn’t know about art in the East and the East didn’t know about art in the West.”

The path toward integration following unification was not a smooth one. “Step by step we came together. It took a very long time. This is why it is very important to know the ideas and art from the other side of Korea,” he said.

One way such exchanges can begin even now is by talking about the shared traditions, Freyer suggests. “You can talk about the traditions of both sides. We can start from there. Unification is important but it would be ideal to achieve unification in mutual understanding,” he said. In Germany, artists from the East and the West held joint concerts and exhibitions even before unification.

In Korea for a nine-day visit which included attending the opening of a special exhibition at the Jeonbuk Museum of Art marking its 10th anniversary, an exhibition which he helped organize, visiting the DMZ and meeting with Unification Minister Ryu Kihl-jae, Freyer shared some of his ideas about the proposed DMZ World Eco-Peace Park.

“The DMZ Park would be a chance to speak with North Korea with artists from around the world. When art is philosophical and (we) have ideas from old tradition then we have timeless art through which the public can find for themselves the problems of our time,” he said.

The DMZ Park must be a park for the South Korean public, Freyer said. At the same time, it can also be a park for the people of North Korea. “When we have many lightings on the sculptures, North Koreans can see it and feel it is Korean art. They can feel, ‘We are the same,’” he said.

Of course, there would be many difficulties, money being one of them. Yet, there are many reasons why such ventures are meaningful and necessary. “Discussion for the world at the DMZ can be a very big thing,” he said. He envisioned world-famous artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons coming. “I can make the connection,” he offered.

Another idea for promoting inter-Korean artistic exchanges on a global level is the staging of his monumental and groundbreaking production of Wagner’s “Der Ring Des Niebelungen,” which premiered at the Los Angeles Opera in 2010 to much critical acclaim. “We could have singers from North Korea and South Korea join a cast of international singers,” Freyer said with excitement in his voice.

Would he ever consider traveling to North Korea?

“I would like to meet North Korean artists. But psychologically, it would be difficult to travel to North Korea,” Freyer said shaking his head. The memories of his days in East Germany must still be fresh.

On freedom of expression, Freyer said, “Repressing freedom of expression is death. It is akin to throwing away an opportunity to get to know about one’s self. We must think freely, freely ask many questions and freely answer. Otherwise, there will be no progress.”

Quoting his teacher Brecht, Freyer added, “Nichts ist, Wie es war (Nothing is as it was).”

By Kim Hoo-ran (khooran@heraldcorp.com)