With this MOU, Knowledge Capital now has international tie-ups with 14 organizations in 7 countries!
The ACI is the body that runs the Asia Cultural Center (ACC), Asia’s largest arts and culture complex in Gwangju, itself known as a city of the arts, and holds events like the Gwangju Biennale, one of the top modern art festivals in Asia, every two years.
Here is a report on a recent visit to the ACC!
The ACC is a huge complex with a floor area of about 160,000 square meters. I was amazed to find that most of the complex was built underground to preserve the limited green spaces in the city.
The huge underground space is home to such a multitude of venues that even the people who work there get lost sometimes.
Inside are ACC Archive & Research, which researches and archives Asian cultural resources; ACC Children, Korea’s largest cultural venue for children; ACC Creation, where artists create and produce media art works by combining technology with art; and ACC Theater, which can accommodate audiences up to 3,000.
The archive storage room where temperature, humidity, and light are controlled to preserve the books.
This wall of the theater can be opened up so the indoor and outdoor spaces can be used as one integrated space.
Bright and colorful playground equipment at the hands-on-learning venue for kids
Something that particularly caught my eye on this visit was that there were “places to rest” everywhere. There is a bamboo garden inside the library, and a big lawn and gardens where food festivals and musical events are held.
Although the ACC is on very spacious grounds, access is excellent. It’s connected directly to an underground station, there are numerous entrances from the roads around the perimeter, and there are lots of free zones. It’s designed so that everyone can feel free to drop by.
While you’re out taking a walk, you can drop by, get some cultural learning and have some fun, in a healing sort of way. Now I really envy the people who live nearby the ACC.
ACI, which runs the ACC, holds performances and exhibitions focusing on the cultural resources they have collected through their exchange work in and outside Korea. As well as producing content for children, they also provide spaces for artists from around the world to do research and creative work, and they facilitate the creation of a wide range of cultural content.
Through this mutual cooperation with ACI, Knowledge Capital is aiming for co-creation, by fusing the cutting-edge technology and creativity of Knowledge Capital participants with the cutting-edge technology and artistic fields that ACI researches and develops.
For example, we are planning to hold mutual exhibits at the events we both hold, as well as personnel exchanges, such as Knowledge Capital participants taking part in ACI residence programs for researchers and artists, etc.
If you’re going to Gwangju, you really should go and see the ACC!
What is the Asia Cultural Center (ACC)?
Established in Gwangju, Korea, the ACC is a Korean national organization for international art and culture exchange. It aims to grow cooperatively with other Asian countries through exchange, education, research, and other initiatives related to Asian culture. The ACC aims to fulfil the role of an integrated platform where collaborators from around the world, principally Asia, can freely and harmoniously engage with each other and share ideas to transcend the boundaries that may present themselves through the stages of research, creation, and production.
The Asia Cultural Center (ACC) official English website:
https://www.acc.go.kr/en
