North Korea style 10

Un mot sur l’œuvre

The image behind the Taekwondo athletes performing on the field, represents a characteristic move of this national sport; ap joomuk kaunde jirugi, a fore-fist middle section punch.  Using the stunt card technique to reconstruct the history of Korea in the 20th century, 17,000 students seated in the grandstand, simultaneously unfold colored panels with military precision to form sweeping grand images. Each person represents a pixel in the overall image.

Although the origins of martial arts are shrouded in mystery, since time immemorial men have used their hands and feet for self-protection. Influenced by a combination of historical events in Korea and Japanese traditions, the modern incarnation of Korea’s national martial art Taekwondo (« way of kick and fist ») was created in 1955 by General Choi Hong-hi. Born in what is now North Korea, his idea was to develop a specific martial art to demonstrate the spirit and wisdom of the Korean nation to the outside world. Taekwondo is extremely popular in North Korea. It is taught in every school and is part of the daily sports and health routine of all DPRK citizens. After 50 years of existence, the art of kicks has 60 million practitioners in more than 120 countries. Taekwondo became a medal sport at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.