Busan finds avenue for expression through Liquid Arts Network
Written by Chris Tharp (@ChrisTharpExpat)
When the English-speaking community in Busan got together to perform their first live arts show in November of 2000, Kenneth May suddenly found himself in the driver's seat. The foreigner scene was already rich with writers, musicians, and other performers; they just needed someone with a particular kind of know-how to bring them together. May was happy to take on that role, and this is how the Liquid Arts Network was born.
"My friends knew that I had done poetry and arts events in the States, so they asked me to organise one," he said during a recent conversation. "I quickly realised that we didn't have enough poets, so we had to include everyone who sang, danced, and painted." This idea of radical inclusiveness wasn't something new to May. In fact, it was right in line with the work he had been doing before coming to Korea.
"The Liquid Arts Network is a direct descendent of the Free People's Poetry Workshops in Indianapolis from 1989-91, led by my friend and mentor, the poet Etheridge Knight," he said. "At the heart of that workshop was the idea of a collective embrace—everybody welcome."
Since then, May has served as a leading figure in the English-language arts scene in Busan. This has meant wearing many different hats: organiser, promoter, reader, critic, curator, friend, and mentor. May has performed all these roles, helming the ever-shifting ship of the Liquid Arts Network for two decades and counting now.
"The content of the events is directly inspired by my dear friend, Yusef Komunyakaa," he said. "He taught me to look for all possibilities and synthesis in things, so I took this idea of synthesis and Etheridge's idea of collective embrace and put them together. This is the foundation of Liquid Arts."
Originally called "Poetry Plus," May rebranded the event in 2015. This was inspired by a lecture he listened to called "Liquid Modernity," which addressed the modern phenomenon of people moving across the globe.
"Forced immigration. Unforced immigration. This idea that we have to change careers several times in our lives now," he said. "This made me think about the 'liquid' lives that we're living. On top of that, I thought about the ocean and the fact that our bodies are 75% water."
Liquid Arts is primarily a performance event featuring poetry, prose, dance, comedy, theatre, film, music, and even live visual art. Some events are 100% curated, while others offer an open mic portion. It's an opportunity for the English-speaking community of Busan to come together and celebrate the talent that so many bring to town, as well as a chance for May to introduce them to new and old voices.
It's also, as the name suggests, a collective of sorts, where artists can support each other through workshops run by the organisation. These feature tables dedicated to different disciplines where anyone can present their work for feedback and improvement. These events are less formal than the show but no less important to the mission of the group.
The live event has not just been limited to Busan, however. The show has hit the road in the past, performing in Seoul and Daegu and two shows in Hanoi, Vietnam. But Korea's second city has proven to be the natural environment to cultivate a thriving scene, and May thinks that there is something about the burg itself that has made this possible.
"Seoul is such a massive metropolis," he said. "It takes a real effort to get from one place to another. This makes it hard to build communities there. Busan, on the other hand, is much more intimate in size, which is very conducive to supporting art events. It's big enough, but not too big."
The next Liquid Arts Network event takes place on Saturday, May 28th, Golden Cheese in Mapo-gu at 4 p.m. This show is special because it features acclaimed poet JiHyun Yun, author of the critically-lauded collection SOME ARE ALWAYS HUNGRY.
Yun is a Korean-American writer and Fulbright Research Fellow based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, SOME ARE ALWAYS HUNGRY, was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2020 and is both a meditation on and celebration of Korean food, diaspora, and identity.
"I wanted to write a book that not only chronicled my family history," Yun recently said, "but served as a love letter to them. My family are masters of nonverbal communication through food, so it made sense for a book dedicated to my family to be written through the vehicle of food and recipe poems to best reflect our primary love language." This event will also include local readers and the musical stylings of the CeCe Kim Quartet.
Liquid Arts Network events are always very well-attended, often to the point where seating becomes a challenge. And while many are content to sit back and watch, another contingent can't wait to jump on the mic and give it all they've got.
"I think that people who have already moved halfway across the world to change their lives are ready to self-actualise," May said. They've already done something scary, so it's not such a big step to get on stage."
This Saturday, Liquid Arts will be hosting the poet JiHyun Yun & The CeCe Kim Quartet at The Golden Cheese Tart in Seoul. You can find more information here.
For more information on Liquid Arts, follow them here.
