| [People]introduces the future direction of art education that the Art Collider Lab (hereinafter referred to as AC Lab) of the Convergence Arts Center seeks and aims to pursue through people who have worked with AC Lab. |
“When people find out you’ve graduated from K-Arts, you’ll get invitations to perform here and there. It feels like, ‘I could make a living from this.’ But by your early 30s, things change. Invitations become rare. That’s when you realize: as an artist, you absolutely need something of your own.”
In-Soo Park(43), a professor of Traditional Arts at Korea National University of Arts’, has a clear message. While it’s important for traditional artists to preserve and pass down Korea’s unique artistic heritage, it’s even more critical to explore, create, and express their own art built on those traditions. Professor Park notes, “Legends like Lee Mae-Bang of Salpuri dance and Kang Seon-Yeoung of Taepyeongmu are revered because of the works they are known for. No matter how beautifully one performs Salpuri or Taepyeongmu, it’s hard to be remembered in the same way they are.” His concerns, as a mentor and fellow artist, are deeply embedded in his teachings. He encourages students’ creativity by praising even their most modest assignments as ‘works’ and emphasizes the importance of intellectual property rights, helping them develop a creator’s mindset.
Last fall, through the Connected Campus Project at K-Arts, Park taught a course titled ‘Practical Skills for Registering and Releasing Original Music Tracks’. The course was a step in the journey of helping students discover their own artistic identities. As students saw their musical ideas develop into final, consumable works, they themselves matured into true artists.
In-Soo Park, Professor of Traditional Arts at Korea National University of Arts
| The Multi-Talented Traditional Artist
In-Soo Park is the epitome of an artist. With a master’s and doctoral degree in Yeonhui(traditional Korean performing arts) from K-Arts, he excels in dancing, singing, and playing instruments. Among these, his specialty is Talchum(traditional mask dance). A certified practitioner of Bongsan Talchum, a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Park became a professor at K-Arts in his 30s.
“Talchum was first offered as a major in 1998. Compared to Gut(shamanic rituals), and Pungmul(folk percussion), it was developed much later and is still under-researched. But I was drawn to it. Talchum feels like theater, dance, and song all rolled into one—a true composite art form,” he says with a laugh.
While deeply committed to preserving and advancing traditional arts, Park stays true to the essence of being an artist: creation and expression. He believes that learning tradition with humility and dedication is essential but insists it should ultimately serve as a foundation for personal expression.
His 2021 original Talchum performance Suckkeojaebi embodies this philosophy. Unlike traditional Talchum, which often repeats fixed movements, the performance freely alternated between set choreography and improvisation. Park credits BTS as the inspiration. “When I watched BTS perform Dynamite, I saw their individual artistry shine through their spontaneous moves. That improvisation felt like something uniquely theirs. It inspired me to recover the improvisational nature of traditional mask dance and incorporate it into a new Talchum performance.”
Professor Park emphasized, “The essence of an artist is creation and expression.”
Since 2020, Park has also led a project with students to create new Seoljanggu (solo Janggu drum performance) pieces. Recognizing that there are too few compositions for solo Janggu performances, he initiated this project to expand the repertoire. “The pieces my students create are often playful and fun,” Park says. “They’re also easier to perform than traditional compositions, which helps broaden the accessibility of traditional arts.”
| “What You Create is Called ‘Art’ in the World”
Park is captivated by the originality of his students’ compositions. Although their work may not yet demonstrate high-level mastery, it brims with fresh and creative ideas. Unconventional rhythms and imaginative techniques frequently emerge, and there’s a spirit of experimentation, but the students themselves often fail to recognize the value of their work.
“They were surprisingly lukewarm about it,” Park recalls with a smile. “There were so many great pieces that I thought they’d want to perform everywhere, but the works were quickly forgotten. Maybe they felt their skills weren’t ready, or they just weren’t motivated to create more. They didn’t seem to realize how precious their work was.”
Disappointed by the fleeting nature of the students’ efforts, Park suggested producing an album. This led to the Practical Skills for Registering and Releasing Original Music Tracks course, where students recorded their compositions in a studio, build through the Connected Campus Project, registered them as intellectual property, and released them online. The course also included one-on-one mentoring with industry experts, offering an in-depth look at copyright and distribution processes.
The course aimed to achieve two goals. First, it reinforced the message that creating one’s own art is vital. “K-Arts students perform so often during their studies that they can easily get caught up in practices and performances,” Park explains. “I wanted to give them time to reflect, develop the mindset of a true artist, and find motivation for their own creative journeys.”
Second, it addressed the need to expand the repertoire of traditional arts. As Park notes, there are only a handful of compositions for genres like Pungmul and Janggu, making performances feel repetitive and potentially uninspiring. He sees the students’ compositions as a way to diversify and invigorate traditional arts. By celebrating their work as ‘art’, he hopes to foster creativity and expand the reach of traditional music.
“I make sure every piece they compose is notated,” Park says. “I’m compiling these into a Seoljanggu collection, like a folk guitar songbook. The thicker the book gets, the more accessible traditional arts will become—especially for young people. The students’ pieces are easy to play, lively, and fun.”
“생각보다 뜨뜻미지근하더라고요.(웃음) 좋은 곡들이 많아서 여기저기 공연하러 다닐 줄 알았는데, 이내 잊혔어요. 자신이 아직 부족하다고 여기는 건지, 새로 창작하는 것 자체가 내키지 않는 건지…본인 곡 귀한 걸 잘 모르는 것 같았어요.”
학생들의 곡이 휘발되는 게 아쉬웠던 박 교수는 급기야 앨범 제작을 권유하기에 이른다. 그렇게 마련된 특별한 자리가 바로 ‘창작음악 음원등록 및 발매실무’ 수업이다. 이전에 창작한 곡들을 대상으로 스튜디오에서 음원을 녹음하고, 이를 직접 등록하고 발매해보는 과정. 각 분야 전문가들의 일대일 멘토링 세션까지 더해져 저작권과 유통과정에 대해 보다 진지하게 들여다보는 시간으로 진행됐다.
해당 수업을 통해 노리는 바는 두 가지다. 첫째는 ‘자신의 예술을 하는 것이 중요하다’는 메시지의 설파. 박 교수는 “한예종 학생들은 재학 시절부터 공연을 굉장히 많이 다니기 때문에 연습하고 공연하는 것에 파묻힐 수밖에 없다”면서 “따로 시간을 할애해서 진짜 아티스트가 되기 위한 마인드셋과 동기부여의 기회를 제공하고 싶었다”고 설명했다.
전통예술의 저변 확대는 보다 대승적인 목표다. 앞서 언급했듯, 사물놀이의 곡수는 웃다리 사물놀이, 영남 사물놀이, 호남 우도 사물놀이 등 대여섯 개에 불과하다. 장구 곡 역시 마찬가지. 비슷한 곡만 가르치고, 비슷한 곡만 연습한다는 의미다. 신명이 기치인 우리 가락임에도 자칫 뻔하고 지루하게 느껴지기 십상이다. 박 교수는 학생들의 창작곡을 통해 전통예술의 다양성과 그로 인한 저변확대의 가능성을 엿봤다. 아직은 다소 서툴고 거친 면도 있는 학생들의 창작물을 과감히 ‘작품’으로 추대하는 이유도 그래서다.
“학생들이 만든 곡은 전부 채보(악보로 만드는 것)하게 해요. 마치 통기타 연주곡집처럼 설장구집으로 꾸려보려고요. 그 책이 두꺼워지면 질수록 일반인의 접근성도 높아지겠죠. 특히 젊은 사람들이 향유할 수 있는 곡들이 많아질 거예요. 학생들의 곡은 쉬우면서도 통통 튀고 유쾌하니까요.”
| Rethinking Art Education: Creating Space for Individuality
As a K-Arts alumnus, Park empathizes with today’s students. He worries that they are losing their individuality amid the school’s demanding curriculum.
“It feels a bit more rigid now compared to when I was a student,” he reflects. “Back then, there was more room to explore. I even dabbled in stage crew work for the School of Film and played minor roles in plays at the School of Drama. Those experiences enriched me as an artist.”
Park advocates for greater flexibility in education, creating opportunities for students to pursue their own interests. This is why he’s cautious about the master-apprentice teaching model often used in the arts. “Its strength is that it allows students to quickly learn what their teachers have spent years mastering,” Park says. “But it can also trap them in existing frameworks, making it harder to develop their own artistic voice.”
He also critiques the dense curriculum, which heavily focuses on traditional repertoires and performances, leaving little room for exploration. “We need to strip the curriculum down to the essentials and create an environment where students can freely choose what to explore and experience. The process of discovering one’s interests is the same as the process of finding one’s artistic identity,” he adds.
“예전과 비교하면 조금 빡빡해졌달까요? 제가 학교 다닐 무렵엔 조금 더 열려있는 느낌이었거든요. 제 경우엔 예술적 오지랖도 꽤 부린 편이에요.(웃음) 영상원에서 무대 스텝 알바도 뛰어보고, 연극원에서는 단역 배우도 해봤을 정도죠. 그런 경험들이 모두 예술적 자양분이 됐고요.”
박 교수의 해법은 교육의 ‘여지’다. 학생들이 자신의 것을 채워갈 수 있는 공간이 마련돼야 한다는 것. 예술교육계에서는 일반적인 방식인 ‘도제식 교육’(스승이 제자를 일대일로 가르치는 방식)을 경계하는 이유도 그래서다. 박 교수는 “선생님들이 오랜 시간 갈고 닦은 것을 짧은 시간에 전수할 수 있다는 것이 도제식 교육의 장점”이라면서도 “거기에 너무 길들여지면, 기성의 틀에서 좀처럼 벗어나기 어렵고, 그만큼 자신의 것을 찾기도 힘들다”고 조언했다. 학과 커리큘럼의 밀도가 너무 높다는 것도 학생들의 자유의지를 저해하는 요소다. 빡빡한 커리큘럼을 채우는 건 대부분 전통 예술의 레퍼토리 공연들. 전통의 관습 안에서 좀처럼 빠져나오기 어려운 구조다. 박 교수는 “꼭 필요한 것들만 필수 과목으로 남기고 나머지는 자유롭게 선택하여 경험하고 탐구할 수 있는 분위기가 조성돼야 한다”면서 “학생 스스로 관심사를 찾아 선택해 가는 과정은 자기 예술을 찾아가는 과정과 다르지 않은 것”이라고 덧붙였다.
Professor Park(right) emphasized, “Art education should be able to encourage artists’ free will.”
Ultimately, Park believes future arts education should focus on establishing principles of creation. Instead of simply teaching traditional works, educators should emphasize the logic and methodology behind their creation, helping students develop their own creative standards.
“It’s like learning harmony while playing Mozart in Western music,” Park explains. “Without understanding the principles of creation, merely mimicking Mozart makes it harder to create something uniquely your own.” Once these principles are established, it becomes easier to fuse traditional arts with other genres or disciplines—an essential skill in today’s era of convergence.
“Now is the age of fusion,” Park concludes. “The demand for cross-disciplinary artistry is also growing. If each individual’s creative standards and methodology are firmly established, it becomes much easier to navigate between genres and fields. Just like how BTS inspired a Talchum performance. Traditional arts still have a long way to go, but with open minds and a willingness to explore, we’ll eventually find what’s uniquely ours.”
“융합의 시대잖아요. 예술 역시 그런 요구가 점점 커지고 있고요. 개개인의 창작 기준이나 방법론이 단단하게 잡혀 있으면, 타 장르나 분야를 넘나들기도 훨씬 쉬어질 거예요. BTS의 퍼포먼스를 통해 탈춤 무대가 만들어질 수 있는 것처럼 말이죠. 전통예술은 아직 갈 길이 멀어요. 하지만 조금 더 열린 마음으로 그 길을 향해 가다보면, 언젠간 분명 ‘자기만의 것’을 찾을 수 있을 겁니다!”
/ written by TJ
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