In the past, when people watched performances such as plays, musicals and concerts, they tended to concentrate on the plot of a play, the acting, actors’ appearances, dialogues, and background music. Nowadays, audiences focus on the stage of the play and know that the composition of the stage is an important factor in creating atmosphere and implying the intention of the performance. Scenographers work hard to make perfect plays. Compositions of the stage gradually develop each scene’s own characteristics, breaking the typical forms. Bae Yun Kyung, as a great scenographer, makes this possible.
 
   
▲ Bae saying “I want to continue to do many interesting works.” Photographed Kim Yoon Ji.
 
Bae Yun Kyung, had diverse experiences and solid careers at a young age. She was in charge of compositing many performance stages such as the acoustic musical Where the Wind is Blowing, the play Victor, the Fool, and the musical Vincent Van Gogh. In addition, she is especially active in the field of spatial arts. She distinguished the concept of scenographer from that of a stage designer. A stage designer is like a set designer, but a scenographer is a person who designs all of the things in a scene such as installation of a set, stage lighting, stage costumes, and images used in a play. It is the scenographer who generally  manages and designs visuals on a stage.
  
Usually, scenographers’ schedules are relatively flexible. When an agency or a director contacts them and gives a scenario of a performance, they analyze it thoroughly. Based on the text, scenographers set a concept of a stage to visualize the script. After a staff meeting, scenographers make a drawing of each scene. A studio receives the drawing file and starts to make the stage based on the design. It is often mistaken that scenographers do physical labor such as sawing and nailing. However, it is the studio that actually produces and builds stages.
 
Since childhood, Bae had a lot of interest in performance. Her parents took her to many performances, and she and her siblings performed small plays in front of her parents on Christmas. Naturally, she dreamed of becoming a leading figure involved in performance art. She also enjoyed painting, which fueled her desire to be a scenographer. When she entered university, there were not many departments about theatrical art, so she entered the Department of Western Painting, which helped her a lot to pursue her career. Since stage art had not yet been developed in Korea, she decided to go abroad to study more. In the United Kingdom (UK), scenographers are well treated, unlike in Korea where artists tend to be recognized as technicians.
 
In the UK, she learned a lot about performance arts, because the UK has a long history of theatrical culture and the theatre industry is well-developed. Meanwhile, the respected and popular performance fields are limited to some musicals and plays in Korea. When seeing a performance, people tend to have an interest in who is in the casting list. For these reasons, the producers and agencies invest a lot of their budget to purchasing popular items or casting actors. Therefore, there is a budget problem in producing stages and behind-the-scene factors. When the allocated budget is small to fully set the stage, she is sometimes stressed out.
  
Although it is arduous work that involves emotional stress, she pleasantly and passionately works. When seeing that the stage she designed is finished and used in a performance, her heart is filled with pride. When asked about her most memorable incident, Bae said, “In 2008, three international students and I participated in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the UK. We organized a quite experimental performance of transcending genre by combining art and dance.” When they had a box performance on the street in London for research, they were arrested by the police. However, through this performance they were fortunately supported by the Korean Cultural Center. She added, “We suffered a lot, but all the hardships and ordeals were a valuable and amusing experience.”
 
Bae grafts media art into performances as well. She said, “In modern society where technology develops rapidly, it is a natural process that visual media is used often in performances. In the future, the image media itself will become the nucleus of the plays, even to the point where it substitutes the actors.” She is currently studying a variety of image media such as holographic and projection mapping to enrich stage designs.
 
She also thinks that differentiating various art genres has become vague and meaningless. Bae said, “As image media is absorbed into performances, architecture and art are always combined. In fact, the two things are the same in some ways. With regards to setting a concept and designing spaces, architecture and scenography have the same process.” Therefore, for people who want to become a scenographer, abilities such as combining a situation and imagery, visualizing and eliminating separation among various fields are needed.
 
In addition, she advises prospective scenographers to accumulate diverse experience because whatever it is, every experience can be applied and used in artistic works. She suggests that if someone lacks tenacity or aims to earn a lot of money, it is better to find something else. She said, “To succeed in this field, people should have great passion and sincerely enjoy the work with patience. It will be difficult, but it will be worth it.” 
 
Bae wants to continue challenging herself to do many interesting works. Moreover, she said that she will cover various areas not limited to stage art. Currently, a musical that she designed the stage for will be performed from May 19 to July 26 at the Sangam Digital Media City Multi Content Center (DMCC) digital theater. Why not enjoy a musical and appreciate her work of stage arts? 
 
   
▲ The sketch of a musical Vincent Van Gogh. Provided Bae Yun Kyung.
   
▲ A performance that she designed the stage for. Provided Bae Yun Kyung.
   
▲ The stage of a play Victor, the Fool. Provided Bae Yun Kyung.
   
▲ The street performance in London. Provided Bae Yun Kyung.
 
저작권자 © The Granite Tower 무단전재 및 재배포 금지