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| Stories and images from the webtoon Itaewon Class and Sweet Home are on display in Hà Nội. Photo courtesy of the Korean Cultural Centre |
HÀ NỘI — Local webtoon fans have the chance to experience K-comics and webtoons at an exhibition in Hà Nội.
Presented by the Hà Nội-based Korean Cultural Centre in cooperation with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), the K-Comics World Tour in Hà Nội is an art exhibition housed at the Vincom Centre for Contemporary Art (VCCA) that features popular webtoons Itaewon Class and Sweet Home.
Webtoons are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea. Through this medium, creators and users can discover, create and share stories.
"This is the first K-comics and webtoon exhibition to be held in Việt Nam," said the centre's director Choi Seung-Jin.
"It is a new experience for Vietnamese people, and it also helps companies find Korean webtoon business opportunities in Việt Nam."
Việt Nam has the highest consumption rate of webtoons, director Jin added.
The webtoons Itaewon Class and Sweet Home were made into television series that were among the most-watched streaming series on Netflix Việt Nam in 2020.
The exhibition introduces stories and images from the webtoons, taking viewers to the background of both stories and showing them how they began.
Organisers have even set up a model of a pub and Itaewon alley, which feature in the webtoon Itaewon Class by author Gwang Jin, as well as an abandoned apartment building filled with monsters from Sweet Home, by authors Kim Carnby and Hwang Youngchan.
Itaewon Class's Jin met and had an exchange with the webtoon's fans on September 8. At the meeting, fans listened to the author talk about his experience and the process of creating the webtoon.
The exhibition also includes a range of experience-based spaces, such as places to paint webtoons, stamp webtoon postcards, make typical Korean pub dishes, try on costumes and take photos.
Winners of a webtoon drawing contest were announced at the exhibition opening. The contest, themed What Are Việt Nam and South Korea to You?, was held from August 13 to 28 by the centre and the South Korean embassy to Việt Nam.
An online meeting about K-comics and webtoons will be held on September 9 and 10 by KOCCA to connect South Korean and Vietnamese companies.
The Korean Copyright Protection Agency will hold a seminar on K-webtoon copyrights on September 22.
The exhibition is from K-Comics World Tour, which has been held by the South Korean government throughout Asia and Europe, including in the Philippines, Việt Nam, Indonesia, Singapore, Belgium and Italy.
The show was launched in June in the Philippines and in Hà Nội and will also begin in Indonesia and Brussels this month. The K-comics World Tour will take place in Rome in October and in Singapore in November.
The Hà Nội exhibition runs until September 22 at VCCA, No. 72A Nguyễn Trãi Street, Thanh Xuân District. - VNS
