Exhibiting Arirang

Abstract

Arirang is best known as a type of Korean folk song. But itis more than just a simple folk song. It is a kind of culturalphenomenon that embodies people’s lives and everydayactivities. The National Folk Museum of Korea recentlycurated a special exhibition about Arirang to reconsiderthe meaning of this song which so many Koreans take forgranted. In the exhibition we presented both historicalmaterials and everyday products related to Arirang, andwe also introduced sound resources. These were not onlyrecordings of the songs performed by professionalsingers, but also recordings of Arirang songs sung byordinary people, documented region by region. Wecollected personal stories and accounts of what Arirangmeans, and these too were edited into audio-visual formsto be exhibited. Certain regional groups that co-operatedin collecting materials for the exhibition were invited togive performances themselves. The performances bypeople who put their own experiences into the Ariranglyrics were especially popular with audiences. Theexhibition was important for the future in that we gainednew experience in utilising tangible and intangiblematerials possessed by communities which aretransmitting a certain kind of intangible heritage.