문화예술계 블랙리스트 피해 양상 및 후속 조치에 관한 연구(2) : ‘서울프린지네트워크 선정 배제 사건’을 중심으로*

Abstract

The Seoul Fringe Network received an annual grant of 50 million KRW from the Culture and Arts Council Korea for ten years, beginning in 2004. However, in 2015, it was abruptly excluded from funding. An investigation by the Blacklist Investigative Commission confirmed that the Seoul Fringe Network had been excluded from several support programs due to the blacklist’s activation. The primary reason for the Seoul Fringe Network being placed on the blacklist was the political activities of Director Oh Seong-hwa. This demonstrates that the Park Geun-hye government’s blacklist targeted individuals rather than specific works or projects. During the exclusion process, the Culture and Arts Council Korea employees primarily used the tactic of “leaking unfavorable information” about targeted organizations to the panel of judges. In the “Interdisciplinary Arts Creation Support” program in 2015, the exclusion of individuals such as Oh Seong-hwa, Im In-ja, and Yoon Han-sol due to the blacklist was extensive, making it increasingly difficult to justify these exclusions. As a result, the Culture and Arts Council Korea decided to discontinue the “Interdisciplinary Arts Creation Support” program altogether in 2016. To facilitate the blacklist’s enforcement, the council significantly restructured its support programs, reducing public contests and expanding planned projects. The victims of the Seoul Fringe Network incident exhibited trauma in four primary forms. First, they felt a deep sense of betrayal toward the Arts Council of Korea, which they had regarded as a partner in the festival. Second, they experienced internal divisions due to not knowing the true reason for their exclusion. Third, the victims received no adequate acknowledgment of the facts or apology from the supporting organizations or the state. Fourth, the indifference and inaction of those around them inflicted further emotional wounds. Through an exploration of the social memory of the Seoul Fringe incident, this paper aims not only to revisit the victims’suffering at that time but also to contribute to the healing of their trauma.