도시, 문자 그리고 축제 - 청주 ≪직지코리아국제페스티벌≫과 스트라스부르 ≪인쇄인들의 축제fête des imprimeurs≫를 중심으로

Abstract

Korea is deemed the inventor of the metal movable type as the home to the world’s oldest known title printed with this technology, the Jikji: Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters. There will be reluctance, however, in the face of the question whether the book was a catalyst for social change as was Johannes Gutenberg’s 42 Line Bible. This is evident in a festival that is held in Korea in honor of the Jikji. What the Korean society at the time requested of this technology was not mass dissemination of knowledge; and thus no rapid revolutionary changes ensued. However, this does not mean that the Korean metal movable type technology assumed little social and cultural roles. The technology fully served its purpose of preserving knowledge precisely in accordance to an original that carries authority. In this sense, the key to a successful festival (held by a city that was the birthplace of the Jikji) would be to have a good basic program that both relates to the festival’s theme and can represent it well. From the main programs of the festival Jikji, the Golden Seed Exhibition and the Golden Seed Live Show - it seemed the 2016 Jikji Korea Festival would need greater soul searching as to what significance to confer on its namesake. There lacked an organic link between the pride of being the world’s first metal movable type inventor to being the IT powerhouse Korea is today. To this end, a program structured to emphasize the precise documentation and referring to memory would ensure greater continuity of the festival in the longer term. A comparable festival in Europe would be Strasbourg’s fête des imprimeurs organized by Espace Gutenber in that the central themes are the invention of metal type, and printing and documenting. It is a far smaller festival in scale as it is voluntarily organized by a group of a certain profession. This festival does not propose a grandiose ideal or has expectation effectiveness; nor is it expected to play a role in the cultural industry raising income through attracting tourists. The objective and the programs in accordance are also down-to-earth; and all point to the cultural role of the printers and their pride in what they do. The festival puts forth the invention of the metal type, its impact, and how the printers of Strasbourg played into the larger picture in a factual light. This also reflects the diverging attitudes of the communities in Chungju and Strasbourg toward their festivals. Is the festival a means to an end? Is the essence of the festival (to enjoy and be a community) to be a goal in itself? By comparing a festival pivoted around the revolutionary means to make records through written language in two cities in the East and the West, we reach upon a more fundamental inquiry into what festivals are.