Jury’s Statement

Director Hansol Yoon of the theater company Greenpig has been casting doubt upon everything that composes life and the world here and now. He has been doubtful about dichotomous thinking that divides natives and settlers in I am Happy (2007), about god and religion, and whether atheists are a minority in society in So Lonely, Without Binker (2008), about the memories of the war in through the eyes of today in Step-memories - Return of the Oppressed (2010). I am the King of Sex, performed in 2011 at the festival presented by 5th year members of the directors’ group No. 1, Hyewha-dong, casts a doubtful glance at the self-deception of a community that instigates competition, insisting that all-pervading individualistic reasoning is for the sake of everyone. To resolve those doubts, Yoon seeks deliberate alternatives through a highly cross-referential study of multiple fields, a re-establishment of communication and relationships from a new perspective that strays from the mainstream or runs counter to social norms. It has been his trademark to identify a new perspective through the differences and tensions coming from working with various mediums as multi-media art, music, or dance, experiments with space, creation or work in collaboration with others. It is rare among young directors to receive such mixed reviews as Yoon. His ardent fans even feel cathartic about his straightforward thematic consciousness and his unparalleled way of expression as though he would never do anything that has already been done by another artist, however good that may be. Yet, there are still some audience members who turn their heads away, saying his plays are rough or unpleasant. Certainly, Yoon creates a sense of discomfort for theatergoers. But it is clear that the discomfort does not come from dulled senses or bad taste. It probably stems from the light he sheds on places where we have not normally thought to look, not realizing what was there, or on what we were embarrassed by or ashamed of. For this reason, his is a refreshing stage on the one hand, and a surprise on the other. However unfamiliar and uncomfortable this may be, his efforts of bearing and going around looking for those places are a valid process that expand the functions and possibilities of theater. What we can expect from Yoon, above all, is that even when he becomes much older, becomes well-versed in the reality and the ways of the world, and enter into the mainstream of the tiny world of theater, he will never present any sly old dramaturgy that has been used innumerable times over. This might be the case for anyone else, but for Yoon in particular, presenting such as world would be poison. And so, in the not so distant future, we believe that he will lead us on a new trail that every one of us will nod in approval.

_ Donghyun Kim, Ijeong Roh and Hyungjun Cho