A dozen creators from across Europe—from sound artists to painters who use their blood as a medium—go to the North Korean capital to exchange experience with local artists, who greet them with trepidation.
There seems to be no other man in the world that would love North Korea as dearly as Norwegian artist and director Morten Traavik. For his film Liberation Day, which Beat Film Festival screened in Russia in 2017, Traavik went to Pyongyang with Slovenian art band Laibach to organise the first rock concert in the country’s history. For War of Art, he brought a group of contemporary artists from across Europe to North Korea, initiating cultural exchange with the local creatives. One of them draws with his own blood, another makes sounds installations using sounds outside of the human hearing range, another one does art photography—and all of them seem extremely suspicious to Korean artists they meet. This comedy of situation featuring Korean special services, official painters, and schoolgirls, is also an insightful meditation on the dialogue of cultures.
War of Art
Director: Tommy Gulliksen
Norway, Germany, 2019. 102 min. 16+
