Korea’s first Oscar-nominated animation, ‘Opera’, reborn as 6m-tall media art

The history of mankind was compressed into a 6m high pyramid in 5 minutes. During the 2 minute and 30 second cycle of day and night, thousands of small characters move constantly. The dark history of humanity, where people discriminate because of their different facial colors, oppressed people of color cause terrorism, and start wars in the name of God, is repeated as if in a treadmill.

The short film ‘Opera’ (2020), the first Korean animation to be nominated for an American Academy Award, was created as media art. The permanent exhibition ‘O: Eric O Retrospective’ will be held at ‘House of Refuge’, a complex cultural space opening in Aewol-eup, Jeju, from the 25th. Director Eric Oh (40) is a former Pixar animator who participated in ‘Finding Dory’ and ‘Inside Out’, and his masterpiece ‘Opera’ was recognized for its work by being invited to all four of the world’s major animation film festivals as well as the Oscars.

Opera is the first work I made after leaving Pixar. For four years, Director Oh and about 30 animators worked by hand without CG. Director Eric Oh, whom we met on the 21st, said, “Depending on the viewer, it could be a 30-minute or 1-hour film. “You will discover new elements every time you see it.” “Every time I was tired and wanted to stop, I heard news of Asian hate crimes happening and children dying in gun accidents. All I could do was draw. “I felt a sense of mission to create work that made people face reality.” Once the work was completed, requests for screenings poured in from Pixar, Disney, and Dreamworks, and word of mouth first spread in the industry.

This exhibition will feature new, unreleased works, including ‘Opera’. All works start and end at the same time, within a period of 5 minutes. Visitors experience the beginning and end of humanity as they pass through countless days and nights. Circles appear frequently in his works, and everything circulates. “I think that human life is just repeating itself endlessly in the great cycle of history. “We wanted to ask where we came from, where we are and where we are going.”

I spent my childhood in Korea and moved to the United States when I was in the 5th grade of elementary school. For a boy who could not speak a word of English, drawing was the only means of communication. “Because I drew, my friends came and talked to me, and I was able to learn English little by little. “Painting has been a support in my life for a long time.” He returned to Korea in high school, graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Western Painting, and now divides his time between Korea and the United States. He said, “I think living in two countries has taught me how to look at both sides. “In my work, good and evil, life and death, the ugly and the beautiful stick together like two sides of a coin,” he said.

He also expressed regret over the poor soil of Korean animation. “Movies have a short filming period and quickly reflect the times, while animation is very labor-intensive and requires a lot of time and effort. “Korea’s strength is that it quickly catches and absorbs changes, but it doesn’t seem to allow us to wait for the time we need to accumulate and persevere.” To him, animation is “a work that brings life.” “When you think of animation, you often think of cartoon movies, but I wanted to go back to the basics. You will be able to feel the novelty of ‘this is also animation.’”