http://www.odditycentral.com/events/north-koreas-amazingly-choreographed-human-mosaics.html#more-33884 North Korea’s Amazingly Choreographed Human Mosaics By Spooky on April 30th, 2013 Category: Events Take tens of thousands of children, place them in the largest stadium in the world, arm them with giant colored flip-books containing hundreds of colored panels, train them to move in perfect unison and you get the awe-inspiring human mosaics of the Arirang Mass Games, in North Korea. The Arirang Festival Mass Games held in Pyongyang, are the largest and most impressive exercise of state propaganda in the world. The event runs from August to October, and offers an incredible spectacle of perfectly choreographed gymnastics, dancing, singing, and of course, praising the achievements of the communist nations’s eternal leader Kim Il-Sung. The games aren’t held every year. They are suspended in case of national emergencies, like when flooding ravages the country and the Government decides the hundreds of thousands of performers are better put to use repairing the destroyed infrastructure. But when the trained human pixels get the chance to perform on Rungrado May Day Stadium, in front of a crowd of 150,000 people, they make the performers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony look like a group of children staging a simple school play. Every 20 seconds for a period of two hours they switch the panels of their flip-books to create stunning mosaics honoring Korea’s cultural heritage and its political regime. Arirang-Mass-Games Photo: Werner Kranwetvogel/A Night in Pyongyang “When you see these mosaics changing in a millisecond, it’s truly incredible. It could only be achieved in a place where you have an unlimited resource of humans who do whatever they are directed to do. Every breath of these people is coordinated,” says British photojournalist Jeremy Hunter, who had the chance to attend the 2011 edition of the Arirang Mass Games. This incredible effect can only be achieved through countless hours of practice, and Mr. Hunter says the children train for ten hours a day, six days a week, starting in February of each year. During the games, North Korea’s poor population is brought to the capital by bus so they can witness these gargantuan images of the country’s sacred mountains , rivers full of fish and fields overflowing with wheat and fruits, so they can keep believing they are a “chosen people” with a life much better than any other nation. Arirang-Mass-Games2 Photo: Werner Kranwetvogel/A Night in Pyongyang Professional cameras, GPS devices and phones are forbidden on the stadium during the Arirang Mass Games and those looking to sneak photos are threatened with severe punishment, but according to Jeremy Hunter, “there are ways of overcoming that”. After the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011, the scale of the Mass Games has been toned down, as his son and successor, Kim Jong Un, no longer wishes it to run in the same form. Photo: Werner Kranwetvogel/A Night in Pyongyang Photo: Werner Kranwetvogel/A Night in Pyongyang Photo: Werner Kranwetvogel/A Night in Pyongyang Photo: Joseph A. Ferris III Photo: Joseph A. Ferris III Photo: Lindsay Fincher Photo: Linsay Fincher Video: ===================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arirang_Festival From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arirang Festival mass games display in Pyongyang. The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang (Choson'gul: ??? ??, Hancha: ??? ??) is a gymnastics and artistic festival held in the Rungnado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. Also known as the Mass Games, it usually begins in early August and ends around September 10th. The name refers to Arirang, a Korean folk story about a young couple who are torn apart by an evil landlord, here intended to represent the division of Korea. According to the DPRK publication "Arirang" this particular mass games celebrates the story of North Korea: "The extravaganza unfolds an epic story of how the Arirang nation of Korea, a country of morning calm, in the Orient put an end to the history of distress and rose as a dignified nation with the song Arirang". Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Iconography 3 Participants 4 Events 5 World record 6 See also 7 References 8 External links 9 Further reading History[edit] The festival has been held from August until October since 2002-2005, and 2007-2013. The mass games will not be held in 2014 and it is unknown if they will be continued at a later time.[1] Iconography[edit] The Mass Games possess an important ideological character praising the Workers Party of Korea, its armed forces, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. These messages may not be clear to foreign spectators who are not aware of North Korean iconography: a rising sun symbolizes Kim Il Sung. When a gun is shown, it signifies the gun which Kim Il Sung gave to his son Kim Jong Il. The colour red, particularly in flowers, stands for the working class. And the colour purple and red flowers represent Kim Il Sung (as the flower 'Kimilsungia is a purple orchid and the flower 'Kimjongilia' is a red begonia). A snowy mountain with a lake represents Mount Paektu where Kim Jong Il is said to have been born in a log cabin. Participants[edit] From as young as 5 years old, citizens are selected based on skill level to serve for the Arirang Festival for many years. In most cases this will be the way of life for them until retirement.[2] Events[edit] The opening event of the two month festival are the mass games, which are famed for the huge mosaic pictures created by more than 30,000[3] well-trained and disciplined school children, each holding up coloured cards, in an event known in the West as a card stunt, accompanied by complex and highly choreographed group routines performed by tens of thousands of gymnasts and dancers. World record[edit] In August 2007, the Arirang Mass Games were recognised by Guinness World Records as the biggest event of its kind. In recent years, foreign tourists have been allowed to watch one of the many performances.[4] =========================== http://www.designboom.com/art/human-billboard-paintings-at-north-korea-mass-games/ human billboard paintings at north korea mass games the ‘mass games’ opening north korea’s arirang festival all photographs © werner kranwetvogel historically developed alongside 19th century nationalist movements, ‘mass games’ or ‘mass gymnastics’ are group performance events involving the synchronized motion of thousands of performers, often in which performers collectively create large images in a human mosaic delineated by the colour of their dress or the holding up of coloured cards. among the world’s mass games, those opening the arirang festival in the north korea are the largest and most impressive. the two-month cultural festival celebrates the birth of kim II sung and opens with a ‘mass games’ that sees 30,000 schoolchildren serve as the changing backdrop to performances including dance, flag-waving, and music. the images are created by the combined effect of each person raising the appropriately coloured pages in a book of printed sheets, at the appropriate time. many of the pictures carry rich symbolism in colours and form, including of course that of the rising sun, which classically symbolizes kim II sung. individuals are selected for participation in the festival as early as age five, in effectively full-time work that continues for much of their lives. german film director and photographer werner kranwetvogel attended the festival in 2005, taking the photographs seen here, which are published in the photo book ‘a night in pyongyang‘ and as photographic prints. footage of the warmup of the ‘backdrop’ (0:12 – 0:54) as well as performances view of the ‘backdrops’, composed of 20,000 to 30,000 youth holding up coloured papers another ‘backdrop’ mountains symbolize the birthplace of kim II sung the elaborate synchronized movements serve as the backdrops to the festival’s performances a performance in progress performers on the ground traditional dancers on the ground view of the ‘backdrop’ performers in between images ====================== http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/oct/01/northkorea Welcome to the strangest show on earth Reclusive regime opens its doors with a spectacular to make Hollywood envious Roll up! Roll up! It's show time in the twilight zone that is North Korea. Take your seats for one of the greatest, strangest, most awe-inspiring political spectacles on earth. Forget the nukes, forget the poverty, forget the reclusive reputation; this country is going to entertain you like you have never been entertained before. All welcome - even American imperialists and journalists. In what may prompt the biggest influx of foreigners in North Korea's history, its "Great Leader", Kim Jong-il, is inviting the outside world to a party: the Arirang mass gymnastic display. The impoverished country has not only opened its doors to the event, which runs until mid-October, it is subsidising visitors to come through. Its ageing fleet of Tupolevs is offering several free flights from Beijing. Diplomats around the world have been selling tickets. Hotels in Pyongyang have never been so full. Yet North Korea is pathologically suspicious of outsiders. In this country of 23 million people, there are only 300 foreign residents. Normally, there are so few visiting tourists and business people that overseas consular and Koryo airline offices are empty. Arirang, however, is part of a propaganda offensive on a scale that would make a big-spending Hollywood mogul envious. The stage is the 150,000-capacity May Day stadium in Pyongyang, and the cast is 100,000 strong. The performance is a technicolour mix of entertainment: a floorshow by 1,000 dancers; a military tattoo; a martial arts display; hordes of waving, smiling children; an aerial ballet by dancers on bungee ropes. The most breathtaking element of Arirang is the backdrop - a giant human mosaic that forms elaborate panoramas of megacities, slogans and cartoons. More than 30,000 children form a flip-card unit working so quickly that some pictures appear to be animated. Surreal It is an awesome product of political control and economic weakness. Starved of energy, and economically retarded, the only resource North Korea has in abundance is its people - and they are often employed in places where richer countries would use electricity. Just as policewomen direct Pyongyang's traffic rather than automated lights; in Arirang, tens of thousands of children are used to create a giant screen. Even at the height of Soviet power, Moscow would have struggled to choreograph such a mass performance. The politics are surreal. The "prosperous fatherland" reads one giant banner above a mosaic of ploughing tractors - no matter that almost all farmwork is done by hand because vehicles and fuel are in such short supply. "Green revolution" reads another, over an image of bumper crops, despite the fact that the nation has not been able to feed a third of its people for a decade. Rather than crude propaganda, North Koreans see it as a counterattack against the powerful weapons employed by Hollywood and the western media. "The US imperialists are trying to stifle us. They create a negative image of North Korea. I hope Arirang helps to counter that," Song Sok-hwang, the display's director, told the Guardian. It is also a form of social control. mobilising 100,000 people for months of training and performing keeps the population occupied and reinforces the impression of a strong state and a government firmly in control. One German observer whispered that it was frighteningly reminiscent of Hitler's mass rallies. But Arirang is more than that. As well as being technically astonishing - one foreign defence official said the military drills were the best he had seen - it is emotionally compelling. Mythologised or not, the story of the Korean peninsula is a genuine tear-jerker. Over the past century, it has been brutalised by Japan, devastated by war, divided by superpowers and plagued by famine, floods, dire leadership and a political system at odds with the rest of the world. This makes the message more complicated than that of the rallies by the Third Reich or the Soviet Union. Despite the bravado about having an "army that no enemy can match", the overall tone has changed from the last Arirang in 2002. It is less belligerent. One section features the "reunification train" - a reference to the new railway across the demilitarised zone (DMZ) which opens this month. There are small signs that even North Korea may be moving in a direction that will make it harder to organise events such as this in the future. Hawkers are increasingly visible on the streets, suggesting that some people are becoming more economically independent and presumably less inclined to give up their time for mass events. More cars and fewer blackouts suggest that the energy situation is improving, which may one day mean more reliance on machines and less on such mass people power. Warming relations with South Korea have already brought billions of dollars of investment, tens of thousands of tourists and the railway - all steps towards a reunification that would remove the atmosphere of tragedy that gives the performance its emotional tug. North Korea's cultural and political purity are also under challenge from the influx of South Korean visitors - there are rumours that cross-DMZ romances are a new source of headaches for the government - and the growing Chinese influence. The markets are full of Chinese goods. Every new busload of affluent Chinese tourists screams out a message that North Korea is missing out on the spectacular economic growth in east Asia. "It's a bit of a nostalgia trip to come here," said a sightseer from Beijing. "It's just like China 20 years ago." As is always the case with North Korea, nobody is exactly sure of the motives for the event. But it comes at a time when the stars of the North Korean political firmament appear to be coming into an unusual alignment. Last month saw a breakthrough in the three-year nuclear stand-off with the US. In a fortnight, Pyongyang will hold a huge rally to mark the 60th anniversary for the founding of the Workers' party, prompting speculation that Mr Kim will announce his successor. Stalled talks with Japan are expected to reopen soon. But this does not mean that the world's worst-understood and least-loved nation has finally succumbed to globalisation: it may even be part of a step back towards the disastrous self-reliance policy of the past. While the country is welcoming more tourists, international food and medical aid groups have been told to leave by the New Year. North Korea insists this is because it is now ready to stand on its own feet and that future aid must come in the form of economic development. For that to happen on a large scale, concrete progress will have to be reached in the six-party nuclear talks. This is far from assured. But while the country waits and wonders what is in store for it next, the tough talk is being mixed - for the next two weeks at least - with an invitation to party.