As warm potatoes on my table
Close to anyone
Harvested with truthful heart
Not forgetting the value of sweat each other
Essential nutrients to live soul
So… ART IS POTATO
Performing arts company - ART is POTATO aims to recreate the works(stories) from different cultures or traditional music(Opera, Pansori, etc.) which make you feel distant from old-fashioned style into our own story that anyone living here at this time can understand. It was founded by opera director Sun-Young Jung in 2010 and has been attracting the attention of critics for its unique attempts to preserve the original works of the existing opera as it is, but combine it with “Madangnori” which is a traditional theater style in Korea, or absorbing subtitles into the dramatic space so that the audience can grasp the actor's movements and contents at a glance.
It was selected as a visiting concert hosted by Gyeonggi-do in 2011-2012 and the <Performing Project for Everyone> with Sejong Center, and started with expanding the base of the educational field and the opera audience. We got an excellent review of “A new role model of Korea Chamber Opera” for <World Literature in Music - Romeo and Juliet & Spring Spring>, the opera series for youth, and was selected as a post evaluation in 2013 by Performing Arts Creation Fund, so performed <World Literature in Music –Spring, Spring> at Seoul Arts center IBK Hall with the support of Arts Council Korea. <Yangchon-ri Love Scandal(2015)> at Seoul Arts Center (premiere) received fervent responses from critics and audiences: “Opera that have both audience empathy and artistry(Yonhap News)”, “Love elixir in ears, pesticides on the stage, laughter like drugs in the auditorium(Monthly AUDITORIUM Column: From ‘Should I wait an opera director or raise’)”. We got an official invitation to the 15th Uijeongbu Music Drama Festival in 2016. After receiving a commendation from the Minister of Culture and Sports for the major achievement of “Koreanization of Opera” in 2017, it was selected as a resident organization of theater of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture in 2018. The following year, Carmen, an opera highlighter, was invited to the Yeongdeungpo Cultural Foundation's <Journey of Opera>. In addition, through the activities of the education and learning system <Opera Acting lab>, differentiated opera acting methods that arouse sympathy from the audience are projected into the works.
Transcendence of construction / communication empathy
Anyone can understand easily with our own empathetic background transformation.
Clear Text Delivery
A unique subtitle device is used for original language performances to more clearly communicate the musical essence and meaning of the work. Depending on the work, we continue to study the possibilities and completeness of Korean translations.
Ensemble-oriented acting
Opera acting using method acing and enhancing the analysis process
Each performer is the main character.
General/Artistic Director
Opera director Sun-young Jung, who pursues profound interpretation of a work’s essence and bold experimentation, majored in vocal music at Seoul Arts High School and Ewha Womans University, and completed a master’s program in opera directing at Indiana University in the United States. Her work includes the Korea National Opera’s Don Giovanni (2014), in which a giant crane and apples conveyed the production’s central themes, and the 2010 Seoul Arts Center University Opera Festival production of The Marriage of Figaro, which she relocated to the Joseon dynasty to deepen its themes. She continues to experiment with distinctive and proactive uses of surtitles.
Her Turandot (2026) at the Seoul Arts Center was praised by Yonhap News for its “profound reflection and exceptional directorial sensibility.” At the Daegu International Opera Festival, she directed the opening productions Tosca (2021, 2022), Turandot (2014), La forza del destino (2013) and Aida (2015), as well as the closing production Carmen (2012). Her other credits include Tristan und Isolde with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Otello at the Daejeon Arts Center, Turandot, Sixteen Goodbyes (Yeolyeosbeonui Annyeong) for the Seoul Metropolitan Opera’s Sejong Camerata creative opera project, and The Prince and Christmas (composed by Geon-yong Lee) for the Seoul Metropolitan Boys and Girls Choir at Sejong Center, which was restaged for ten years and invited to Japan in 2015.
She directed Il trovatore for La Bella Opera Company, which won the Gold Prize at the 7th Korea Opera Awards. For the same company, she presented Don Giovanni (2017), another interpretation that expressed the progressiveness of the era by covering the entire stage with a traditional Korean tiled roof. Her subsequent work includes the Daejeon Arts Center’s in-house production of Turandot (2019); The Death of Manager Kim (2021 version), a new opera based on Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich that opened the Korea Small Theater Opera Festival; Into the Magic Flute Game: Find the Key to Happiness! for the Gwangju City Opera; and the SAC OPERA GALA (2021).
She served as a full-time member of the Korea National Opera and as a stage manager on the Seoul Arts Center’s stage technology team, and later as an adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University, while also training the next generation of artists at Seoul National University and the Korea National University of Arts. She received a commendation from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2017. After serving as Senior Artistic Director of the Gwangju City Opera and as an arts committee member of the Gyeonggi Arts Center, she is now Artistic Director and Representative of Performing Arts Company Art is Potato.
History
2010 Art is Potato was founded
2011 Sejong Center Nanum project
2011 Culture activities to visit, Gyeonggi-do
2012 World Literature in music I - C. Gounod Roméo et Juliette, Geon-yong Lee Spring Spring Gyeonggi Arts Center
2013 World literature in musicⅠ- Spring Spring Seoul Arts Center, sponsored by the Arts Council Korea
2015 Yangchon-ri Love Scandal (G. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore), premiere, Seoul Arts Center Jayu Small Theater
2016 Official invitation to the Uijeongbu Music Drama Festival: Uijeongbu Love Scandal (G. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore)
2018 Wangsimni Love Scandal (G. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore)
2018 Seoul Foundation for Arts & Culture Performance theater resident - Seongdong Foundation for Arts & Culture
2018 World Literature in Music Series II: Carmen (G. Bizet)
2018 Opera Acting class for Amateur (vocalist)
2018 The Marriage of Figaro, Sowol Art Hall (W. A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro)
2019 Opera Journey: Carmen, Yeongdeungpo Arts Hall (G. Bizet)
2022 The Marriage of Figaro, Namhae Cultural Center (W. A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro)
2022 Making Opera Fun Project 1: Opera Acting Lab (regular course)
2022 Making Opera Fun Project 2: Opera Acting Lab, Summer Short-Term Program
2022 World Literature in Music Series III: Otello (G. Verdi)
2022 Making Opera Fun Project 3: Opera Acting Lab Open Workshop, The Marriage of Figaro (W. A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro)
2023 Making Opera Fun Project 4: Opera Acting Lab, Winter Short-Term Program
2023 Opera Highlights Festa 2023: Spring Spring / Carmen / Otello, Yeongdeungpo Arts Hall
2023 The Marriage of Figaro, Daejeon Yeonjeong Gugak Center Keunmadang (W. A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro)
2023 Making Opera Fun Project 5: Opera Acting Lab, Summer Short-Term Program
2023 Making Opera Fun Project 6: Opera Acting Lab, Regular Course (Season 2), The Magic Flute (W. A. Mozart Die Zauberflöte)
2023 Hansel and Gretel: The Siblings Who Almost Became the Sun and Moon (E. Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel)
2023 Opera Highlights Festa 2023: Spring Spring / Carmen / Otello, Hwaseong Banseok Art Hall
2023 Making Opera Fun Project 7: Opera Acting Lab Opera Gala Concert: L’elisir d’amore / Così fan tutte / La traviata
2023 Opera Highlights Festa 2023: Spring Spring / Carmen / Otello, Cheongju Arts Center
2023 Making Opera Fun Project 8: Opera Acting Lab, Winter Short-Term Program
2024 Making Opera Fun Project 9: Art is Potato Opera Acting Lab, Spring Short-Term Program
2024 Art is Potato Opera Acting Lab 2024: Opera Scenes Workshop
2024 Opera Highlights Festa 2024: Hansel and Gretel: The Siblings Who Almost Became the Sun and Moon / The Magic Flute: Into the Game / Romeo and Juliet: A Sad Love
2024 Yangchon-ri Love Scandal (G. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore), ARKO Arts Theater Grand Theater
2025 Opera Tea Time, Jochiwon 1927 Art Center
2025 Opera Acting Lab: La traviata, Scene Acting Research Seminar Presentation, Jeongdong 1928 Art Center
2025 Arts Council Korea Performing Arts Creation Entities Support Program: The Marriage of Figaro (W. A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro), Bucheon Arts Center Concert Hall
2025 Korea Arts Management Service Regional Performing Arts Distribution Support Program: Yangchon-ri Love Scandal (G. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore), Guri Art Hall Cosmos Grand Theater
2026 Opera Acting Lab Open Seminar: Opera Character Analysis and Application Presentation, Gaepo-dong House of Music
2026 Arts Council Korea Performing Arts Creation Entities Support Program: Yangchon-ri Love Scandal (G. Donizetti L’elisir d’amore), Seoul Arts Center CJ Towol Theater
2026 Korea Arts Management Service Regional Performing Arts Distribution Support Program: Hänsel und Gretel (E. Humperdinck), Daejeon Yeonjeong Gugak Center Keunmadang / Gyeonggi Arts Center Small Theater / Seongsan Art Hall Small Theater