Latent Contradiction: Safety vs. Art
- Soohye JANG
- Mar 19
- 7 min read
During the safety training provided by the theater, an artist in a wheelchair raised his hand and said ‘Please assign a male employee to be in charge of me. I weigh XX kg, and if anything happens, you can ditch the wheelchair and just carry me.’ The theatre’s stage manager reassured the situation by saying, ‘Don't worry, we always have a strong male staff,’ but the artist was asking for a solution because he needed to be ‘assigned a specific person’.
When I walk into the theatre space for a performance set-up, I always have a pocket full of ABC chocolates or a few bottles of energy drinks. A handful of chocolates to hand out to the crew, or a loose sip of a drink, can sometimes work in my favour in the theatre space where everyone can be overly sensitive.
In my college year, I started working as a technical crew, or a stagehand. So, I often worked as a part-time technical interpreter for international tours, spending a lot of time with the technical staff. About 15 years ago, performance set-up day was often an all-nighter. Even if everyone did their best to make it work efficiently, unforeseen circumstances always occurred. Time was never enough to achieve both artistic and technical results. At that time, the directors often complained, ‘We need to have a SYSTEM.’ There were risks and cautions, and in a place where there were more part-timers than professionals, the young staffs had to learn a lot of techniques and common sense on the fly, which no one had told them what to do beforehand. After an all-night technical set-up, the next morning the artistic team would come in, and the technical crew would disappear off the stage to ceiling, to backstage, and to console. The technical staff were always like the Phantom of the Opera, creating miracles and disappearing into the darkness in one or two nights, so it was not easy for them to be heard.
The situation was not much different, even in state-run theatres, which may offer a more stable environment. Due to the special situation of arts organisations, it has been difficult to narrow down the inherent differences in work between the management department, the artistic department, and the technical department. With the revised labor law (According to the amended Labor Standards Act promulgated on March 20th, 2018, the maximum weekly working hours is down from 68 hours to 52 hours), there was a lack of countermeasures to improve the contradictory relationship between the labor rights of stage staff and their field practice.
Nevertheless, stage technical specialists have continued to work in solidarity and struggle for safe working conditions, stable jobs, and recognition of their expertise, studying and setting up labor union systems in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. Over time, nationally recognised professional qualifications and certificates in theatre arts were introduced, and now everyone must undergo mandatory safety training before entering a theatre spave. I witnessed this change with gratitudes and positive feelings. However, I also felt that it was necessary for theatres to have adequate measures in place to protect their audiences, artists, and workers as Korea experienced several disasters and accidents.
Strengthening professionalism in the field of theatre arts through a system of theatre arts professionals and promoting the development of a balanced regional development of theatre arts.
Aiming to improve the technology of the performing arts through active exchange and competition among performing arts professionals.
Improving the quality of performing arts by raising the morale and self-esteem of performing arts workers and providing a stable supply of excellent manpower, and improving the efficiency of theatre management and operation by mandatorily assigning performing arts professionals to public theatres nationwide.
From the Performing Arts Act, Purpose of the Scheme, Article 14, Qualification Committee for Organization of Theatrical Arts & Technicians
Provide technical expertise and safety inspections for safety-vulnerable stage facilities
Safety training and advanced technology dissemination to theatre managers
Research and development on theatre safety and expertise
Research and policy support for theatre safety system
From Introduction page, Theatre Safety Support Centre
Nevertheless, in 2018, Park Song-hee, who was working part-time as an assistant director at a cultural centre in Gimcheon-si, Gyeongbuk, fell 6.9 metres to her death while painting the stage, and her name became the law.
After the revised Performance Law(a.k.a Park Song-hee Act) was enacted, the performance scene has changed dramatically. Safety management has become more strict, and hygiene management has become more thorough in the aftermath of COVID-19. Through much sacrifice and trial and error, the institutional foundation for theatre safety was laid. However, efficiency was still a priority in the field, so part of the safety management was replaced by ‘completing online safety training’. Just like sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention training(after the #MeToo in the arts scene. Yes, Korea had that too),which was a superficial process of getting the online certificate, safety training has become a ‘must do’ online statutory training. [The answers to the theatre safety training test is posted on the blog, so I don't think it's a stretch to say that it's mandatory] Of course, there is also the mandatory face-to-face fire safety training by theatre stage managers when all the performance team first enter the theatre for a set-up.
Not long ago, it was set-up day for a disability arts festival. As usual, the theatre director delivered the fire safety training at the appointed time, during the safety training provided by the theater, an artist in a wheelchair raised his hand and said ‘Please assign a male employee to be in charge of me. I weigh XX kg, and if anything happens, you can ditch the wheelchair and just carry me.’ The theatre’s stage manager reassured the situation by saying, ‘Don't worry, we always have a strong male staff,’ but the artist was asking for a solution because he needed to be ‘assigned a specific person’. Should artists with disabilities be required to demonstrate a fire safety evacuation plan adapted to their specific needs? For an untrained and inexperienced artist, this situation could be quite disconcerting. In fact, the current regulations make the stage inaccessible to everyone. For example, if the theatre safety training course is online and requires an exam, how can people with developmental disabilities, foreign artists, and child artists complete it? (Safety training for foreigners were updated in 2025 after this article by the way) Why aren't theatres setting universal standards and formalising them for effective safety management?
And yet, I think the institutional framework has made the technical staff's job a lot easier (roles are a bit clearer than 15 years ago, although there are still a lot of unresolved issues), but there is now a tension between the responsibility to fulfil institutional mandates and maintain safety and the obligation to support freedom of expression. As venues have become more secure, there are naturally more things that can't be done on stage, and the scope for artistic experimentation has become stricter. Stage directors naturally became less of a technical facilitator of artistic realisation and more of a strict arbiter of what could and could not be done.
In a hostile set atmosphere, I could not take out chocolate any more. I had to work around it somehow, but it's hard to go beyond what's safe, so illogical persuasions like cheap ABC chocolate don't work. So why can't artists do the opposite and try to fit into the safe framework of the theatre? The problem is that during the preparation period of a piece, they are in the rehearsal room without any knowledge of all the rules of the theatre, and then everything changes overnight when they enter the theatre. It's a tall order for artists.
Compared to other countries, the Korean government's response is still quite nimble. It quickly gathers the voices of various citizens and stakeholders and seeks to make swift policy changes by referring to best practices from around the world. However, it is undeniable that there are many gaps and shortcomings in the process as rapid change is embraced. And how to strike a balance between ‘safety’ and ‘art’ is a question that has been posed to all of us. The potential problems in the theatre and performing arts industry that have been exposed since the case of the late Park Song-hee have emerged as serious issues that can no longer be ignored or overlooked. Inherent in this focus is the question of how ‘safety’ and ‘art’ can be mutually exclusive and at the same time be an integral part of theatre.
The balance between safety and art is complementary and the lines are blurred. Safety is necessary for creative freedom, and conversely, formal safety regulations alone can undermine the intrinsic value of art. So how can we respond to these challenges and opportunities going forward? Starting from the premise that art and safety should be respected and fostered simultaneously throughout our society, it will be necessary for stakeholders and artists to work together to find more rational and humane solutions. It is important that the experiences, knowledge, and insights of individuals are brought together to create solutions from different angles. Only then will we be able to build a future where theatre is not dead and we can retain the essential freedom and creativity of the arts, while at the same time ensuring that it can be done in a safe environment. Hopefully, one day, the ABC chocolates and energy drinks in my pocket will be useful again.
**This article is part of An Eschatology of Theater : Framing (2024) by Korean artist, General Kunst, and was published in Korean in 2024. 이 글은 한국예술가 제너럴쿤스트의 <극장종말론: 해설편>(2024)에 수록된 글을 번역했습니다. 링크에서 원본과 함께 다른 글들을 읽어보실 수 있습니다.
Comments