The Biennale is now 120 years old, and year after year it moves forward and builds on its own history, everything here is exhibited against the backdrop of the Biennale’s 120-year history. Fragments of the past of various kinds may be found in every corner, given also the fact that the Biennale is active in Art, Architecture, Dance, Theatre, Music, and Cinema.

Trojan Women is a contemporary Asian musical created from K-pop and pansori, the 400-year-old Korean genre of musical storytelling anointed as a UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Directed by SIFA Founding Festival Director, Ong Keng Sen, in a collaboration with the National Theater Of Korea, this production took Seoul by storm at the close of 2016 and is being staged for the first time outside Korea.



From the essence of a tale said to have happened around 1200BC that intrigued Homer, Trojan Women has been reinvented. Composed by celebrated master-artist, pansori singer and National Treasure, Ms Anh Sook-sun, in collaboration with K-pop composer extraordinaire, Jung Jae-Il, Trojan Women tells the story of women in war in a showcase of gripping power and cross-cultural beauty.

In keeping with the work’s strong gender perspectives, renowned Beijing choreographer Wen Hui joins the production with her signature movement work drawing from the daily lives of women. SIFA began its life with the acclaimed Korean adaptation of another Greek classic “Oedipus”. Founding Festival Director Ong remembers this and, in his last season, invites Korean playwright Bae Sam-sik to recast Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1965 adaptation of "The Trojan Women", the Greek classic by Euripides.