Total Art Festival Cafe and Bar

Cee’s place rests on top of a hill that overlooks much of the Mapo-Gu area. To get there you have to gear your legs up for the 4-5 minute incline that starts down at the main roads.  As you begin your ‘hike’ up from the mouth of exit 5 at Sinchon Station, you pass by the usual places: shops, restaurants, language centers, and cafes.  They fade behind you as you continue your ascent and are replaced by brick apartment buildings reinforced with concrete and stone.  You’re sure there are so few businesses up here because, well, to put it simply, it’d take too much effort for the average person to climb their way up.

As things would have it, in the last year the business district has been expanding up the hill. At a surreptitiously fast pace, buildings are being restored and converted into businesses including restaurants and coffee shops which has led to a sense of change in the air.

Sean

Total Art Festival, located a mere 30-seconds from the top of the hill, is one such business that is ushering in this change. TAF, as it is called for short, just recently opened at the beginning of this month. It is both a gallery and café and is the brain-child of  Kookmin University graduate, Dori Lee. After first noticing the black and white sign above the entrance way and the small stand of freshly planted bamboo next to it, Cee and I let our curiosity get the best of us. 

We walked in to find Dori and her barista, 전형근, or Sean, working behind the bar, and the owner of the establishment, 김성원, or Michael, busy on his laptop in a small cove-like room off to the side. Although they wouldn’t officially be open for another week, Dori and Sean served us two cappuccinos. I immediately liked the industrial feel of the place with its faux-exposed piping, installed for aesthetic effect, and bare concrete walls which contrasted well with the kaleidoscopic colors of the tables and chairs. Added to the color palette was the dark, warm wood of the bar.

Dori, having majored in art and design, opened TAF to provide a space where her customers could customize their orders and be surrounded by good art and music. “It’s hard to find restaurants where [you can do this].” Besides a selection of coffee drinks, sodas, teas, and alcoholic beverages, she also plans to put salads, bagels, and desserts on the menu. 

Her Dori-Lee-cious salads will have tofu, shrimp, or chicken, and bagels will be like the “ones you would find on the West Coast [in the United States] with hummus, sprouts, tomatoes, and romaine lettuce.”  Lettuce will either be taken from Dori’s organic lettuce garden or bought locally. And Friday nights, they will have live music and performances.  “TAF is my playground,” says Dori as she begins to explain how she plans to integrate “art” into the space. 

Dori and friends

As a dance instructor, movement is a vital part of her project in making TAF. She wishes to install a pole next month off to one side (not for exotic dancing) but to have vertical art performances like the ones you would see in any Cirque Du Soleil show. “Koreans are too shy to take part in music and dance traditions from around the world,” says Dori. She hopes that providing her customers with a place to enjoy good artwork and performances will lead to a growing appreciation for international art.

Hours of operation: 11am-11pm (and sometimes til later). 

For upcoming events:

   Facebook: Total Art Festival Cafe and Bar

   Twitter: TAFinSeoul

Directions: http://tinyurl.com/TAFlocation

Website: http://www.totalartfestival.org 

Cee