News of a Korea-related photographic exhibition in Commercial Road, starting this Thursday, 3 June: Christopher Barrett – SEOUL 2 B 03 Jun – 26 Jun 2010 photo-space gallery A visually powerful photographic journey of eastern intrigue across land and sea starting in South Korea with the desire to enter one of the most talked about, … [Read More]
Month: May 2010
2010 Travel Diary #6: the Secret Garden remains a secret, and Gwanghwamun is hidden
Saturday 1 May 2010. I am fated never to see the Secret Garden. On the previous two occasions when I have tried, it has been closed. Until recently, I think it has only been possible to visit the Changdeokgung as part of a guided tour, but it is now possible to go in unguided and … [Read More]
Lee Chang-dong and Poetry at Cannes
“Poetry” misses out on Cannes top award, but wins Lee Chang-dong Best Screenplay award. http://bit.ly/cfcKR2 # The Joongang Ilbo tells us that the Korean Film Council rejected Lee’s request for funding: the screenplay was too much like a novel ‘”Poetry” is a dazzling piece of screen portraiture. Yun Jung-hee surely a front runner for Best … [Read More]
Top nosh for less dosh: is Korean food going mainstream?
This week’s Time Out has a brief feature on tasty meals for tight times. In central London they highlight ten restaurants, of which three are Korean. Here they are: Bi Bim Bap. In Soho, try big, filling stone bowls of Korea’s national dish of rice mixed with variations of meat and vegetables, stirred together and … [Read More]
Soprano Kim Tae-yeon performs in Hampstead CANCELLED
News of a song recital this coming Friday organised by the Rotary Club of Hampstead. Date : Friday 4th June 2010 Time : 19:30 PM Venue : Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Pilgrim’s Place, London, NW3 1NG Ticket Prices : £10 (concession £8) Ticket Info : http://www.rotaryinlondon.org/clubs/hampsted/ Ticket Office : 020 7433 3267 About the Concert … [Read More]
The service of free kimchi
In restaurants, when a waiter brings you a free dish, why do Koreans say "That's service" when they mean "That's on the house"? # [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #5: National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
Saturday 1 May 2010. It’s the weekend, and Seoul Grand Park is busy. The funfair rides are full of fun-seekers, and there’s a queue to get in. There’s even a queue to get in to the car park of the National Museum of Contemporary Art: not, I would have thought, the most popular destination. But … [Read More]
Clazziquai’s Horan to model corsets
“Horan’s mysterious moods and modern looks match well with our brand, Lefee” says a suit from M Corset, a female underwear manufacturer in Sinsa-dong. Clazziquai’s vocalist is to model for them. http://bit.ly/aLHAa0 # According to the same Korea Times article, she is now appearing as an intelligence agent in a TV drama entitled Call of Duty. [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #4: The Yongin Folk Village
Saturday 1 May 2010. Today is a tourism day. We head out to Yongin, just outside the famous city of Suwon where the UNESCO-registered Hwaseong Fortress is situated. Yongin contains a folk village which opened in late 1974, at the height of the Saemaeul movement when modernisation in the countryside was bringing to an end … [Read More]
British designers create Gongju Design Cafe
UK designers seek to transform Gongju town hall into a design cafe. Korea Times http://bit.ly/azWtvV #. Sponsored by Gongju City, the British Council and the Korean National University of Cultural Heritage, the renovation of the Japanese colonial-era (1910-45) building was completed by Michael Marriott, Anthony Burrill, Linda Brothwell, Fabien Cappello and Korean architect Kim Paik-sun. [Read More]
Park Chan-soo gives Buddhist art a new voice
Most classic representations of Buddha, and indeed many items of Buddhist art more generally, are quiet and pensive. As they have come down to us, they are painted in subdued and muted colours, or left in simple undecorated stone or metal. At her lecture at the KCC last week, Park Young-sook pointed out that originally … [Read More]
Shows, expos and festivals
If England was Korea, would the Chelsea Flower Show be called the Chelsea International Flower Festival? # [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #3: Moon Vases and Kim Gun Mo
Friday 30 April 2010. As usual, my arrival through Incheon Airport is swift and stress-free. Morgan, my interpreter, is there to meet me, my rental phone is ready for pickup at the SK Telecom desk, plus this time I have the added luxury of a driver (though the hotel limo-bus I usually take is also … [Read More]
One version of the official Red Devils supporter outfits
You've got to like the ultra-short official Red Devil world cup supporter mini-dresses! http://bit.ly/aJNN9Z # [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #2: The Schedule – where next?
My schedule, prepared with great care by the KOCIS team at the Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism, contained a balance of sights and interviews that I had requested for my intended articles, together with sights which they thought might be interesting for me or which are on the normal programme for their visiting journalists. … [Read More]
Upcoming sale at Christie’s Hong Kong
Some absolutely cracking Korean work for sale at Christie’s Asia Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong, 30 May http://bit.ly/ccX9U3 # – including works by Chun Kwang-young, Kang Hyung-koo, Kim Dong-yoo and Yi Hwan-kwon. All four artists have exhibited in London, Chun Kwang-young via I-MYU Projects and the others at various Korean Eye exhibitions. Update: Between … [Read More]