London’s annual East Asian film festival returns for its fourth year at the end of October. The 2019 programme includes cinematic offerings from 11 countries, including two movies from North Korea. The festival opens with a South Korean disaster comedy movie and closes with a film by celebrated East Asian actor Aaron Kwok. Here is […]
London Korean Film Festival 2019: the official press release
Here is today’s official press release that announces the line-up for the 2019 London Korean Film Festival: The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) has launched its full programme of films and events for the upcoming 14th edition, taking place from 1st-14th November in London before embarking on the annual tour 18th-24th November. The Special Focus, […]
Video: Kingston Korean Harvest Fest 2019 ft The Move
It was glorious weather yesterday for Kingston’s Korean Harvest Fest – almost too hot for some of the energetic Kpop dancers and the visiting professionals from Korea. The ice cream sellers were doing brisk trade, as of course were the Korean food stalls that were set up down one side of the historic market place. […]
Review: 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Ha-Joon Chang: 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism Penguin, 2011, 304pp As a Cambridge University professor, Ha Joon Chang is of course highly specialized in his field of economics. However, this book is written for the lay reader. The book is written in a very interesting format. It comes as a series of […]
It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of glue
The KCC’s exhibition in collaboration with the Gwangju Museum of Art, Circulation Metaphor, closed today in preparation for the installation of the KCC’s next show, The Real DMZ. Regular visitors to the KCC during the course of the exhibition will have noticed an unfortunate accident that happened to the ceramic installation that greeted you when […]
Two good sources of Korean Studies videos
First, the Center for International Affairs at the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) would like to share a Youtube Channel which has lecture videos on various Korea-related topics. The lecture contents are made based on the Societas Koreana lecture meeting programme in which foreign diplomats and researchers who reside in Korea have participated. An index […]
September events 2019
September is another relatively quiet month as we gear up for the full Autumn programme of events. Make sure you book your tickets for the London Film Festival and K-Music 2019, both in October. See you all at the Korean Eye 2020 Teaser Exhibition at the START Art Fair… For those at the start of […]
Black String’s new album “Karma” bodes well for the K-music festival
I’m not quite sure why I didn’t rave about Black String’s debut album Mask Dance when it came out in 2017. Listening to Karma, their follow-up studio album on ACT records due to be released on 27 September 2019, I’m finding it compelling listening. And returning to Mask Dance now I’m seeing it in a […]
A visit to New Malden’s 2019 Korean Independence Day celebrations
Having arrived back in town from the Edinburgh Fringe around midnight the previous evening, I was never going to make it to the 11am speeches and other formalities that kick off the traditional Korean Independence Day celebrations in New Malden. But it was clear that there had been a good turnout: by the time I […]
Review round-up: LKL at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe
After a break from the Fringe last year, LKL returned this year to see what was new. A lot of the companies are fringe regulars: Brush, Modl, Cho-in and Hooam have all come over before, and in fact Modl this year was celebrating its 30th birthday. But there were also new acts, including Korean Gipsy […]
Exhibition visit: Circulation Metaphor, at the KCC
There’s a little bit of Jeollanamdo in the KCC at the moment. Although the exhibition is co-organised by the Asia Cultural Center in Gwangju, and by the Gwangju Museum of Art, the subject matter of the exhibition strays outside of the city limits into Damyang, Hwasun and further afield. The first work to engage you […]
The Illusionists: we went to see the Korean Manipulator, and ended up being fans of all seven performers
The events that LKL covers often involve high culture: dance, visual arts, contemporary or experimental music. So a family entertainment show aimed at a mainstream audience is somewhat outside our usual area of coverage. But that’s not to say we don’t appreciate supreme talent and skill when we see it. Last week we went along […]
Mari Kim’s trip to London for “Immortal Beloved”
We’ve enjoyed seeing Mari Kim’s work on display in London galleries over the past few years, so it was a real treat to be able to meet her when she came over recently for the opening of her show at Pontone Gallery. The works on display this time showed a slightly different direction: still the […]
August events 2019
It’s a bit quieter this month – except for Edinburgh of course. All events are in London except where stated otherwise. Film The KCC’s Love Beyond Boundaries season concludes with Wanee and Junah (1 August) and Oasis (8 August) The BTS Bring the Soul movie has screenings on 7 and 10 August The next Korean […]
Live music review: SaaWee at the Albany, Deptford
When anticipating Korea related events involving live performance, I generally try not to raise my expectations too high. That way, I don’t get disappointed. But sometimes I break that rule, usually based on past experience of one or more of the performers. Hence, when pulling together the events post for July I highlighted three events […]
Ko Jin-young wins the 2019 Evian Championship
Going into the final day, all of the top four players on the leaderboard of the LGPA Evian-les-Bains golf tournament were Korean. Kim Hyo-joo led, followed one shot behind by Park Sung-hyun. A further three shots behind were Park Inbee and Ko Jin-young. On the final day, today, things started to go wrong for Kim […]
Jambinai, Park Jiha and SB Circle – a roundup of reviews of three K-music performers
The line-up of K-music 2019 has been announced, and it’s nice to see some familiar faces returning to London so that we can get to know their music better. Jambinai, who open the festival, have become fairly regular visitors to the UK. They had the UK launch of their new album, Onda, at the Garage, […]