I went to the “Give me Shelter” exhibition at the Union Gallery one lunchtime this week, as it’s only 15 minutes walk from my office. I’ll be going back again. Possibly the easiest works to relate to are the biggest and the smallest. Hyungkoo Lee‘s skeletal coyote and roadrunner occupied a whole room, atmospherically lit. … [Read More]
Month: September 2006
Get your preview ticket for the Oscars now
The booking lines open today for the BFI London Film Festival. If you want to see Korea’s entry for the foreign language Oscars, the King and the Clown, book soon. I always find these film festivals a bit crazy. All those films during working hours when people with jobs can’t go to see them, and … [Read More]
Kwak Kyung-taek’s next film a lower-budget romance
At last night’s Q&A following a packed showing of Typhoon (queue above), director Kwak Kyung-taek confirmed that his next film will have a slightly smaller budget than his last, which had disappointing box office result despite its large budget. It will be a romance, and Kwak is talking to Lee Jung-jae, the hero of Typhoon, … [Read More]
A sinister accident?
Just received this from Tom Coyner – a circular email sent by campaigner for DPRK human rights Dr Norbert Vollertsen. Coming back from Thailand after taking care for arrested North Korean refugees and South Korean activists there here in downtown Seoul I was attacked by a street gang and knocked down in the middle of … [Read More]
Exhibition news: Give me Shelter, at the Union Gallery
Thanks to Peter Corbishley who told me about this exhibition over a soju or two at the Anglo-Korean Society V&A evening. At the Union Gallery in Southwark there’s an exhibition of works – sculpture and paintings – by five emerging Korean artists, Hyunjhin Baik, Suejin Chung, Osang Gwon, Dongwook Lee and Hyungkoo Lee. Above is … [Read More]
Sunwook Kim triumphs at Leeds piano competition
Thanks to Aidan Foster-Carter for the following: It was a notable night for Korea at the finals of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition 2006. Held triennially, this is one of the world’s leading prizes. Past winners include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Dmitri Alexeev, and Artur Pizarro. To those illustrious names, add Sunwook Kim (above): at … [Read More]
Seoul’s relations with Africa and Cuba
AidanFC’s recent article in the Asia Times noted that South Korea now has diplomatic relations with all the African countries, with the opening of ambassador-level relations with the Republic of Guinea on 28 August. He gives some of the history There was a time when Guinea was a beacon of the Afro-Asian struggle against colonialism. … [Read More]
Brit mobilises the arts to save part of old Seoul
Thanks to David Kilburn for sending me the occasional update on his campaign to prevent Kahoi-dong, an area of traditional housing in Seoul, from being buried under mountains of concrete. He recently put on his own arts festival in his home, including two intangible cultural assets, and got the Korea Times to send along a … [Read More]
The passing of a Korean war veteran
From a recent obituary in the Telegraph: Vice-admiral Sir Charles Mills, who has died (on July 27) aged 91, was a talented staff officer whose one chance of independent command came in the destroyer Concord during the Korean War. In the course of six patrols over 95,000 miles with Dutch and New Zealand ships of … [Read More]
Kim Yunjin on UK style mag cover. Or not
K-film fans will know her as the North Korean agent in Swiri. Consumers of American TV drama will know her as the quiet one from Lost, which is where the lads mags discovered her when she was required to wear a bikini one episode. I’m not given to buying such magazines (it always seems to … [Read More]
A surprise Korean film festival (the KCC’s first)
The cinema’s booked, the distributors have agreed to release their valuable prints, and now, with precision-honed timing and a week to go, the well-oiled marketing machine swings into action. The BAKS and PACSF lists are peppered, other private mailing lists barraged, but whether it makes the Time Out copy deadline, who knows. And so it … [Read More]
Learning Korean in London
I had a query recently from a visitor to this site as to where she could take beginners classes in Korean. The only place I know of is SOAS, and no-one else could think of any other places. By coincidence, I got an email from Cho Jaehee, the co-ordinator of Korean courses at SOAS, asking … [Read More]
Exhibition news: Korean contemporary artists in Sensuous Panorama, at Lounge gallery
There’s an exhibition of contemporary Korean and British artists at the Lounge Gallery in London E8, right now. From the Lounge Gallery website: Sensuous Panorama Lounge Gallery | 28 Shacklewell Lane | London E8 2EZ | www.lounge-gallery.com 8 – 24 September 2006, Wed-Sun 1-6pm or by appointment. The show, in media as diverse as collage, … [Read More]
Slim pickings at the 50th BFI London Film Festival
This year’s programme has just been published. I’ve searched the website (and the brochure which thudded onto my doormat this morning), but I can’t find much of interest to K-film fans. On the plus side, there’s the King and the Clown (review on Darcy’s site here). Good news. (Oct 19). This film had originally been … [Read More]
How like “Swiri” is “The Way Home”?
That’s the intriguing question posed by Andrew Jackson’s talk at the Sheffield BAKS conference last week. It was a question prompted by a statement by Ahn Sang-gun, a senior figure in KOTRA, the Korean Trade Investment Promotion Agency, and reported in the Donga Ilbo on 5 April 2003: that The Way Home and Swiri are … [Read More]
Rollercoaster # 1: Come Closer
Roller Coaster – first album: 내게로 와 (1999) Rollercoaster, according to KBS, were the first Korean band to turn to Acid Jazz. Certainly one of the western bands which comes to mind when listening to this album is the Brand New Heavies. But the use of horn effects and guitar rhythms in some of the … [Read More]