(SM Entertainment, September 2008) Review by Jo Wakely After one year and seven months TVXQ’s eagerly awaited 4th Korean album is finally here. The release date was put back by two days because of pre-sales in the region of 330,000. How SME failed to realise that there would be a rush on this long-awaited album … [Read More]
Month: October 2008
Asian Art in London 08: the Korean angle
The beginning of November is always a time for the West End art galleries and Kensington antique dealers to draw our attention to Asian Art. While a lot of the attention is always on the bigger countries, Korea gets a look-in. The full guidebook for the programme can be downloaded from the Asian Art in … [Read More]
A Night with Baramgot
European Premiere Experience new waves of traditional Korean music A Night with Baramgot Date: Thursday 06 November 2008 Time: 7:30pm Venue: St Giles’ Cripplegate, Fore Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DA Tickets £8 / £5 (concessions) at the door Sponsored by Art Council of Korea Produced by Baramgot Managed by KCPA Won Il’s group Baramgot gives … [Read More]
The tears are not dried out yet: two “Comfort Women” events
An organisation called The World Conference on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery is holding two discussion sessions on the Korean Comfort Women. The conferences aim to recognise and understand the sexual enslavement of thousands of women by Japanese military forces throughout Asia during the Second World War. 3 November, 7:30 – 8:30pm, SOAS Room G2 & … [Read More]
Ah Q: Korean modern dance, Chinese story, Greenwich theatre
Hong Sungyop’s Dance Theatre ON presents The Story of Ah Q Dance Theatre ON’s UK premiere Date: Tuesday 04 November 2008 Time: 7:30pm (70min without intermission) Venue: LABAN, Creekside, London SE8 3DZ Tickets: £15 / £10 (concessions) Box Office 0208 469 9500 (via Greenwich Theatre) Book online www.purchase-tickets-online.co.uk/peo22430/ (follow links to Laban Theatre) Produced by … [Read More]
Blight, Hope and Photoshop
“This is not a Korean exhibition” announced Lee Chan-Buom, Director of the Cultural Cooperation Division of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as he introduced the panellists at a fascinating discussion to coincide with the “Blight and Hope” exhibition at the KCC. With sponsorship from the British Council and the UNDP, there was to … [Read More]
Inaugural Ra Jong-yil lecture in Cambridge
Cambridge University is celebrating its first dedicated Korean Studies post with a new series of lectures. The Ra Jong-yil Annual Lecture Series in Korean Studies will be launched by Dr Ra Jong-yil himself, who will talk on ‘The Discovery of the World – A Korean Perspective‘ The lecture is to be held at 5pm on … [Read More]
The Birth of the YKABs (Young Korean Artists in Britain)!
‘4482: Korean Contemporary Artists London’ exhibition, 16th – 19th October. Seminar, ‘How to promote Korean Art Abroad,’ 18th October 2008. Both at Bargehouse, Southwark. Report by Beccy Kennedy Take forty contemporary artists, a fervent independent curator, an unexpected art space, four floors of art works in throngs of media and genres, and a thriving spot … [Read More]
A week is a long time in … Korean economics
By Peter Corbishley Given the present economic world order, last week was an opportune time for an update on Korean peninsular economics. First Aidan Foster Carter tells BAKS that in August President Lee Myung-bak’s military banned “Bad Samaritans,” by Chang Ha-joon, an economics professor at the University of Cambridge, for being un-Korean. Then on the … [Read More]
“Disposable People”: Comfort Women photos at the Festival Hall
Overlapping nicely with the photographic exhibition at the KCC (Poverty seen through the Lens) is Disposable People, an exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall on a related theme: modern day slavery. Magnum photographer Chris Steele Perkins spent some time talking with some of the last surviving sex slaves from the Pacific War – the Korean … [Read More]
“Poverty Seen through the Lens” at KCC
Notice of the upcoming show at the KCC, featuring Korean and non-Korean photographers An international photography exhibition on the topic of global poverty will be held at the Korean Cultural Centre UK, from 21 October to 4 November 2008, under the title of “Blight and Hope: Poverty Seen Through the Lens,” hosted by the Korean … [Read More]
Crowning glory at the Smile of Buddha
Matthew Jackson reports from the “Smile of Buddha” exhibition in Brussels I had never been to the Bozar Centre (French: “Palais des Beaux-Arts”) in Belgium prior to the current “Smile of Buddha” exhibition of Korean Buddhist art. It is an impressive place (right) and I highly recommend it if you are ever in Brussels. The … [Read More]
Francesca Cho: Old Paintings in Surgery
FRANCESCA CHO: OLD PAINTINGS IN SURGERY Location: Lilyville Surgery 630 Fulham Road London SW6 5RS Entrance on Lilyville Road, off of Fulham Road Time: 17 October – 14 November Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri 11am-1pm and 2.30pm – 3.30pm. Wed 11am-1.00pm or by appointment: Ms. Linda Gilson (020 7731 9388) Contact: Curator Lois Olmstead email: lolmstead … [Read More]
Korea Times and National Branding
The Korea Times is currently running an interesting series of articles on Korea’s national brand. The paper has asked a number of foreigners – branding, business, tourism and advertising specialists – to comment on Korea’s perception overseas. Some of the writers are uniquely qualified to provide insights: Simon Anholt, for example, is the man who … [Read More]
DPRK on the US terrorism list and verification
Just received from the DPRK embassy in London Foreign Ministry Spokesman on DPRK’s Will to Cooperate in Verification of Objects of Nuclear Disablement Pyongyang, October 12 (KCNA) — A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA Sunday as regards the U.S.’s delisting the DPRK as “a … [Read More]
Album review: Lee Soo Young #8 — Set It Down
(Manine Media, 2007) There’s something reassuring about a Lee Soo Young album. You try to explore different genres of music, some of which may be exciting and original, and others may be frankly rather tiresome. And then you come to Lee Soo Young and it’s like returning home. It’s a bit like comfort food. It … [Read More]