Celebrating a Centenary of Korean Comics The Korean Cultural Centre Tuesday 23rd June 2009 ‘Finding Your Own Way’ With Damian Gascoigne As a culmination of this summer’s centenary celebrations of Manhwa at the Korean Cultural Centre UK, we are proud to announce that the guest speaker for The Manhwa 100 Workshop will be established illustrator; … [Read More]
Year: 2009 (page 21)
Nanta comes to the Rose Theatre
Readers who are familiar with Jump and Breakout will need no persuasion to come along to Nanta as part of the New Malden Festival. Koreans seem to specialise in high energy non-verbal performances with a wide international appeal, and Nanta is no exception. It won the top prize at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999 … [Read More]
Yoon Bok-hee comes to Kingston
Koreans seem to keep some of their favourite stars well hidden from the West. Google singer Yoon Bok-hee in English, and you don’t find much. The Kpopwiki is able to provide a discography but no biography, while the occasional article in the Korea Times mention her only in passing: recently for performing the role of … [Read More]
Choi Jin-shil “failed to maintain dignity”
The late Choi Jin-shil, domestic violence and her advertising contract: The top court ruled that she caused damage to the [construction] company by “failing to keep her social and moral honor” and thus depreciating the brand image. Following Choi’s suicide last October, her two children ― one preschooler and the other primary schooler ― are … [Read More]
Korea’s best-loved folk tale at the KCC
I’m Still Hungry!, Moby Duck’s new show for family audiences aged four and over, will be coming to the Korean Cultural Centre on 13 June 2009. The show, in English, is based on Hae wa Dal, Korea’s best-loved folk tale. When a tiger’s just eaten your mother and still looks hungry, it’s a good idea … [Read More]
David Halberstam’s Korean War
David Halberstam The Coldest Winter – America and the Korean War 718pp, Hyperion, 2007 The subtitle of David Halberstam’s magnum opus, The Coldest Winter – America and the Korean War, at first seems a bit unimaginative. But it is to the point. After all, without Truman’s decision to commit US ground forces, the whole Korean … [Read More]
AKS event: Exploring Korea’s Cultural Legacy
Notice of an event at the Korean Cultural Centre, put on by the Anglo Korean Society EXPLORING KOREA’S CULTURAL LEGACY FROM PAST TO PRESENT THURSDAY 16th JUNE 2009 6.15 pm for 6.30 pm KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE UK Grand Buildings, 1 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5EJ We would like to invite you to a delightful evening … [Read More]
Nambugun – the first of two Korean War films this month at the KCC
In the first of two films selected to mark the anniversary of the start of the Korean War on 25 June 1950, the KCC will be screening Jeong Ji-yeong’s Nambugun (North Korean Partisans in South Korea, 남부군) on Thursday 11 June, 7pm. The 1990 film, with screenplay by director Jang Sun-woo, stars Ahn Sung-ki and … [Read More]
Concert notes: a Chunghyang operatic evening at the KCC
Sol Opera Company has just been on a European tour, and before it goes back to Korea it came to the Korean Cultural Centre to present some arias. Sol O pera Company is based in Busan, and was introduced to the audience by the ROK ambassador, himself a Busanite. Sol has been going for seven … [Read More]
Exhibition review: Korean Aesthetics at Albemarle Gallery
In some group exhibitions, you wonder what it is that has brought the several artists together. Not so with the current show of Korean artists at the Albemarle Gallery. Lee Jae-hyo has shown at the Albermarle before, and together with Park Seungmo was included in the Albemarle’s stand at the London Art Fair back in … [Read More]
Tomi Kita – In Dreamz
Review by Saharial Tomi Kita: In Dreamz Pony Canyon Records, 2008 Having seen them perform at ‘The Peel’ and the Dano festival last year I succumbed to the temptation of buying the one album available at Yesasia.com. ‘In Dreamz’, released in February 2008, is Tomi Kita’s third album and consists of 14 tracks all composed … [Read More]
Condensation: Haegue Yang at the Venice Biennale
A press release giving details of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2009 Condensation: Haegue Yang June 7–November 22, 2009 Korean Pavilion 53rd International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia Commissioner: Eungie Joo In the exhibition “Condensation”, Haegue Yang explores private or hidden spaces that might be considered nebensächlich (marginal or insignificant) but to the … [Read More]
Library: Chun Woojung at the Venice Biennale
Details of one of the Collateral Events at Venice. Text courtesy of curator James Putnam Library Chun Woo-jung (천우정) 53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia Collateral Event curated by James Putnam “The universe (which others call the Library)…” Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel The library is a potent metaphor for knowledge … [Read More]
Atta Kim: ON-AIR (Palazzo Zenobio, Venice)
Details of one of the Collateral events at Venice, text courtesy of Arte Communications: AttaKim: ON-AIR: collateral event of the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia Inauguration: 5 June 2009 at 1.00 pm Preview: 4 – 6 June 2009; opening hours 10.00 am – 8.00 pm Open to the public: 7 June … [Read More]
Diary of June (6월의 일기, 2005) review: above average serial killer fare let down by poor pacing
Though certainly not a perfect film (if such a thing exists), Diary of June still has much more to offer than standard serial killer fare, detailing, within its story, a fairly taut critique of the school system, bullying and the pressures placed on children by parents, and vice versa. [Read More]
SOAS workshop: mutual perceptions in travel literature
News of a free study day later in June, a follow-up to SOAS’s conference two years ago. Modern Encounters and Transitional Images of ‘The Other’ Mutual Perceptions of Chosŏn Korea and the West in Travel Literature (1700~1910) A One-Day Workshop hosted by The Centre of Korean Studies, SOAS, in collaboration with the Faculty of Languages … [Read More]