To coincide with the Korean garden at the Chelsea Flower Show this coming week, which features an outside toilet, here’s the first of two extracts from Park Wan-suh’s Who ate up all the shinga? The outhouse, it seems, was much more than a place for moving the bowels. Park Wan-suh was born in 1931 and … [Read More]
Month: May 2011 (page 2)
Kitty Jun-Im solo show in Seoul
Kitty Jun-Im McLaughlin, who has lived in England for over 30 years, is having a solo exhibition in Seoul, 18 – 24 of May at Yi Hyung Art Center. Her painting is a calligraphic choreography that layers the Korean art paper Hanji with collaged canvases to create depth and space and tactile textures that incorporate … [Read More]
Park Seo-bo feature in WSJ
Park Seo-bo: “The Role of art is to make people worry.” A feature on the 80-year-old “father of South Korean contemporary art” in Scene Asia / WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/jOvsSn # [Read More]
Deulgukhwa remake album out soon
Current indie stars play tribute to 1980s rock legends: the Deulgukhwa (들국화) Remake Album will be out next week! Mot, Huckleberry Finn, Guckkasten, Lee Jang Hyuk & more http://awe.sm/5JwSp (Via @indiefulrok) [Read More]
Kim Ki-duk stages comeback at Cannes
No surprise but Kim Ki-duk’s ARIRANG Captures Critics in Cannes on WSJ blogs, via @koreanfilmfest. And via @bournecinema: Kim Ki-duk settles scores with former colleagues, and the Korean film industry in general, in his new film ARIRANG (Korea Herald) [Read More]
Book review: Shin Kyung-sook — Please look after Mother
Kyung-sook Shin: Please look after Mother Originally published in Korean as 엄마를 부탁해, 2008 Translated by Chi-Young Kim Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2011, 272pp Can we ever really appreciate who we have in our lives until they are gone? Kyung-Sook Shin’s Please look after Mother looks through the eyes of a family united in trying to … [Read More]
Abstracts: Korean Buddhists Arts of the Koryŏ and Chosŏn Kingdoms
Here are the abstracts for the series of talks on Korean Buddhist arts at SOAS on 19 May 2011: Gyeongwon Choe (Kansas University) Marginalised yet Devoted: Buddhist Paintings Commissioned by Nuns of the Early Joseon Palace Cloisters This lecture examines the three extant Buddhist paintings commissioned by Buddhist nuns in the palace cloisters of the … [Read More]
The London Sillok (aka LKL) – First Book Launch
One of the great things about London Korean Links is that it offers a gateway to Korea for non-Koreans like myself who take comfort in the fact the editor, Philip Gowman, comes at the country from a familiar perspective. There was a glorious sense of understatement about the book launch of the new book, ‘Royal … [Read More]
AKS visit to Standard Chartered art collection
Just returned from Anglo-Korean Society visit to Standard Chartered art collection. No Korean art. But learned about their hot-desking and recycling policies #. Evening rescued by interesting talk by AKS treasurer about the development of SC First Bank since Standard Chartered acquisition. # [Read More]
A Korean Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show
This is the first time a Korean design has been featured as a show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, the official opening of the London social season. People not so familiar with Korean culture may raise an eyebrow over the theme of the garden – we Brits are all children at heart and think … [Read More]
Hallyu Elvis and the draft-dodger
"Hallyu Elvis and the draft-dodger" – The Economist contrasts Hyun Bin with MC Mong (+ comment from Grand Narrative) http://econ.st/jtoGIX # [Read More]
Thank you
Tonight at the Korean Cultural Centre, I’m told that it was a record attendance for a Global Korea Lecture. So, thanks to the people who came along to my talk. I think I said most of the things I wanted to, but missed a couple of things. More importantly, thanks to the Ministry of Culture, … [Read More]
DPRK-related books reviewed in Economist
Three DPRK-related books get a brief review in the Economist. Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, the latest James Church, and the thriller Maximum Target by Martin Gower: http://econ.st/mqErGC # Links: LKL reviews Guy Delisle: Pyongyang – A Journey in North Korea [Read More]
Situated Senses 01 : Inclined Angles at Hanmi Gallery
Two solo shows by Korean artists who will make the most of the work-in-progress of the space which will eventually become the Hanmi Gallery: HANMI GALLERY INTERIM EXHIBITION 20 May – 05 June 2011 Situated Senses 01 : Inclined Angles HANMI GALLERY is pleased to present the interim exhibition ‘ Situated Senses 01: Inclined Angles’ … [Read More]
Priest at the Empire Leicester Square
Screen adaptation of Hyung Min-woo’s manhwa “Priest” is on at the Empire Leicester Square now. Time Out gives it a neutral review. #. From the trailer it looks rather fun. [Read More]
A celebration of the launch of Park Kyung-ni’s Land in translation
In the mid-90s Kegan Paul published what was billed as Part 1 of Park Kyung-ni’s epic novel, Land (Toji). Translated by Agnita Tennant (Née Hong), the volume extended to 657 pages. In fact, this was only half of Part 1. Global Oriental is now publishing all of it, in three volumes totalling 1,172 pages. There’s … [Read More]