News of HADA Contemporary’s November exhibition. Ahn Chulhyun was represented in the Korean Eye show at the Saatchi this summer – his was the infinite garden on the top floor. Ahn Chulhyun: Infinite Voyage 1 – 28 November 2012 Hada Contemporary is pleased to present the first UK solo exhibition by Ahn Chulhyun. Ahn’s artistic … [Read More]
Month: October 2012
November events 2012
Another action-packed month this month: Ko Un in Aldeburgh, London, Oxford and Cambridge, PSY at the Oxford Union, jazz-gugak fusion in Piccadilly, manhwa at the KCC, two all-day conferences and of course plenty of film. And if you’re quick there might just be a ticket or two left for December’s BigBang appearances. Film The Im … [Read More]
PSY’s Oxford talk confirmed for 7 November – members only
It’s going to be popular, so tickets (for which only members of the Oxford Union Society are eligible) will be allocated by random ballot. Maybe someone will sneak in a video camera and we’ll see it on YouTube in due course. Maybe I should have joined up when I had the chance. Details on the … [Read More]
Manhwa – the colours of Korean comics: three weeks of Manhwa at the KCC and Foyles
Three years ago we had an interesting exhibition at the KCC celebrating 100 years of Korean manhwa. November’s exhibition returns to the manhwa theme, with five prominent artists coming to London. Manhwa – Korean Story & Painting 2012, The Colours of Korean Comics 2012 Manhwa Art Exhibition : The Colour of Change at Korean Cultural … [Read More]
Im Kwon-taek interview: tradition, social norms, and a life in Korean cinema
Im Kwon-taek reflects on depicting women’s suffering, Confucian traditions, and communal rituals in Korean society. He discusses pansori and cultural transmission, artistic freedom, life experience as the basis of filmmaking, his long career of 101 films, and his belief that Korean cinema evolves alongside national history. [Read More]
Am I alone among Korea-followers in being a huge fan of Martin Limón?
Having read all seven of his previous novels, I’m delighted to have discovered that the 8th was published a few weeks ago. He might have thrown historical credibility to the winds this time round, but who cares? It sounds an absolute blast: Seoul, early 1970s: US Army Sergeant George Sueño is on a mission of … [Read More]
Im Kwon-Taek’s Village in the Mist — affairs on an Anonymous Island
Han Su-ok, a young schoolteacher, arrives in an isolated mountain village to take up her first job in an elementary school. As she gets off the bus, the village initially seems deserted, like a ghost town, hemmed in by the high forbidding walls of the surrounding mountains like a prison. You wonder what sort of … [Read More]
KTLit reviews Kim Young-ha’s “Black Flower”
It’s a translation I’ve been waiting for for ages, and finally it’s out. Charles over at KTLit.com has the scoop with a very early review, but I’m not going to look until I’ve read the book myself. Every other book on my reading pile will be pushed aside. This one is top priority. It’s out … [Read More]
New publication: Hanji Unfurled
If you were inspired to find out more about hanji by Im Kwon-taek’s Scooping the Moonlight and Kim Hong-joon’s related making-of documentary, quite by chance Legacy Press published a book on it last week. It’s gone straight onto my Amazon wishlist Top Scholar and Artist Writes First American Book on Korean Papermaking (October 23, 2012, … [Read More]
LSE Korea Economic and Political Forum 2012
An all-day event coming up on 24 November at LSE. Registration is required via the LSE Students Union Korean Society website. Korea Economic and Political Forum 2012 Continuing from the last year’s success, on 24th November 2012, LSESU Korean Society is proud to present LSESU Korean Society Korean Economic and Political Forum : “Korea in … [Read More]
Ko Un: Poet in the City — Korea’s greatest living poet in East Anglia, London and Oxford
A rare appearance in the UK of the poet who has come closest to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, but never quite made it. Ko Un will be appearing at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on 3-4 November, in London on 5 November, Oxford on 6 November and Cambridge on 8 November. (Could he be … [Read More]
Which is bigger: Gangnam Style or Dokdo?
There’s been an awful lot of Korean stuff going on this year. In the UK, All Eyes on Korea, Korea putting up a good showing in the Olympics, Im Kwon Taek in town, Lee Byung hun and BIGBANG coming soon, a huge art show at the Saatchi… and everywhere you turn there’s a certain rapper … [Read More]
Korea’s Place in the World: Now and Twenty Years Hence. BAKS 2012 conference at SOAS
The annual BAKS conference is always a ridiculously cheap and thought-provoking day, and it never seems long enough. It is of course compulsory. See you there. British Association for Korean Studies Annual Symposium: Korea’s Place in the World: Now and Twenty Years Hence On 17 November 2012 Presenters will discuss fields of urbanisation, demography, and … [Read More]
It’s finally happening – BIGBANG are coming to London
The CNBlue gig earlier this year was a treat, but you knew who many fans were really wanting to come. The rumours were persistent: BIGBANG would eventually visit London. It nearly happened last year but that unfortunate car incident got in the way. But now it’s happening: December 15 at Wembley Arena, according to their … [Read More]
The LKFF 2012 Programme
Here’s the schedule for the London Korean Film Festival 2012. And below the listing is the official press release to give you a flavour of the thinking behind the line-up. (All dates are November 2012). Thanks to Paul Quinn at Hangul Celluloid for doing a lot of the heavy lifting fishing out run times and … [Read More]
Book review: Yi Mun-yol — Our Twisted Hero
Yi Mun-yol: Our Twisted Hero Originally published 1987 Translated by Kevin O’Rourke Available on Kindle (Minumsa, 2012) or hard copy (Hyperion Books, 2001) Moving to the provinces from a school in Seoul in which the social hierarchy was one he had lived with all his life, our twelve-year-old hero Han Pyongt’ae is faced with a … [Read More]