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 Kwon-taek season is just winding up at the ICA and the BFI
• The London Korean Film Festival runs 1 – 11 November in London, with a regional tour to Bristol, Bournemouth and Glasgow in the following 10 days.
• This month’s director at the KCC, if you had any spare film bandwidth after Im Kwon Taek, the BFI Film Fest and the LKFF, is Song Hae-seong, with screenings each Thursday: in order, Rikidozan, Maundy Thursday, Failan, A Better Tomorrow
• Those waiting to get hold of Kim Ki-duk’s Crocodile on DVD will finally be rewarded on 13 November when 3rd Window releases it in a set with Arirang.
• On the subject of DVDs, you can now get the other Kim Ki-duk’s Barefoot Youth (1964) and also the classic Coachman (Kang Dae-jin, 1961) on DVD with English Subtitles. You can also get Park Chan-wook’s Night Fishing on a Taiwanese release.

Music

• Highlight of the month is a jazz / gugak fusion concert as part of the London Jazz Festival, with members of Baramgot and the Tori Ensemble and a British saxophonist (14 November)
• Grace Yeo makes her Wigmore Hall debut, 4 November
• Violinist Joo Yeon Sir plays in a rush-hour recital at the V&A, Friday evening 2 November

Exhibitions

• The KCC’s exhibition The Colours of Korean Comics, running 1 – 21 November, features five of Korea’s top manhwa artists.
• The show with the biggest names this month is One must imagine Sisyphus Happy, which finishes on 10 December
• The Korean Artists Association has a one-week group exhibition commencing with a performance on 28 November
• Maximum City featuring work by Hong Young-in ends at Sesame Gallery on 10 November
• Lee Jaehyo’s exhibition at the Albemarle finishes on 3 November
• Chang Yu-jung’s exhibition, Eclipses, finishes at Art First Gallery on 10 November
• Ahn Jin-kyun’s exhibition in Brighton continues until 18 November
• Baik Hyun-jhin’s solo exhibition continues at 43 Inverness Street until 17 November
• Ahn Chul-hyun’s exhibition, Infinite Voyage, is at HADA Contemporary, 1-28 November
• Shin Mee-kyoung’s soapy Duke of Cumberland is still in Cavendish Square

Literature, talks and seminars

• PSY’s members-only talk will be at the Oxford Union, 2pm on 7 November
• Ko Un appears in Aldeburgh, London, Oxford and Cambridge, 3-10 November, accompanied by Brother Anthony
• SOAS is running a one-day seminar on State Capitalism and Development in East Asia, 6 November
• BAKS has its annual one-day seminar on 17 November – an event entitled Korea’s Place in the World, now and 20 years hence.
• LSE has an economic and political forum on 24 November
• SOAS’s free evening seminars are 16 November on North Korean moral didactic literature and 23 November on Sino-North Korean relations
• You are reminded that SOAS recently released a call for papers in respect of a Korean Screen Culture conference at the end of next May

Social

• The Anglo Korean Society diners meet up on 1 November at Arang
• The Anglo Korean Society’s annual dinner at the House of Lords is on 22 November
• The British Korean Women’s Society has a public launch at the KCC on 20 November
• Kiejo Sarsfield’s cookery classes are 17 and 24
• Members of the Korean Language Meetup Group and the K-pop team will no doubt have plenty of meetings as per the schedules on their websites.