For those who’ve already seen the two Im Kwon-taek films screening on Tuesday 23 October and want to get ahead on their LKFF viewing, Terracotta Touring Festival is showing King of Pigs at Stepney’s Genesis Cinema at 6:45 on 23 Oct. I’ll be there provided I can be sure I’m not going to be seeing … [Read More]
Month: October 2012 (page 2)
Korea – the Amsterdam of Asia?
We’ve heard of the Koreans being the Irish of Asia. But in a recent video video interview in the Wall Street Journal World Bank president Jim Yong Kim says that “Koreans have expressly said they want to be the Amsterdam of Asia.” To many, that would mean Korea wants to legalise certain narcotic substances – … [Read More]
An apology to LKL subscribers
If you are reading this, it is because you are one of my loyal subscribers who get new articles delivered into your email inbox as soon as a post is published. You’re probably waiting for news of a recently-organised event. Instead, you find a post with no useful information in it. As you may know, … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary #19: Beopgyesa Temple and those Japanese feng-shui stakes
Beopgyesa Temple (법게사) is the highest in Sancheong County and at least the third-highest in Korea. The good people of Sancheong believe that Beopgyesa is the highest temple in South Korea, a claim which is supported by Beopgyesa’s entry on the Cultural Heritage Administration website, where the following text is to be found: “It is … [Read More]
Arson, suicide and creationism
To find the story that links arson, suicide and creationism, visit the Marmot’s Hole, where you can also find the answer to that burning question: what is the Korean for archaeopteryx? (It’s 시조새) [Read More]
Event news: Korea Moves – with Tim Garland @ London Jazz Festival
Last year at the KCC we had an interesting jazz / gugak fusion concert. Coming soon as part of the London Jazz Festival, a concert in which the emphasis is more likely to be on the jazz, but with participation from the Tori Ensemble‘s Heo Yoon-jeong (whom we saw at the KCC last February) and … [Read More]
Yonsei scientists zap cancer cells with magnets
This looks like an exciting development in cancer research from South Korea. “We have developed magnetic nanoparticles that turn on apoptosis cell signalling by using a magnetic field in a remote and non-invasive manner,” says Jinwoo Cheon and his Yonsei University team in the introduction to their article published in Nature Materials. “Apoptosis, also known … [Read More]
K-film at the BFI London Film Fest: Nameless Gangster outstays its welcome
What a disappointment. One of Korea’s biggest grossing films this year is just not good enough. It’s a perfectly acceptable gangster flick, but is as bloated as Choi Min-sik, who must have eaten a serious number of pies to get to his fighting weight for this film. The plot is rather charming in the way … [Read More]
K-film at the BFI London Film Fest: Doomsday Book is really not worth the effort
Doomsday Book, the first of six Korean films to screen at the 56th BFI London Film Festival is a set of three short films based loosely on a science fiction theme. The two outer segments, gentle comedies directed by Im Pil-seong (임필성), sandwich a semi-serious but nevertheless meagre filling by Kim Ji-woon entitled Heavenly Creature … [Read More]
Yujung Chang: Eclipses, at Art First Project
A new venue for me, in Eastcastle Street W1, and the first time I’ve seen Yujung Chang in a solo show, though she appeared at I-MYU a while ago: Yujung Chang: Eclipses 11 October – 10 November 2012 AF Projects is delighted to present a new series of installation and photographic works by the South … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Korean Eye 2012 – the biggest Korean art show in London yet
With the high profile exhibition of Chinese art having just opened at the Hayward Gallery, let’s not forget that there was an equally significant exhibition of contemporary Korean art at the privately funded Saatchi Gallery earlier this summer. Like many exhibitions, Korean Eye 2012 was one which needed to be visited several times. It was … [Read More]
SOAS public workshop: State Capitalism and Development in East Asia
A free all-day seminar sponsored by the Centre of Korean Studies at SOAS: State Capitalism and Development in East Asia Speakers Jeong Seongjin (Gyeongsang National University) Lee Jeong-koo (GNU) Gareth Dale (Brunel University) Jamie Allinson (University of Westminster) Owen Miller (SOAS, University of London) Tuesday, 6 November 2012, 10am-5pm Room B111, First Floor, Brunei Gallery, … [Read More]
Penumbra – an 8-day project with 8 Korean artists
This time last year we had an interesting project at the KCC entitled Artists at Work: Process Recorded – a two-week project in which every day a different artist produced a work in the KCC’s multi-purposes space. There’s a similar event coming up later this month, in a project space in Bermondsey: Penumbra An 8-day … [Read More]
Exhibition news: Lost & Found at Hanmi Gallery
Hanmi Gallery has been quiet for a while as they do their construction work. But they’re back with a quick week-long exhibition tomorrow: Lost & Found An Exhibition of Contemporary Korean Art works by Hong Jung Pyo, Park Jinhee, and Shin Kiwoun HANMI GALLERY 11TH INTERIM EXHIBITION Preview: Thursday, 11 October 2012, 6 – 9pm … [Read More]
Grace Yeo’s Wigmore debut
Grace Yeo has been a regular lunchtime recitalist for a number of years. So it’s nice to see her making her debut at the Wigmore Hall on 4 November. The interesting programme includes a UK premiere of two pieces by the modern Korean composer Uzong Choe. Grace Yeo, piano Kirckman Concert Society Series Date: 4 … [Read More]
Manhattan gets its second Michelin-starred Korean restaurant
Last year a Michelin star was awarded to Danji in Hell’s Kitchen; this year Jungsik in Tribeca joins the prestigious club, according to the Chosun Ilbo. Interesting that neither restaurant is in Manhattan’s official K-town centring on 32nd Street. Jungsik is reviewed in the New York Times here. [Read More]