South Korea’s eleventh listing on the UNESCO World Heritage list is Namhansanseong. It was added to the list at the end of a 10 day meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee at Doha on 25 June. According to the summary on the UNESCO website: Namhansanseong was designed as an emergency capital for the Joson dynasty … [Read More]
Month: June 2014
KCC to fund British Museum curator
Interesting that it’s the KCC doing this. Normally I would expect a chaebol or an NGO like the Korea Foundation to fund this sort of post. Anyway, below is the official press release from the British Museum website. This is an additional curatorial post, working under the existing senior curator Sasche Priewe, who will continue … [Read More]
Korea wins Golden Lion in Venice architecture biennale
There have been a lot of Korean Ministry of Culture bigwigs in town this week for the opening of the City of London Festival, in which Korean performers are playing a major part. And many of the officials are going home to Seoul via Venice. Why? Because the Korean Pavilion has been awarded the Golden … [Read More]
The London Korean Novel Club
Many LKL followers will have already heard of the London Korean Novel Club – not to be confused with the monthly Korean Literature Night meetups at the KCC. The London Korean Novel Club was born in part because the KCC-organised literature nights seemed to get booked up so quickly: there’s obviously a market for informal … [Read More]
The Contact – the first of the films featuring composer Cho Young-wuk
The Year of the Film Professionals moves on to focus on composer Cho Young-wuk. The first film to be shown, The Contact (Chang Yoon-Hyun 1997), has been on my watchlist for a while, so I’ll be sure to be there: Jeon Do-yeon’s first feature, with a youthful Han Suk-kyu. The Contact (접속) Jang Yoon-hyeon, 1997 … [Read More]
Mourning Grave (소녀괴담, 2014) review: classic Korean horror with heart, humour and romance
With ‘Mourning Grave’, director Oh In-chun extends his experience of blending horror and humour to include romance and melodrama; thereby not only fulfilling the almost requisite Korean cinema merging of love, loss and laughter elements in a single narrative but also resulting in the film feeling utterly classic, from the first frame to the last. [Read More]
Killer creativity at the RCA graduate show
A quick tour of the Royal College of Art degree show last weekend showed just how many Korean artists and designers there are in London. I had gone along to see the work of a handful of friends whose work I had got to know through various exhibitions over the past couple of years, and … [Read More]
Miss the Train (미성년, 2014) review: spirit, loss and the beauty of the journey
With its gently understated narrative realisation, ‘Miss the Train’ is at once a spiritual tale of destiny and a dream-like journey through love and loss, and though many will be able to anticipate its endpoint, in a film such as this the beauty and engagement of the journey itself takes precedence over any revelation at its destination. [Read More]
British Council signs teacher training deal in DPRK
Yesterday the British Council were in Pyongyang signing a letter of understanding on English teaching and teacher training, according to KCNA. The DPRK’s press operation is clearly quick off the mark, as there’s nothing on the British Council website about this yet. To be honest, I’m not sure what’s new here, as the British Council … [Read More]
Ensemble Sinawi in Artist Talk: Think in Performance
As part of the Seoul in the City strand of the City of London Festival, SOAS is hosting an evening of performance and instruction with Korean fusion band Ensemble Sinawi. The ensemble is performing at LSO St Luke’s on the previous evening, 8 July. Artist Talk: Think In Performance Beyond Borders: Re-creating Pansori in the … [Read More]
Ensemble Sinawi at LSO St Luke’s – don’t miss one of the highlights of COLF
For many LKL followers, the highlight of the City of London Festival this year will be the performance by Ensemble Sinawi at LSO St Luke’s on 8 July. If you liked Geomungo Factory at the K-Music festival last year, or have caught Baramgot on one of their London performances, this evening’s performance will be a … [Read More]
Inventing Temperature – the KCC’s summer exhibition
Now this is something quite different: an exhibition inspired by the ideas of a Cambridge academic. Hasok Chang is Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, and describes his research interests as “history and philosophy of chemistry and physics from the 18th century onward; philosophy of scientific practice; other topics in … [Read More]
Hyunjoo Son: The Island is a Buoy, at Mokspace
News of the upcoming Mokspace exhibition. Strange to have an opening viewing on a Wednesday, when it’s head-to-head with the opening of the KCC’s new exhibition. But catch it while you can: it’s only on for less than two weeks. Hyunjoo Son: The Island is a Buoy Private View: Wednesday 25th June 6.00 – 8.00 … [Read More]
Tracey Emin name-checks Paul Lee’s work in Summer Exhibition review
Congratulations to Korean artist Paul Lee – not only did he get work accepted into this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, but one of his pieces got name-checked by Tracey Emin in her review of the show. Click on the image below to go to the BBC website where you can watch the 4’42” video … [Read More]
In pictures: Kim Hayoung’s degree show
Kim Hayoung’s work grows on me each time I see it. And while I enjoy seeing work exhibited in a domestic setting (such as 43 Inverness Street, where Kim has had two solo shows already), it was also good to see it in a huge, well-lit exhibition space. The big work painted in acrylic on … [Read More]
Andersen’s Gazes – a dance collaboration as part of Seoul in the City
This should be an entertaining and rewarding contribution to the Seoul in the City programme of the City of London Festival: a collaboration between a leading Korean dance company and artist Mari Kim. Mari Kim’s pop art is sometimes to be seen at the Albemarle Gallery, and it will be interesting to see how it … [Read More]