The third gig in this year’s K-music festival features the new group Urban Sound who this year have been performing in interesting spaces such as Brunel’s Tunnel in Rotherhithe: Urban Sound Friday 19 October, 8pm | Buy tickets Kings Place (Hall Two) | 90 York Way | London N1 9AG Urban Sound is a collaboration … [Read More]
Year: 2018 (page 10)
K-music 2018: Ensemble E-DO, 9 October @Rich Mix
E-DO were the musicians behind the 2017 LKL Performance of the Year (together with choreographer / dancer Yoo Sun-hoo in an Edinburgh Fringe show entitled After 4 – Over the Moon), and their 2015 album Yeominrok got a well-deserved rave review from World Music Central. So don’t miss their London debut as the second act … [Read More]
K-music 2018: SsingSsing, 2 October @Purcell Room
The 2018 K-Music festival opens with Lee Heemoon’s amazing glam-fusion band SsingSsing at the South Bank: SsingSsing Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX Tuesday 2 October 2018, 7:45pm Buy tickets SsingSsing have been making waves across the globe, bringing glam rock and funk elements together with a charismatic theatrical twist that takes inspiration from … [Read More]
Book review: Mary Lynn Bracht — White Chrysanthemum
Mary Lynn Bracht: White Chrysanthemum Penguin Random House 2018, 320pp White Chrysanthemum, the debut novel from Mary Lynn Bracht, tells the story of two sisters, brought up on Jeju Island, who were tragically separated in the last years of the Second World War. The elder sister, Hana, is abducted into sexual slavery by a Japanese … [Read More]
The DMZ (데스트랩, 2018) review: how to create a gripping action thriller without moving…
With The DMZ, director Oh In-chun has created a highly engaging, even gripping action thriller, but it is his success in bringing ‘cat and mouse’ elements to a narrative wholly centred on one character forced to stand stationary for the vast majority of the running time that is truly deserving of accolades. [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Lee Bul – Crashing. Pt 2 – Scale of Tongue
The most eye-catching work in Lee Bul’s Hayward Gallery exhibition is the giant inflatable zeppelin, its grid of rectangular silver panels echoing the grid of skylights in the Hayward’s newly refurbished upper floor. The work, entitled Willing to be Vulnerable, memorialises the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when the giant airship, representing a possible future of … [Read More]
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (곤지암, 2018) review: a chilling found footage horror
“I shouldn’t have written my name on the wall. I’m cursed now… Did you see? The words under my name changed from ‘Let’s live’ to ‘Let’s die’. Am I going to die?…” Synopsis After two youths go missing while breaking and entering into Gonjiam asylum – a mental institution that closed more than 20 years … [Read More]
SOAS conference: Visualising Asia
An upcoming conference organised by the SOAS Japan Research Centre and Centre of Korean Studies: Visualising Asia: Deciphering ‘Otherness’ in Visual and Material Cultures Thursday 20 September 2018 12:45 pm – Friday 21 September 2018 7:00 pm SOAS Brunei Gallery room B202 (10 Thornhaugh Street | Russell Square | London WC1H 0XG) Register free via … [Read More]
Jinyong Park in Gazelli Art House Window Project celebration
News of a summer group show at Gazelli Art House: Window Project 2012 – 2018 Private View: 2nd August, 6 – 8 pm Exhibition: 3rd August – 1st September 2018 Gazelli Art House | 39 Dover Street | London W1S 4NN | gazelliarthouse.com Monday – Friday 10:00 – 18:00 | Saturday 11:00 – 19:00 Celebrating … [Read More]
Be With You (지금 만나러 갑니다, 2018) review: a beautiful, classic, archetypal Son Ye-jin melodrama
Heartbreaking, uplifting and life-affirming at once, Be With You positively screams of classic Korean melodrama, in spite of being based on a Japanese novel… and that’s before we even consider the fact that the star of the film is New Korean Cinema’s ‘Queen of Melodrama’, Son Ye-jin. [Read More]
Heart Blackened (침묵, 2017) review: wealth, blood and deception
Heart Blackened is a visually sumptuous, multi-layered and beautifully involved tale of love, hate, sacrifice and murder. While based on a 2013 Chinese film it never feels like simply a rehash. In fact, Heart Blackened could almost be considered as a modern day re-telling of a Pansori-type tale, and as such it ultimately feels utterly Korean through and through. [Read More]
House of the Disappeared (시간위의 집, 2017) review: a haunted house, a mother’s love, and time’s dark secrets
Though based on a 2013 Venezuelan horror film, House of the Disappeared feels Korean through and through, and while the use of numerous familiar horror tropes could easily have resulted in predictable horror fare, the originality of the ultimate ‘reveal’ leaves House of the Disappeared deserving of at least a second viewing. [Read More]
A fun day out at the Sheffield Korea Day
Gargi Sengupta, a new guest contributor, reports from the Sheffield Korea Day earlier this year. On 11th March, my Dad and I went to Sheffield to go to the Korea day at Sheffield University. As I love Kpop and want to acquire knowledge and learn more about Korean culture, it was a great opportunity for … [Read More]
The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prizewinner: Seeun Kim
Round about this time last year Seung Ae Lee was holding an exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art to display her work as the Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prizewinner. This year, another Korean artist has that honour: Seeun Kim: Potholing The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prizewinner 2017 Exhibition Dates: 15-22 August 2018 (Monday – Friday: 10am … [Read More]
August events 2018
Exhibitions If you haven’t been to Lee Bul’s solo show at the Hayward Gallery yet, make sure you get there before it closes on 19 August. Lee Ufan’s installation at the Serpentine will remain in place until early 2019 The KCC’s August exhibition, Hyen Jungyoon’s Walking on Tiptoes, opens on 6 Aug Park Neung-saeng’s Travelling … [Read More]
KCC August House Concert: Yoonseo Sally Lee
July’s House Concert at the KCC features Yoonseo Sally Lee (violin): Yoonseo Sally Lee (violin), Kumi Matsuo (piano) Tuesday 28 August 2018, 7pm Korean Cultural Centre | Grand Buildings | 1-3 Strand | London WC2N 5BW (Entrance in Northumberland Avenue) Register via [email protected] Programme Beethoven Sonata No.1, Op.12: I. Allegro con brio | II. Tema con variazioni: … [Read More]