
The annual Autumnal diary car crash is upon us, as K-Music, BFI London Film Festival and LEAFF vie for our attention, and that’s before we take into account some classy performers at Cafe OTO and the Wigmore Hall, some big exhibitions kicking off, Bae Suah at Foyles, and the ever-increasing number of K-pop events, including two dance cover competitions in the same month. The KCC’s artist talk to go with their big Autumn show clashes with their opening gig of the K-music festival, so that Shin Meekyoung’s opening the same night doesn’t get a look-in; Tate Modern’s talk to go with the new Nam June Paik retrospective clashes another K-music gig; the BKS’s annual Houses of Parliament shindig collides with LEAFF’s opening gala; LEAFF cannibalises its own documentary audience by scheduling two Korean documentaries against each other, while its two films from the DPRK go up against unmissable performances in the Purcell Room and The Place … it’s all very ugly. And I don’t see it getting much better before December.
LKL’s picks of the month? Hard to know where to start but a pansori workshop at SOAS, folk singer Kim Doo-soo at Cafe OTO, Kyungso Park at the Purcell Room, Lee Lee Nam’s video art at Tate Modern courtesy of LEAFF, Sung Im Her at The Place and the Real DMZ exhibition at the KCC are among them.
There are too many parties this month to list them all so I won’t list any of them. They’re on my Facebook events page if I know about them. So here goes with the rest.
Exhibitions
- Ilhwa Kim’s exhibition of hanji-based works, Seed System, continues until 6 October
- The Goldsmiths Fair continues until 6 October, with three Korean jewellers / silversmiths participating
- Kim Kang Yong’s Colourful Brick Story continues at Han Collection until 24 October
- The big Tate Modern Nam June Paik retrospective opens on 17 October
- The KCC’s big autumn show Negotiating Borders opens today.
- Meekyoung Shin’s Weather opens at Barakat Gallery on 3 October
- Pontone Gallery’s new show features Choi Soowhan, whose work was included in the Korean Eye Teaser. Opening 10 October
- Lee Eunuk’s solo show, Transcendence, runs from 2 to 4 October
- Jeran Yunghun Kang’s solo show, Our Small Voices, runs from 9 to 12 October.
- In Glasgow, Younet’s exhibition of Onggi Hangari opens on 3 October
- In St Ives, Young Gi Seo’s exhibition continues at the Leach Pottery until 27 October
- Suh Do-ho’s Bridging Home – London is still near Liverpool Street.
- Tai-jung Um’s sculpture is in Regent’s Park until 6 October
Music and Performance
- The K-music festival opens on 3 October with four concerts this month
- Jambinai (3 October)
- Celebrate Pansori (6 October)
- Park Jiha (17 October)
- Kyungso Park’s SB Circle, with Hey String (29 October)
- Café OTO hosts three performances this month
- Veteran avant garde artist Kim Kulim with his daughter Jessica Hyunjin Kim (5 October)
- Experimental musicians Jin Sangtae and Choi Joonyong (6 October)
- Folk singer Kim Doo-soo (14 October)
- Sung Im Her’s #MeToo dance piece Nutcrusher has its UK premiere at The Place on 30 October
- K-pop and rock live performances this month include
- N.tic (1 October)
- Violet Tree (6 October)
- Got7 (11 October)
- Jay Park (20 October)
- Dreamcatcher (24 October)
- The Wigmore Hall has two concerts on 27 featuring Korean performers:
- Esme Quartet (morning coffee concert)
- Jiyeong Mun (evening piano recital)
- The KCC’s House Concert on 22 October features the Zedell Piano Trio
- Jambinai is touring in Brighton (2 Oct), Canterbury (4 Oct) Manchester (6 Oct), Leeds (7 Oct) and Birmingham (8 Oct) in addition to their South Bank performance on 3 Oct
- Say Sue Me are in Liverpool (1 Oct) and Cardiff (2 Oct).
Workshops and talks
- Young-sung Kim gives a hypperrealistic art masterclass on 3 October
- Ham Kyungah, Back Seung Woo and Zoh Kyung Jin talk about their work in the context of the KCC’s current exhibition, 3 October. You’ll need to skip part of the discussion and sprint across Hungerford Bridge to get to Jambinai unless the KCC record it.
- The Pansori Preservation Society give a Pansori workshop at SOAS on 5 October ahead of their K-music performance the next day
- There’s a Korean cookery event at Westminster Kingsway College on 19 October
- The KCC’s Literature Night this month features Kim Hyesoon’s Autobiography of Death, 23 October
- Bae Suah is in conversation at Foyles on 25 October.
- There’s a workshop on Nam June Paik’s influence on contemporary art, 29 October.
- SOAS evening seminars have not yet been announced at time of writing.
Film
- BFI London Film Festival will be showing five Korean films.
- London East Asia Film Festival opens on 24 October with plenty of Korean interest, including two films from North Korea.
Everything else
- The British Korean Society’s annual reception in the Houses of Parliament is on 24 October
- The UK National K-pop Competition finals are on 26 October, organised by Korea-British Cultural Exchange as part of the Kingston Korean Festival. A rival competition organised by Korean Boy Woogie takes place on 20 October
- Foyles Korean Culture Month includes a K-pop dance workshop, a hanbok fashion show and a screening of Memories of Murder, apart from Bae Suah’s appearance mentioned above.
- Jambinai’s appearance in Canterbury on 4 October is part of a Korean evening which will also feature a projection by Yiyun Kang
- There are Kpop dance workshops with the Kwon Twins, London 5 – 6 October; and a Mamamoo ‘Starry Night’ Chorus Dance Class, Cardiff 9 October
- As noted in the opening paragraphs, there are plenty of parties in London and across the land. See our Facebook page.
Keep an eye on our official upcoming events page and our Facebook events aggregator for updates, and tell us about the ones we’ve missed via our event submission form.