We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for the two Korean movies with seven Oscar nominations between them. Be sure to buy your March copy of Sight & Sound (available from 3 Feb) guest-edited by man of the moment Bong Joon-ho.
Music
- Unsuk Chin’s SPIRA – A Concerto for Orchestra – will be broadcast on Radio 3 on 4 Feb at 7:30pm. The two Beethoven performances in the same concert are pretty good too.
- Eunseog Lee’s composition The Babylon Cycle gets its premiere at October Gallery on 15 Feb. More details soon.
- Daegu’s Drinking Boys and Girls Choir are on tour supporting Japan’s Otoboke Beaver, with dates in Bristol (18th) Leicester (19th) Glasgow (20th) Gateshead (21st) and London (23rd)
- Hip-hop artist ONE performs at XOYO London on 23 Feb
- The KCC’s House Concert features Esther Park (Violin) + Kumi Matsuo (Piano), 25 Feb
Rookie five-member boy band AB6IX come to indigo at the O2 on 26 FebCANCELLED- SuperM’s “We are the Future” tour is at the O2 Arena on 28 Feb
- Park Jiha will be on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction on 28 Feb
Theatre
- Jimin Suh’s Unburied appears in a double bill of performances in Southwark, 25-28 Feb
Exhibitions
- Ceramics by Ree Soo-Jong and Lee Hun-Chung are at Messums London 19 Feb – 14 Mar
- Don’t miss Collect at Somerset House, 27 Feb – 1 Mar: plenty of stunning Korean craftsmanship
- Still on:
- Suh Doho’s Bridging Home – London, near Liverpool Street
- Choi Ji-won’s Adidas Originals collection at the Designs of the Year exhibition
- Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword, at the National Poetry Library
- Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s BTS-sponsored Catharsis at the Serpentine
- Last chance to see
- Nam June Paik: The Future is Now, at Tate Modern till 9 Feb
- Kang Jungsuck: KCC’s 2019 Artist of the Year exhibition till 15 Feb
- Park Jieun solo exhibition at Pontone Gallery till 23 Feb
Film
- Parasite finally gets its UK release on 7 February via Curzon Cinemas and Cineworld. Director Bong is in London for Q+A at a preview screening on 3 February, which will be broadcast to other cinemas
- Kim Hong-joon introduces and discusses screenings by 1980s Korean film collectives at Birkbeck on 15 Feb
- Jeronimo: an untold tale of a Korean Cuban revolutionary gets what I think is its first UK screening, at the KCC on 20 Feb
Talks, seminars and books
- Sokeel Park talks on working with North Korean defectors at the LSE on 13 Feb
- Kim Hong-joon gives an illustrated talk on the theme of Koreas 1980s film collectives on 15 Feb
- J.P. Park’s theme at SOAS on 15 Feb is Rescuing Art History from the Nation
- Whose Comfort? gets launched at the KCC on 21 Feb
- The KCC’s literature night on 26 Feb discussed Marilyn and Me by Ji-Min Lee
- The annual LSE SU Korea Future Forum is on 29 Feb
Social + K-pop events
- Korean-themed parties and meet-ups can be found on our Facebook page. Probably the pick of these for the month is the K-pop fair in Stoke Newington Town Hall on 29 Feb.
Have I missed an event? Tell me about it here.