Despite the gradual easing of the lockdown, things are still mostly online. Only Han Collection seems to be welcoming real-life visitors (do pay them a visit, and while you’re in the area pop into the contemporary ceramics showroom at 63 Great Russell Street – you’ll usually find work by at least one Korean potter in there. And of course browse the refrigerators in the Centre Point Food Store for some banchan.)
Maybe what we should all do, in England at least, is book our nearest Korean restaurant for a plate of samgyeopsal on 17th May; my mouth is watering at the prospect…
This month LKL adds to the glut of virtual events by organising our own talk on Korean Neo-Confucianism – the first event we’ve ever organised – because we couldn’t find what we wanted online; the universities don’t seem to have announced their seminar schedules for the new term yet.
Exhibitions
- White Cube Bermondsey’s amazing solo show by Park Seo-bo closes on 1 May
- Han Collection has a display of contemporary work from Icheon, and from 20 May will be moving on to a wider exhibition of Korean porcelain from the 12th century to the present day.
- Online,
- Lee Jeonglok’s show for Pontone Gallery continues until 16 May
- The KCC’s series of artist videos inspired by the lockdown continues all month.
- If you’re in Seoul, pop along to the COEX K-pop square to see the big display taken over by a David Hockney commission every evening at 8:21pm
Talks and other online events
- British Korean Society and Chatham House members benefit from a briefing from the UK’s ambassadors to Seoul and Pyongyang, 7 May. Join now if you haven’t already.
- BKS and National Army Museum members are invited to a talk by Brig Brian Parritt on 11 May
- David Mason talks about Korean neo-Confucianism on 18 May
- The KCC is running a series of talks / classes on Korean Traditional Music with Hyelim Kim
- The KCC’s film-related event this month is a talk with Lee Byung Yoon on the subject of his short dance movie Yuwol, 5 May
- The KCC and Honford Star join in celebrating the launch of Choi Jin-young’s To the Warm Horizon with a conversation between the author and the translator (Soje), 26 May
- The KCC will be featuring six indie and pop acts over three days, 26 – 28 May as part of the 2021 K-music showcase.
- The KCC is running a competition for K-pop lyricists and album illustrators, and have also announced the 2021 Korean speech contest.
You might find Minari screening at a drive-through cinema somewhere. Congratulations to Youn Yuh-jung for the Oscar, Bafta and SAG awards. On the publications front, look out for Sonia Ryang’s Language and Truth in North Korea, from University of Hawai’i Press at the end of the month, as well as Honford Star’s Choi Jin-young novel noted above. More upcoming titles can be found here.