Highlight of this month is Jihae Hwang’s third appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show with her show garden inspired by the herbal medicine traditions of Jirisan. Plus there’s plenty of craft-related events and exhibitions, thanks to London Craft Week, and the 2023 Festival of Korean Dance winds up.
Chelsea Flower Show, London Craft Week and other exhibitions
- A Letter from a Million Years Past: Jihae Hwang’s show garden is at Chelsea Flower Show 23 -27 May
- For London Craft Week:
- Lloyd Choi and KCDF host an exhibition entitled Moon Jar: The Untold Story, at Cromwell Place, 3 – 14 May
- Award-winning horsehair weaver Dahye Jeong has a solo show, Mind, Hand and Time, also at Cromwell Place, 9 – 14 May
- Han Collection has an exhibition of ceramics from Icheon, 8 – 13 May
- The KCC hosts a group show from 11 May entitled Light of Weaving: Labour-Hand-Hours. The show lasts until the end of June and has an artist talk on 11 May
- Han Collection has a solo show of ceramics by Shin Sang-ho opening on 18 May
- The V+A’s Hallyu exhibition continues all month
- Jae Ko’s solo show Gi (氣 Vital Force) continues at Opera Gallery until 10 May
Screenings
- The Barbican cinema hosts a screening of Return to Seoul with director screentalk, on 3 May, with a subsequent theatrical release (the movie is then available on MUBI from July)
- The V+A hosts the UK premiere of Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV on 3 May, with a subsequent theatrical release
- KCC have yet to announce any screenings for the month
Talks, seminars and classes
- An Sonjae is in town, with a talk at SOAS on 2 May on the subject of Overcoming Barriers: Korea in Translation, and another talk in Oxford on 4 May on the subject of some of the Korea-related books that he has donated to the Bodleian
- Cheon Myeong-kwan is in town for the announcement of the International Booker Prize winner. There’s an opportunity to see him at the KCC on 19 May
- Also at SOAS, Derek J. Kramer talks on Early Korean Accounts of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings, 26 May
- Westminster Kingsway hosts Saturday morning Korean cuisine classes (skipping Coronation day)
- V+A hosts a workshop on making silk bok jumeoni on 12 May, for London Craft Week
Live music and performance
- The Festival of Korean Dance continues in London until 9 May with performances by Choi x Kang Project and Art Project BORA (Double Bill, 3 May) and Company SIGA and Howool Baek (Triple Bill, 9 May). The latter acts will also be performing in Coventry, Salford and Brighton.
- Daegu’s Drinking Boys and Girls Choir supports Japan’s Otoboke Beaver in Camden on 2 May, touring subsequently to Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin and Bristol
- Bloo’s Fox and the City Tour comes to Camden on 14 May
- No Korean bands at Brighton’s Great Escape Festival this year, but Jambinai headline at NE London’s Portals Festival on 28 May
- The KCC’s House Concert at St James’s Piccadilly this month features a wind quintet – 31 May
Other events
- The multi-cultural communities of New Malden celebrate the Coronation on 8 May in Jubilee Square. The celebrations will include a Korean noraebang and the chance to try on hanbok..
- There’s one of the regular K-pop / hip-hop nights at Fire Vauxhall on 5 May
Publications expected
- Two big literature titles that I’m aware of: Gong Ji-young’s Togani (도가니, tr Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton) and Hwang Sok-yong’s Mater 2-10 (철도원 삼대, tr Sora Kim-Russell, Youngjae Josephine Bae)
- Non-fiction books expected this month include
- The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia, by Sheila Miyoshi Jager
- Justifying Violence on Korea’s Cold War Frontlines: The Life and Representations of Kim Tu-han, by Erik Mobrand
- Dress History of Korea: Critical Perspectives on the Primary Sources, ed Kyunghee Pyun and Minjee Kim
- Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital, by Elise Hu
- Human-Animal Relations and the Hunt in Korea and Northeast Asia, by George Kallander