This is the busiest month we can remember post-Covid for live events. And for K-pop it’s the busiest month ever, with the o2 Arena hosting no fewer than five nights of performance. Plus two superb dance companies and three talking rice cookers.
Live performance:
– Dance
- The Ambiguous Dance Company comes to the Coronet Theatre with Rhythm of Human for three days, 13 – 15 Sept
- The Eun-Me Ahn Company comes to the Barbican for four days, 20 – 23 Sept, followed by two performances in the Lowry, Salford, 26 – 27 Sept, with a production entitled Dragons
– Theatre
- The unique talking rice-cooker experience Cuckoo by Jaha Koo is at the Bridewell Theatre, 14 – 16 Sep 2023
– K Pop and indie
- KARD’s Playground tour comes to the Electric Ballroom on 6 Sept
- TWICE’s Ready to Be World Tour comes to the o2 Arena, 7 – 8 Sept
- (G)I-DLE’s I am Free-ty tour is at Wembley Arena on 9 Sept
- oceanfromtheblue’s Way to Blue touris at the Islington Academy on 21 Sept
- KPOP.LUX is at the o2 for a scaled-back 2-night residency, 22 – 23 Sept
- ADOY’s European tour is at the Islington Academy on 25 Sept
- Se So Neon plays the Electric Brixton on 26 Sept 2023
- aespa’s synk : Hyper Line tour comes to the o2 on 28 Sept
– World and traditional music
- There’s a lecture-concert at the Rose Theatre on 10 Sept as part of the 2023 ESEA culture festival
– Western classical music
- Pianist Victor Lim gives a recital in Egham’s United Church on 17 Sept
Exhibitions
- The Yun Hyong-keun exhibition is at Hastings Contemporary until 1 Oct
- The group show Threads: Breathing stories into materials, which includes work by Young In Hong, is at Bristol’s Arnolfini until 1 Oct 2023
- The KCC’s summer show, Jinjoon Lee’s Audible Garden, closes on 13 Oct
- Sang Woon Nam’s Blue at Aleph Contemporary closes on 6 Sept
- The group show É a lama, é a lama (It’s the mud, it’s the mud), which includes work by ikkibawiKrrr, is at Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery until 16 Sept
Special events and festivals
- Kingston’s ESEA Culture Festival 2023 has events on 10 Sept (see under World Music above) and 15 – 16 Sept
- Connect: North Korea hosts a North Korean Chuseok on 29 Sept
Talks, classes, seminars
- Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo launch their new book Korea: A New History of South and North at the KCC on 8 Sept
- Professor Byungsun Bang talks about the Legacy of Joseon Dynasty White Ceramics at the KCC on 12 September
- As part of Hallyu Con 2023 the KCC is hosting weekly Hallyu Experience Sessions from 16 Sept
- Jung Jae-il in Conversation launches the K-Music Festival on 30 Sept
Screenings
- We’re unaware of any screenings this month, though it’s possible the KCC might pull one out of the bag.
- Booking for October’s BFI Film Fest opens on 12 Sept. As far as we can see the only Korean movie in the schedule is the one at the top of my wishlist: Kim Jee-woon’s Cobweb, on 13 and 14 Oct.
Upcoming publications
We’re expecting the following new books this month:
- Janet Hong’s translation of Kang Young-sook’s At Night he Lifts Weights, from Transit Books
- Anton Hur’s translation of Lee Seong-bok’s aphorisms Indeterminate Inflorescence, from Sublunary
- The K-Wave On-Screen: In Words and Objects by Emily Lord, Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim, from Routledge
- Korean Film and History ed Hyunseon Lee, also from Routledge