After the hectic activity of the last two months, be grateful for a slightly quieter December, enabling you to get some Christmas shopping done. The highlight of the month is the continuation of the BFI’s Echoes in Time season, with some cracking films from the turn of the millennium, as well as some restored classics. For me, it’s been great seeing on the big screen some things that previously have only been accessible on DVD or YouTube. I’m glad the programmers managed to find room for some E J-Yong among the New Korean Cinema strand – I’ll certainly be there for Untold Scandal, but I’ll likely indulge in some other old favourites too.
On Screen
- The ICA’s Hong Sang-soo retrospective continues until 8 December, when we get the London premiere of his latest, By the Stream
- The BFI’s Echoes in Time season concludes on 30 December – 35 screenings in total during the month. Don’t miss out.
- Squid Game Season 2 premieres on Netflix on Boxing Day. If you can’t wait, the first episode is previewed at the BFI (together with a recap of the last episode of Season 1) on 16 December
- Three artist films by Geumhyung Jeong are screened at the ICA on 7 December as part of her solo show
Exhibitions
- The solo show by Geumhyung Jeong at the ICA concludes on 15 December
- The KCC’s winter exhibition celebrates Nobel prize-winner Han Kang with a look at Korea’s recent Bestselling and Beloved literature
- Haegue Yang’s Leap Year continues at the Hayward Gallery until 5 Jan. 7 Dec and 21 Dec are the days to visit if you want to see certain activations and performances.
- Mire Lee’s Hyundai Commission is at Tate Modern until March
- The Sasapari collective’s K-Women exhibition is at Kingston Museum until March
- Knitted together: the Korean lives and legacies of Richard and Joan Rutt continues at Durham’s Oriental Museum.
- Hello Delight continues in Borough Market
Performance
- Dancer Yong Min Cho performs in The Art of Painting in Ealing’s Pitzhanger Manor on 5 December as part of the gallery’s Christmas Lates series
Talks and workshops
- There are two lectures as part of the BFI’s Echoes in Time season: San Francisco State University’s Steve Choi (5 Dec) and Kings London’s Jinhee Choi (9 Dec)
- There’s a children’s art workshop run by Jeongyeon Kim as part of the K-Women exhibition in Kingston, 7 Dec
Books expected
- From Eternity to Eternity: Memoirs of a Korean Buddhist Nun, by Bulpil Sunim tr Eunsu Cho and Soojin Oh pub SUNY
- Worm-Time: Memories of Division in South Korean Aesthetics, by We Jung Yi pub Cornell UP
- Polarizing Dreams: Gangnam and Popular Culture in Globalizing Korea, by Pil Ho Kim pub University of Hawai’i Press
- Your Neighbour’s Table, by Gu Byeong-mo tr Kim Chi-young pub Wildfire
Let me know what books or events I’ve missed using the contact forms linked.