Guy Sorman, French economist and philosopher, has advised President Lee Myung-bak on cultural promotion, and has met with two previous Korean presidents. In a recent press conference reported by the Korea Times he expresses some interesting thoughts on the success of K-pop abroad: “It’s thanks to the work of artists, not the government”. And he … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 104)
Introducing the LKL Taxonomy Deep Dive
Usually during the summer months there are some tweaks to LKL’s look. Sometimes it’s a major upgrade – a completely new theme for example. Three summers ago we upgraded from Scott Wallick’s Plaintxt templates to Thesis. Two summers ago we went down from two sidebars to one to simplify the look. Last summer we introduced … [Read More]
In pictures: All Eyes on Korea at the Thames Festival 2012
We didn’t manage to see all of the All Eyes on Korea Thames Festival events, but here’s a flavour of some of them… 1. The Kukkiwon Taekwondo demonstration team practising on the evening before the Festival. They wowed the audience on Saturday with an encore featuring PSY’s Gangnam Style. 2. CJ’s new restaurant, Bibigo, was … [Read More]
When I give birth to the child in me, who should it call father?
This rather beautiful letter, from a pregnant widow to her dead husband in 16th century Andong, has be out there for a while, but has just resurfaced in the blogopshere courtesy of Letters of Note. Do give it a read there, or in the earlier article in archaeology.org. The letter was found on her husband’s … [Read More]
Three Korean victories in Venice
Official Awards: GOLDEN LION for Best Film to PIETA by Kim Ki-duk; ORIZZONTI YOUTUBE AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM to CHO-DE (초대) by Yoo Min-young; Collateral Awards: QUEER LION for the “best film with a homosexual and queer culture theme” to WEIGHT (무게) by Jeon Kyu-hwan. [Read More]
Exhibition Visit: Sung Hwan Kim – Temper Clay in Tate Modern Tanks
So far I’ve probably spent seven hours over the course of five visits trying to figure out the massive installation in the Tate Modern by 37 year old Sung Hwan Kim (김성환). I haven’t succeeded yet, and indeed I’m not at all sure it’s possible fully to resolve the into a coherent whole the many … [Read More]
Kkokdu – a cortege’s colourful attendants
Accompanying the KCC’s exhibition of Korean funerary figures, Charlotte Horlyck gave a helpful lecture providing some historical background and context to these colourful wooden characters. The talk was particularly valuable as the introduction provided by the director of the Kkokdu Museum a few weeks previously had lacked much content. While generally admitting that not much … [Read More]
How to get a Korean boyfriend
Many of you will have seen this already, but I only just came across it via Stephen Epstein’s and Rachel Joo’s fun article on Japanfocus.org on legs, abs, and the surprising de-emphasis of boobs in Korean pop culture. The entertaining video, from My Korean Boyfriend, is particularly fine in respect of its observation of “aegyo” … [Read More]
Japanese app offers fluffy solution to Dokdo issue
You can claim Dokdo for Korea in a free mobile phone app, in which 독도 토끼 swims across the East Sea to get there before his Japanese equivalent. You can play Takeshima Struggle (yes, it’s a Japanese app) on a Samsung Galaxy S, but not on an iPhone: it’s Android only. Source / further info: … [Read More]
September events 2012
Summer’s over, Chuseok approaches. Everyone’s now bored with Gangnam Style. So what does September hold? Film This month’s director of the month at the KCCUK is Jeon Kyu-hwan. Otherwhere has her usual very useful focus on the director. The films on successive Thursdays are Mozart Town (2008), Animal Town (2009), Dance Town (2010) and From … [Read More]
Kim Jeong-hoon’s A Petty Romance: a pleasant way to spend two hours
A Petty Romance (쩨쩨한 로맨스, 2010) is one of those gentle romantic comedies which Korea seems to do so well. Charming, easy-going, and despite the story line – the composition of an adult manga – not particularly risqué. Written and directed by first-timer Kim Jeong-hoon it’s nothing to rave about but it’s a very pleasant … [Read More]
Come Rain Come Shine: beautifully restrained or just a little bit wet?
There is a narrow dividing line between a movie which paints a delicate, nuanced portrait of characters who have subtle and restrained emotions, and a movie in which you want to just punch everyone in the face for being so wet. Come Rain, Come Shine is a movie which is on that dividing line, perhaps … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Kim Beom’s School of Inversion
Kim Beom is known for his videos of very serious Korean TV newsreaders, their newscasts chopped into a thousand pieces and spliced back together word by word to create nonsense stories. Londoners were introduced to his work back in 2006 as part of the Asia House group show Through the Looking Glass and Untitled (News) … [Read More]
All Eyes on Korea: consistent investment in the performing arts brings its rewards
The London 2012 Olympics was around a decade in the making: preparation of the bid, building the venue itself and putting in place the infrastructure required to run a successful games. And for the last couple of years of that preparation time, a separate team of hard-working organisers from the Korean Ministry of Culture Sports … [Read More]
Another book on the DPRK hits the bookshops
I always get depressed when I see a new book on the DPRK, because the DPRK is a depressing subject. Plus, it’s the thought that people are spending their lives trying to figure out this unfathomable regime. It’s the thought that there’s another 500 pages which I feel I ought to read, but which if … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Fragility and Francesca Cho’s creative process
Francesca Cho’s latest solo show is at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, a venue which is linked in my mind with Sunday afternoon film double bills. But on visiting Cho’s exhibition (several times – as it’s easily accessible on my walking route home) I find that it has a smart bar cum restaurant and a … [Read More]