I’ve just returned from a few days in Korea – the usual programme of meeting new people, renewing old friendships, covering old and new ground and enjoying lots of good food. It was a less intensive week than last year’s because I was under my own steam rather than being hosted by the Ministry of … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 133)
2011 Travel Diary day 9: MOCA’s latest exhibitions
Myeongdong, Seoul, Sunday 8 May 2011. Whenever I travel to Korea I try to visit the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art main building in Gwacheon. This time there was an exhibition of recent additions to the permanent collection – including an imposing set of video works by Kimsooja – and a special retrospective … [Read More]
Lee Jung-seob: a wartime artist taking refuge in Jeju-do
Seogwipo, Jeju-do, Saturday 7 May 2011. Lee Jung-seob (이중섭) (1916-1956) is one of Korea’s best-known post-liberation painters. His work is perhaps appreciated by artists and connoisseurs more than members of the public. His contemporary Park Soo-keun, with his unthreatening and nostalgic rustic scenes, is almost a household name. Lee’s work however is more varied, combining … [Read More]
Victoria and Albert Museum lends Princely Treasures to Korea
A glimpse into the lives of Europe’s kings and queens – the V&A lends "princely treasures" to the National Museum of Korea http://bit.ly/if49p0 # [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 8: Seogipwo’s Lee Jung-seob museum and Jeju’s stone tomb guardians
Jeju Stone Park, Saturday 7 May 2011. We wake up on our second morning in the Stone Park. We go on a pleasant stroll through the parks’s extraordinary recreation forest. The part of the forest accessible from the Stone Park has had pathways sensitively constructed enabling families to enjoy the unusual gnarled shapes of the … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 7: Baek Un-cheol and Seolmundae Halmang: a lifetime’s obsession with stones and their stories
Jeju Stone Park, Friday 6 May 2011. “I fell in love with Seolmundae Halmang, and now I can’t love any other woman” says Baek Un-cheol, honorary director of Jeju Stone Park. Maybe it explains why he is single. No earthly woman can compete in his affections with the legendary earth mother and creator of Jejudo. … [Read More]
Nammyeong Cho Shik: teacher, philosopher and inspiration for the anti-Japanese resistance armies
Sancheong-gun, Thursday 5 May 2011. Students of Korean history in the Koryo and particularly the Joseon period cannot avoid grappling at some stage with the concepts of Confucianism. Distilled down to its most digestible elements, it is portrayed in the West as a deeply conservative doctrine designed to keep people in their places: wives had … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 6: 16th century scholarship and a 21st century obsession
Sancheong-gun, Thursday 5 May 2011. We have a light breakfast of coffee, fruit and muffin at the pension. We are sitting outside in the sun: it is the start of a beautiful day. Mr Min arrives, and the pension owner greets him. Through the faint haze, they point out the distant peak to me: Cheonwangbong. … [Read More]
Book review: Chris Springer — North Korea Caught in Time
Chris Springer: North Korea Caught in Time – Images of War and Reconstruction with introductory essay by Balázs Szalontai. Garnet Publishing, 2010 (148pp) In the English-speaking world, the story of the Korean war and its aftermath, if told at all, is told first from the perspective of the US and UN combatants that came to … [Read More]
On becoming a goodwill ambassador
Sancheong-gun, Wednesday 4 May 2011. If I sometimes go on about the unique attractions of Sancheong County, at the foot of Jirisan in Gyeongsangnam-do, my sentiments are genuinely meant. The history, scenery, culture and special geomantic energy of the place all deserve frequent mention. But there’s an additional reason why I might mention Sancheong. For … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 5: Sanshinje by the sacred stones
Sancheong-gun, Wednesday 4 May 2011. Today is the day when I am to be officially appointed Sancheong County’s latest goodwill ambassador, at the opening ceremony of the Sancheong Herbal Medicine Festival that evening. But first, a ritual that I had been wanting to attend since I heard about it the previous year: a sanshinje – … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 4: the private side of Sancheong
Busan, Tuesday 3 May 2011. My head is still feeling slightly foggy from Sunday night, and my appetite has not yet returned, but at least I’m feeling well enough to tackle the Busan subway system for the first time. It’s a breeze, and soon I’m on my way to the Nopodong area of North Busan, … [Read More]
Concert notes: Scattered Rhythms
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from the Jazz / Gugak collaboration involving Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker on 11 April 2011, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a long drum solo. Companions was probably the virtuoso highlight of the evening, a drum solo in which Simon Barker managed to convey the sounds of … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 3: the hangover in Busan
Myeongdong, Monday 2 May 2011. I wake up, fully clothed, sprawled on my hotel bed at 6am, not knowing how I got there. The previous evening had ended in a bit of a blur, as my evenings with Yi Chul-jin tend to. It had all started off in a civilised enough manner over dinner, but … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 2 (cont): Korean Rhapsody
Seoul, Sunday 1 May 2011. The Leeum Gallery founded by the Samsung family is always a reliable place to visit in Seoul. Even if there is not an interesting special exhibition on they have a fantastic permanent collection containing some wonderful celadon and buncheong ceramics, as well as Joseon dynasty paintings, calligraphy and Buddhist art. … [Read More]
May events 2011
Here are the events I know of for May. It’s a good month. Books, Books, Books Shin Kyung-sook appears at the Hay Literary Festival on 28 May (sold out) Agnita Tennant introduces her translation of Part 1 of The Land (T’oji) by Park Kyung-ni, with Margaret Drabble and Park Sowon, on 23 May at the … [Read More]