A year ago there was a feature in Yonhap about a new museum in Paris which would feature Korean artifacts in its collection. Some 600 art pieces from Korea, about 88 of South Korean origin and about 505 of North Korean origin, will be displayed at the museum said the French ambassador at a press … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 197)
Yi Sung-yol #2: In exchange
Fluxus Records, May 2007. This was one of my gullible speculative purchases foisted on me by Mr Jay Kim at AM Records in Manhattan’s Koreatown. Bless him — he’s getting to know me too well. This one’s a cracker. Yi (이승열) has a gorgeous mellow voice — but with the occasional rough edge to make … [Read More]
History of scapegoating English teachers
English language teachers are never out of the press for long. Most recently there’s the Canadian paedophile who was teaching in Korea, and then a fairly familiar story about teachers being busted for smoking cannabis. The thing that struck me most about the cannabis story is the price. I knew that English teaching in Korea … [Read More]
A Biennale footnote
As an appendix to my other two posts on Korean involvement in the 2007 Venice Biennale it is worth noting two other London Korean links. Firstly, in an interesting Anglo-Korean-US partnership, London gallery Haunch of Venison and Seoul’s Kukje Gallery (plus New York’s James Cohan Gallery) united to bring video artist Bill Viola’s work Ocean … [Read More]
Call for papers – 2008 BAKS conference
Call for Papers: The 2008 Conference of the British Association of Korean Studies The next conference of the British Association of Korean Studies (BAKS) will take place between the 8th and 10th of September 2008. The venue will be Clare College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. The theme of the proceedings will be “The Koreas … [Read More]
Jang Yoon Jung – first album
(Sony Music, October 2004) Jang Yoon Jung was the first of the younger generation stars to experiment with Trot. Brought out in late 2004, her first album was a hit with older and younger buyers alike, and encouraged other Trot revivalists to have a go. Those who came after were somehow less successful, let down … [Read More]
Starbucks morality: a review of Han Hyeong-mo’s Madame Freedom (1956)
Han Hyeong-mo: Madame Freedom (1956) Round 2 of the Korean classic film double bill… In Shin Sang-ok’s 1961 film which formed the first part of the double bill on 5 November, a widow cannot talk to a man outside her family, and is expected to obey her mother-in-law. Admittedly, the film is set in the … [Read More]
Brief Encounter with Chopin – Shin Sang-ok’s My Mother and Her Guest
Shin Sang-ok: My Mother and Her Guest (1961) It was a shame to see two of the most interesting films in the London Korean Film Festival — My Mother and Her Guest and Madame Freedom — so sparsely attended. The Barbican had generously allocated its largest screen (capacity 286) in anticipation of enthusiastic interest — … [Read More]
The Minimalist Fringe: Lee Ufan’s Biennale collateral show
Lee Ufan: Resonance Palazzo Palumbo Fossati Collateral Event in the 52nd Venice Biennale, 10 June – 21 November 2007 The Venice Biennale “Collateral Events” programme (Fringe, to you and me) is crammed with free exhibitions funded by generous sponsors. For example, while Tracy Emin flew the flag for Britain in the official British pavilion, there … [Read More]
Pseudo-scientist inventing reality: a visit to Lee Hyung-koo’s work at the Venice Biennale 2007
Lee Hyungkoo: The Homo Species Korean Pavillion, 52nd Venice Biennale, 10 June – 21 November 2007 In a Biennale dominated by the theme of war, AIDS, destruction and desolation, it was comforting to find some of the country pavillions conforming to national stereotypes. The French pavillion dissected a love letter written by a rather callous … [Read More]
Hanbok day at the V&A – reader reviews and photos
Because of vacation and some railway engineering work LKL’s usual correspondents were unable to cover yesterday’s V&A Korean culture day. This post is therefore an open invitation to anyone who did manage to go along to please leave your comments or observations below. The Korean Cultural Centre UK, who supported the event, took some photos, … [Read More]
Suzannah Clarke’s musical diplomacy
A while ago I posted about Jason Carter’s trip to Pyongyang to participate in the annual Friendship Festival. While in Pyongyang, Carter met up with Middlesborough opera diva Suzannah Clarke, who has been performing at the Friendship Festival every year since 2003. Clarke’s North Korean connection is through football. She’s had a long association with … [Read More]
Clazziquai #3: Love child of the century
Clazziquai’s third album revisits much of the material from their previous efforts, but somehow fails to repeat the freshness. In an attempt to do something new, they have come up with a bigger, poppier sound, with the emphasis on a wall of synthesised support for their previously more transparent style. Take as an example of … [Read More]
Another FT guide to Seoul
Following the Weekend FT’s smooth (and expensive) guide to a weekend in Seoul — after which you would need a whole week to recover — the FT’s Korea Correspondent Anna Fifield has responded with a slightly more realistic schedule, published in their Korea supplement on 23 October. No ginseng facials, and no itineraries which assume … [Read More]
November events 2007
Here’s what I know about: Han Style comes to London 3 – 8 November, with a hanbok exhibition at the Royal College of Arts and an afternoon of Korean culture at the Victoria & Albert museum on 4 November. Asian Art in London has a number of antique Korean arts and crafts for sale, of … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Secret Sunshine at the BFI London Film Festival
Caution: this post contains spoilers. It was slightly disappointing to see Screen One of the Odeon West End (seating capacity: 500) somewhat under half full for the London premiere of Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine last Monday. By contrast, No Mercy for the Rude, a film which (from its description at least) is much more in … [Read More]