2023: a year when an environmental artist from Gwangju shared a hug with the King; four K-pop princesses went to Buckingham Palace and received honorary MBEs; and the tolling bell of Jirisan’s Daewonsa temple was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The year marked the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK … [Read More]
Category: Exhibition reviews and comment
Experience the latest in Korean VR and media at The Oulim
I never thought I would find myself saying that the best thing at an event was the K-pop videos, but there’s a first time for everything. Let’s rephrase that. The K-pop videos were the most understandable items in the event, and they were also enjoyable: what’s not to like about good-looking performers showing off their … [Read More]
A visit to Delight: the Seoul-inspired video projection show in Borough Yards
I thought, for once, I’d try to get to an exhibition in the first few days of its existence instead of at the last possible minute. So I dutifully forked out £22 plus booking fee to see what the Delight media art show was all about. First, be prepared to spend a while wandering around … [Read More]
Focus Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery: well worth a second look
This month the Saatchi gallery is playing host to several showcases of Korean art and technology. From 29 October, KOCCA is organising Oulim, a digital media art showcase that celebrates 140 years of UK Korea diplomatic relations; next week sees StART art fair which always has a strong Korean representation as its origins can be … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Transfer / 갈아타다 at the KCC
It involves several levels of meta to post on a webpage a digital image of an exhibition that explores questions of what is lost when a physical work of art is recorded digitally and then reproduced. When the image records a talk by one of the artist-curators of the exhibition discussing his own contribution to … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Silent Mind, at Cromwell Place
Lloyd Choi has a regular stable of artists whose body of work you can enjoy at her gallery’s exhibitions: as the work becomes more familiar, it somehow becomes more desirable. But she does not stand still. She gradually introduces new artists into her roster – as she did with the minhwa-decorated ceramics of Lee Geum-young … [Read More]
Gallery: Hanji – Paper Compositions
The KCC’s summer exhibition was co-sponsored by the Hanji Development Institute, which is affiliated with the Hanji Theme Park in Wonju, Gangwon-do. Wonju was noted for its mulberry trees, and hence its hanji, in the Sillok from King Sejong’s reign and thus competes with other areas of Korea such as Mungyeong and Jeonju for the … [Read More]
Gallery visit: Jukhee Kwon in Expanding Horizons
October Gallery has represented Korean artist Jukhee Kwon for almost ten years now, and it was natural that when planning an exhibition in memory of their trustee Pamela Kember they should include work by the Korean artist as she exhibited in Asia House when Kember was director of Arts and Learning there. Somehow, during the … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Collect 2022 at Somerset House
After last year’s online-only edition of Collect it was good to get back to a physical show this year. It was also refreshing to see how many artists had taken advantage of the changed circumstances of lockdown to move their work in different directions; and galleries with an established roster of artists also tried to … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: LUX — New Wave of Contemporary Art
The current video art exhibition in what I assume is a large disused car park underneath 180 Strand comes to an end in a week’s time. It’s well work a visit. In a vast space and in the absence of natural light, the curators have been able to display a range of large-scale video pieces … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Anicka Yi — In love with the world
I’m wondering how many visitors to Anicki Yi’s scene-stealing installation In Love with the World managed to engage with what was apparently one of the key elements in the work. According to the information provided in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall (quoted in the shaded box below), depending on what time of day you visited … [Read More]
Anicka Yi: In Love With The World, at Tate Modern
When the Tate curatorial team were working with Korean American artist Anicka Yi on this most recent Hyundai commission for the Turbine Hall, no-one could have foreseen how topical these squid-like aerobes would seem. Hyundai Commission: Anicka Yi: In Love With The World Tate Modern, Turbine Hall 12 October 2021 – 6 February 2022 11 … [Read More]
Gallery: Yang Mi-young’s Royal Wedding Procession, at the KCC’s Royal Palaces exhibition
The KCCUK’s current Royal Palaces of Joseon exhibition contains three main elements: a large three-channel video work by Park Jong-woo focusing on the Jongmyo Shrine, installed in what was once the theatre area on the main floor; and some impressive still and video photographs of the main palaces by Seo Heun-kang. There’s a nice video … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Swimming Backwards, at Sid Motion Gallery
Artist Sunyoung Hwang had her works on display at Sid Motion gallery, London, between 21 June and 16 July 2021 as part of the group show ‘Swimming Backwards’ with fellow artists Emily Stollery and Henry Ward. The exhibition title itself has been inspired by Hwang’s homonymous painting, also displayed at the exhibition. The London-based artist … [Read More]
Gallery: Jewyo Rhii’s “Love Your Depot”
The 2020 KCC Artist of the Year exhibition featuring Jewyo Rhii was of course a victim of the intermittent Covid lockdown. Even though the exhibition was, at various times that I can no longer remember, theoretically open to the public, there wasn’t much public around in Central London to visit it. I managed to pay … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2020
It would be an understatement to say that the cultural year 2020 has been markedly different from previous years. The pandemic has had a huge impact on the cultural scene, with most live events cancelled and event promoters falling back on the internet to provide us with our cultural fixes. Some of these attempts have … [Read More]