Event reports and reviews

Gig review: Kathryn Tickell + Black String

Post image for Gig review: Kathryn Tickell + Black String

by Philip Gowman on 20 September, 2017

in Concert reviews, Event reports and reviews, Fusion music, K-music Festival

After witnessing so many astounding gigs at Club Inegales, where musicians from different cultures come together to create new and unrepeatable sounds, it really should not surprise me when a collaboration that looks slightly weird on paper is actually a stunning success when it happens. Collaboration, between Korean and British-based musicians, is one of the […]

Tagged as: K-music 2017

Fringe review: Kokdu – The Soul Mate

by Philip Gowman 30 August 2017

Thumbnail image for Fringe review: Kokdu – The Soul Mate

Intended to be a simple morality tale about respect for the dead and dying, as well as an exposition of Korean folk and shamanistic beliefs about burial customs and the afterlife, this ambitious production combines strong visuals and colourful costumes with storytelling that is an uncomfortable mixture of seriousness and slapstick. Sometimes it’s good to […]

Read the full article →

Gossip and impressions from the Fringe

by Philip Gowman 28 August 2017

Thumbnail image for Gossip and impressions from the Fringe

Before I get down to the serious business of writing up a few reviews of the shows I got to see, here is a round-up of random thoughts and gossip The performers’ work is never done… It’s never really dawned on me before how hard the performance teams work when they are in Edinburgh. Their […]

Read the full article →

Reports from the London Korean Festival 2017

by Philip Gowman 31 July 2017

Thumbnail image for Reports from the London Korean Festival 2017

LKL didn’t make it to this year’s London Korean Festival at Olympia. Saturdays are precious, and I needed to spend this particular Saturday at the KCC doing background research on the current exhibition and upcoming film series which hopefully will inform my write-ups. In-depth reports of the Festival are now available on a couple of […]

Read the full article →

Fringe 2017: two early recommendations

by Philip Gowman 30 July 2017

Thumbnail image for Fringe 2017: two early recommendations

To help give a taste of the range of Korean talent at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, the KCC hosted a showcase of four of the acts, at the Lilian Baylis Studio. Of these, the stand-out performances were Behind the Mirror and Black and White Tea Room — Counsellor. LKL went along to the event hoping […]

Read the full article →

Through Their Eyes exhibition opens in Kingston Museum

by Philip Gowman 7 July 2017

Thumbnail image for Through Their Eyes exhibition opens in Kingston Museum

Kingston Museum’s exhibition devoted to Korean viewpoints on the UK and foreigner’s views on Korea opened last night with speeches from the Mayor, the Ambassador and the curator Seoyoung Kim (who bravely hosted the event despite being on crutches from a recent injury). Hyelim Kim endured the intense heat in the upstairs exhibition space to […]

Read the full article →

Exhibition visit: Contemporary Korean Ceramics at the V+A

by Philip Gowman 26 June 2017

Thumbnail image for Exhibition visit: Contemporary Korean Ceramics at the V+A

This year-long exhibition as part of the Korea/UK 2017-18 cultural collaboration brings together a range of approaches and responses to Korean ceramics. From work that is purely functional to work that is purely decorative, via work that seeks to critique contemporary Korean society, the unifying element is the quality of the craftsmanship and execution. Yoon […]

Read the full article →

Exhibition visit: Haenyeo, Women of the Sea, at National Maritime Museum

by Philip Gowman 14 June 2017

Thumbnail image for Exhibition visit: Haenyeo, Women of the Sea, at National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Maritime Greenwich, played host to an exhibition featuring South Korea’s latest inclusion in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. Life-size photographs of Jeju’s famous diving women were dotted around a building which began life in 1807 as a school for the children of British seafarers. […]

Read the full article →

An evening with Michael Breen and The New Koreans

by Philip Gowman 13 June 2017

Thumbnail image for An evening with Michael Breen and The New Koreans

When going to a book talk, it is all too common to find that the moderator has little knowledge of the book or its subject matter, and asks the author embarrassingly shallow questions leaving the audience and author short-changed. No such risks last night at the KCC, where the British Korean Society’s Chris Hollands conversed […]

Read the full article →

Young In Hong’s 5100: Pentagon

by Philip Gowman 10 June 2017

Thumbnail image for Young In Hong’s 5100: Pentagon

Here are a few photos and a video from the two performances of Young In Hong’s work 5100: Pentagon on 4 June 2017 in the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly. The performers were all volunteers, of whom fewer turned up than expected because of the terrorist incident in the London bridge […]

Read the full article →

Love X Stereo at the Windmill – both intimate and euphoric

by Philip Gowman 17 May 2017

Thumbnail image for Love X Stereo at the Windmill – both intimate and euphoric

Many thanks to Annie Ko and Toby Hwang for a fantastic gig down in Brixton on Monday night. Featuring tracks from their recently-released album 37A – the first fruits of their crowdfunded project for 2017 in which they aim to release 37 songs during the course of the year – as well as earlier albums, […]

Read the full article →

Look forward, not back: how best to work with North Korean exiles

by Philip Gowman 15 May 2017

Thumbnail image for Look forward, not back: how best to work with North Korean exiles

If I had been given a fiver every time a journalist or PhD student asked to be put in touch with North Korean refugees in the London area I wouldn’t be exactly rich, but there would be a few more books overflowing from my already full bookcase. Whether it be for reaction to the latest […]

Read the full article →

Exhibition visit: Chosun Paintings — Beyond Borders, Beauty.

by Philip Gowman 4 April 2017

Thumbnail image for Exhibition visit: Chosun Paintings — Beyond Borders, Beauty.

When going along to an exhibition of work by North Korean artists you’re not quite sure what to expect. David Heather’s collection that was exhibited at La Galleria in 2007 had something for all tastes, including propaganda posters; a genre, influenced by western painting styles, that might be dismissed as Juche kitsch; and Chosonwha, which […]

Read the full article →

Exhibition visit: Suh Do-ho — Passage/s

by Philip Gowman 19 March 2017

Thumbnail image for Exhibition visit: Suh Do-ho — Passage/s

Visiting the Suh Do-ho solo show at Victoria Miro gallery is a very British experience. You queue to get in the front door, queue in the back yard to get to the second exhibition space and, once admitted to this gallery you queue again to get up close to the main exhibit. In the dozen […]

Read the full article →

Gallery: Yeji Kim – Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

by Philip Gowman 18 March 2017

Thumbnail image for Gallery: Yeji Kim – Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

Yeji Kim’s exhibition was the first to be held in the KCCUK’s refashioned space. Gone is the Multi-Purpose Space, demolished and reclaimed as an enhanced exhibition area. Screenings and lectures are now downstairs in the library, and one wonders how the KCC will cope with theatrical presentations in the future. Anyway, the larger space works […]

Read the full article →

Gallery: Korean Artists at London Art Fair 2017

by Philip Gowman 20 February 2017

Thumbnail image for Gallery: Korean Artists at London Art Fair 2017

A quick post to upload some of the photos of the various galleries exhibiting Korean art at this year’s London Art Fair (plus one gallery that I missed). Hanmi Gallery Jaye Moon Jaye Moon’s work had been getting a fair amount of attention – guerrilla-style installations of Lego dotted around the Business Design Centre and […]

Read the full article →

LKL’s evening with Zion.T in Kentish Town

by Philip Gowman 19 February 2017

Thumbnail image for LKL’s evening with Zion.T in Kentish Town

On the very rare occasions when I go to a big popular music concert I usually end up wondering why. A couple of years ago I queued for ages to get into the cheap seats (£77) for Big Bang’s gig in Wembley Arena. At least they didn’t have a support act, and worked hard to […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries