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 […]
Category: Event reports and reviews
Write-ups, reports and reviews of Korea-related events, exhibitions, shows etc in London and elsewhere
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 […]
When a PowerPoint presentation can hold your attention for almost two hours…
How long is it since the time when we could go in person to a talk given by a real person in an actual physical room? I reckon it’s around 15 months. Since the beginning of March last year, Zoom has been the norm. Online talks do have advantages over a traditional lecture theatre: you can […]
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 […]
Building bridges between North and South in New Malden
We do not need reminding that the Korean peninsula is divided. But the implications of that division for Koreans in Britain are not so obvious. I remember at a British Korean Society event ten years ago at which the North and South Korean Ambassadors were speaking, as audience and speakers mingled over drinks afterwards, one […]
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 […]
Gallery visit: Korean Eye 2020 – Creativity and Daydream
Korean Eye always brings together a mixture of the familiar and the not so familiar. In 2020, a show which started in St Petersburg and will end in Seoul, we were treated to works from UK-based Korean artists as well as from emerging and established artists based in Korea. This year, we’ve chosen to do […]
Gallery: START Art Fair 2020
A few installation views of the Korean artists and galleries displaying work at START Art Fair in the Saatchi Gallery at the end of October: A show-stopping display of Ceviga’s work by Skipwiths – who also introduced a work by Kim Hayoung; Intricate musical sculptures by Eunhyue Shin – constructed in part from broken musical […]
Gallery: CHAGOK CHAGOK at Be-oom tea rooms
Be-oom’s collaboration with BOMBOM to create a unique evening of Korean-style tapas with wine and tea pairings provided an opportunity for an informal, between lock-down, editorial meeting between LKL’s new visual arts contributor and the website’s founder. Food was beautifully presented with the sort of mild flavours you might find in temple temple. The wine […]
Suhyung Lee at Crispins: an oasis in a desert
Six months after the start of the national lockdown, when we’d been starved of food, companionship and conviviality for half of the year, the one-night pop-up event at Crispins in Spitalfields, featuring Korean chef Suhyung Lee, was like an oasis in the desert. Yes, there was the prospect of some interesting Korean-inspired dishes – we’d […]
Gallery: Joonhong Min and Sunyoung Hwang in Urban Reckoning
Urban Reckoning, co-curated by Korean artist Joonhong Min, and also including work by Sunyoung Hwang, is at Koppel Project Hive on Holborn Viaduct, taking advantage of the gradual opening up of lockdown that has been in place since March. Min has been having a busy year, despite the pandemic, with work installed at the Korean […]
The Korean Villages of Joung Young-ju
I’ve been really impressed by the atmosphere created by Joung Young-ju’s paintings. Villages densely populate hillsides and valleys and fickle lights evoke feelings of intimacy and warmth. Sunrise and sunset define a special time of the day which forms a connection between two separate moments: day and night. And, hence, it feels like an ethereal […]
Bang Bang Con: The Live – a joyous celebration of BTS and ARMY
As promised at the end of BTS’ April streaming marathon, the boys were “back in ARMY’s rooms” this weekend, wrapping up their annual birthday celebrations with a live-streamed concert that was watched by over 750,000 viewers worldwide. ‘Bang Bang Con: The Live’ followed the end of this year’s Festa, an event of special daily content […]
Rendered Reality: an interview with Joonhong Min and Shinuk Suh
New contributor Federica Ionta meets the artists behind Rendered Reality, the exhibition currently in suspended animation at the KCCUK. Thinking of Korean art, one might recall, for instance, pottery of exquisite quality, such as the iconic moon jars, or beautiful ink paintings. However, not all Korean artists stick to traditional shapes, materials and techniques. Artists […]
Gallery: Joonhong Min in Rendered Reality
Here are some images of Joonhong Min’s works installed at the KCCUK as part of the Rendered Reality exhibition. (1) The main installation: The Debris from the Future Past (2019). (2) Urban methodology: the monochrome section! (3) The Past is Not Done with You … all showing a meticulous attention to detail combined with an […]
Gallery: Shinuk Suh in Rendered Reality
Here are some images of Shinuk Suh’s works installed at the KCCUK as part of the Rendered Reality exhibition. (1) The main installation: Man(u)fractured #2, based on his residency at Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop: (2) The eye-catching window display. By coincidence, while the exhibition was on, the FT ran a feature on Chinese manufacturing […]