Last time they were in town for a gig it their chosen UK TV appearance was the BBC’s Graham Norton Show. A small TV studio was not the best place to showcase their talents, but they made the best of circumstances and turned in a good performance despite injuries. This time round the stage was […]
Category: Event reports and reviews (page 2)
Write-ups, reports and reviews of Korea-related events, exhibitions, shows etc in London and elsewhere
Exhibition visit: Jukhee Kwon in Present Moment, at October Gallery
It was nice to see Jukhee Kwon’s work again in London, after too long a break. The most eye-catching work was one of her extended cascades of paper from a single book: Dipping into Darkness (2013) was hung from the top of the wall, its black-tinted lower end trailing on the floor, making the whole […]
Bongsu Park’s Internal Library / Playground collaboration now online
Bongsu Park’s collaboration with Liam Francis is now available online on the BBC website and also on the Rambert Live site. The live event is presented by Simone Damberg Würtz – Rambert dancer, choreographer and founder of The Playground – and involves artists and performers from all backgrounds who come together to use dance to […]
Exhibition visit: Korean crafts at Collect 2019
Collect at the Saatchi Gallery can always be relied upon to bring together a wide range of high quality crafts, and is a fair where I spend as much time looking at the non-Korean objects as I do the Korean ones. And it’s always wise to keep an eye open, in the non-Korean galleries, because […]
Kingston School of Art and Royal School of Needlework collaborate with Hanbok Advancement Centre
The first stage of an innovative collaboration between the Hanbok Advancement Centre, Kingston School of Art and the Royal School of Needlework had its first public exhibition last week at Kingston University’s Stanley Picker Gallery. The collaboration was the brainchild of Justina Jang, who through Korean British Cultural Exchange shares Korean culture with London and […]
Y Dance at Resolution 2019 – a video of the full performance
For those who were unable to attend the triple bill at The Place in January as part of Resolution 2019, Y Dance have posted a full length video of their moving and slightly unsettling performance, which you can view below. “넋(NEOK): SOUL” is about suffering the mental anguish caused by society, family and even themselves. […]
Catch Bridging Home, London while you still can
Suh Do-ho’s installation at the east end of London Wall will be taken down soon: its planning permission runs out at the end of the month. So catch it while you can. Here’s a few photos I took this afternoon. Thanks to Hannah Giles and 앤서방, here are some images of the work in mid […]
Brief review: Crossroads of Youth
Crossroads of Youth, Korea’s earliest surviving feature-length movie, was a great way to start the season of films from Korea’s colonial period. It is a season that could not have taken place 15 years ago, because these films have only recently come to light in the film archives of Beijing, Moscow and Tokyo. Crossroads of […]
Movie review: E J-Yong – My Brilliant Life
A feelgood Korean drama which the main character has a fatal and incurable disease, and who is writing an account for the benefit of loved ones when he is gone? Been there, done that. Well, not exactly: when the director is E J-Yong and the movie is an adaptation of a Kim Aeran novel, you […]
The Kimjang Project is officially launched
The Kimjang Project launched yesterday in New Malden with congratulatory messages from the Mayor of Kingston Thay Thayalan and the local MP Sir Ed Davey among others. The project celebrates the various aspects of kimjang, for example the communal character of kimchi-making and its health-giving properties. New Malden, sometimes known as New Mal-dong (뉴몰동), as […]
Video: Yunchul Kim – Broken Symmetries, at FACT Liverpool
Some rather nice footage of the Yunchul Kim installation at FACT: View this post on Instagram If you missed Yunchul Kim's works at the KCCUK's exhibition, you can still see them at FACT Liverpool – on display as part of the exhibition Broken Symmetries. @studio_locus_solus #Repost from @fact_liverpool … Uncover the hidden aspects of our […]
A review of the London Korean cultural year 2018
Every year at this stage in the year, I look back on the cultural highlights, whether they be live performances, exhibitions, movies or books that I have encountered over the past twelve months. Every year I lament that I’ve been unable to cover everything, that I’m getting slower and that there’s been even more to […]
Festival film review: This Charming Girl
Lee Yoon-ki (이윤기) This Charming Girl (여자, 정혜, 2004, 99 mins). Review by Robert Cottingham. You know how people talk about reality TV, even though there is nothing ‘real’ about it? Well, if you wanted to see actual reality, the sheer day-to-day mundane-ness of the average person’s life, then this film is the closest you […]
Video: Urban Sound at K-Music 2018
As lazy post that gives me the opportunity to sample a bit of the Urban Sound gig at K-Music 2018 – a concert which I was unable to attend:
The BTS Love Yourself o2 concert – a fresh perspective
LKL’s young contributor Gargi Sengupta, who reported from the Sheffield Korea Day earlier this year, provides her second report – from the biggest KPOP event in London ever! On the 10th of October I went with my father to watch the BTS concert at the London o2. Since I have been a HUGE fan of […]
E-DO at Rich Mix: a second-hand review
I know I said that SsingSsing was the gig I was most sorry to miss from the K-music festival this year, but E-DO ran it a close second. Their music that supported Over the Moon at the Edinburgh Fringe last year was totally mesmerising, even in the absence of their percussionist who had to return […]
SsingSsing at Pizza Express Soho and South Bank – a second-hand review
The SsingSsing gigs that opened the 2018 K-music Festival were the ones that I was probably saddest to miss of all the events this year. Sometimes other commitments get in the way (in this instance, a long-delayed summer holiday) so this is the first of the second-hand K-music reviews of this season (there will be […]