Event reports and reviews

I wonder how many people actually saw the full Halo…

by Philip Gowman 24 July 2018
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As part of the Korea/UK season of cultural collaboration, Kimchi and Chips, a Seoul-based art studio founded by Elliot Woods (UK) and Mimi Son (South Korea) installed a large work entitled Halo in the public space of the Somerset House courtyard for the month of June. In perfect conditions (full sun, no cloud, no breeze), […]

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Theatre visit: a changgeuk Trojan Women

by Philip Gowman 23 July 2018
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An adaptation of a Greek play more than 2400 years old interpreted through the medium of an early 20th century Korean performing practice does not immediately sound a promising theatrical experience, except perhaps to the handful of people who appreciate both Euripides’s take on Homer and Changgeuk’s adaptation of Pansori. Nevertheless, the Purcell Room had […]

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Kim Aeran’s visit to London

by Philip Gowman 15 July 2018
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At the end of June Kim Aeran was in town, courtesy of the Asia Literary Review and the Literary Translation institute of Korea, to meet the finalists of the 2018 essay contest in which readers were given free rein to write about one or all of three of her works: two short stories: A Dignified […]

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Film review: The Unfair / Minority Opinion

by Philip Gowman 3 July 2018
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The Unfair (also known as Minority Opinion) screened as the penultimate movie in the Korean Novels on Screen season at the KCC. Based on a novel by Son Aram, it is the only film in the season where the underlying book has not (yet) been translated into English. Although the scenario is based loosely on the […]

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War Veterans honoured in Kingston’s Guildhall

by Events Editor 24 June 2018
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Yesterday a group of Korean musicians and performers entertained a group of British veterans from the Korean War in Kingston’s Guildhall. The event was organised by the Korean Veterans Association UK, a group of volunteers committed to the continuing remembrance of the sacrifice made by soldiers who came to the aid of the Republic of […]

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Review: 1987 – When the Day Comes

by Philip Gowman 18 June 2018
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1987: When the Day Comes is one of those movies which could not have been made a couple of years ago. It would have got the director and its all-star cast included on the infamous blacklist of suspected lefties who would not get government support in future. And to have the director of this film […]

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Film review: Be With You

by Philip Gowman 11 June 2018
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Ten years ago or so I was watching a rather good relationship drama on DVD when my wife came into the room and asked: “so which of the two has the mysterious incurable disease?” “It’s not one of those films,” I replied, somewhat tetchily. Ten minutes later, a car crash killed off one half of […]

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A look at Hay Joung Hwang’s silver gilt winning LG Eco-City Garden

by Philip Gowman 5 June 2018
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Two years ago at the Chelsea Flower Show Hay Joung Hwang teamed up with LG to showcase how technology can be used to maximise the benefits from an urban garden – from lighting to smart sensors to monitor the moisture and nutrients in the soil. Encouraged by the silver gilt awarded to the garden, the […]

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Exhibition visit: Seung Ae Lee – Becoming

by Philip Gowman 28 May 2018
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Seung Ae Lee won the 2016 Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize for the body of work presented at her Royal College of Art degree show. The award brought with it the opportunity to show her work at Marlborough Fine Art in two brief exhibitions in 2016 and 17. Her solo show at the KCC, Becoming, […]

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Book review: Lee Yil – Dynamics of Expansion and Reduction

by Philip Gowman 25 April 2018
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Lee Yil: Dynamics of Expansion and Reduction Selected Writings on Korean Contemporary Art, 1970 – 1996 Initial draft translations: Chung Yeon-shim, Park Eun-ah, Park Sung-ji Final translations: Paul O’Kane, Song Bada Published by AICA (International Association of Art Critics) / Les Presses du Réel, Dijon, France, 2018, 212pp How often do you read the learned […]

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Peggy Gou at the Village Underground – the headline set

by Philip Gowman 20 April 2018
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For those who couldn’t secure tickets – or who didn’t have the energy – to go to Peggy Gou’s appearance at the Village Undergroud for Mixmag Live earlier this month, here’s the complete set, from Mixmag’s YouTube Channel: Keywords: People: Peggy Gou

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Brief exhibition visit: Fragmentality

by 앤서방 14 April 2018
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Fragmentality, at Arthill Gallery in North End Road, is a show featuring two RCA students. Minhee Kim’s works are delicate constructions made from layered paper or hair, using the ‘comfort women’ issue as her theme: Taeho Kim’s works include light and sound installations, as well as works on paper, employing intricate geometric patterns. Keywords: Artists: […]

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Film review: Yu Hyun-mok’s Descendants of Cain

by Philip Gowman 13 April 2018
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I had looked forward to the first movie in the KCC’s Korean Novels on Screen series – Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of Yi Kwang-su’s The Soil – and had been disappointed. Conversely, not being a particular fan of Yu Hyun-mok’s depressing movies, I was regarding the second in the series – his adaptation of Hwang Sun-won’s 1954 […]

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27 years of translation: Brother Anthony’s poetry talks in London

by Philip Gowman 6 April 2018
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Brother Anthony’s brief pre-Easter trip to the UK included four talks – in St Andrews, London and Oxford – on themes of poetry translation. Of the two London appearances, one was a detailed hands-on workshop wrestling with a poem by Kim Seung-hee; and the other a wide-ranging talk encompassing the history of the translation of […]

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Film review: The Propaganda Game

by Philip Gowman 4 April 2018
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The SOAS North Korea Society recently hosted a screening of Álvaro Longoria’s The Propaganda Game. The documentary is not going to tell you anything new about North Korea, its on-location original footage being the product of a fully-chaperoned three-day tour in Pyongyang and the DMZ. What it does do, however, is hinted at in its […]

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Brief review: Kim Ki-young – The Soil

by Philip Gowman 2 April 2018
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I’m not sure quite how to assess Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of Yi Kwang-su’s 500-page serial novel The Soil (흙, 1932-3). At 125 minutes, it doesn’t sound particularly long. But as we got up from our seats at the KCC last Thursday at around 9:15pm, it felt much later – maybe around 10:30pm. And that wasn’t […]

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Exhibition visit: Juree Kim in Exhibit A, at Anise Gallery

by Philip Gowman 31 March 2018
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Kim Juree’s latest work, London Terraced House, was unveiled at the opening of the current exhibition, Exhibit A, at Anise gallery in Shad Thames. As for her 2017 participation in the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke, Kim chose a subject relevant to the location of the exhibition: this time a group of typical early Victorian […]

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