A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I […]
Organisations and venues: South Bank
Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword, at the National Poetry Library
National Poetry Library | Level 5, Blue side | Royal Festival Hall 5 December 2019 – 29 March 2020 | Admission free Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword commemorates the 30th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s death. The exhibition features an installation, Twenty Times a Thousand (2019), in response to Beckett’s poem ‘Echo’s Bones’ (1935). The work comprises over […]
Gig review: Kyungso Park, SB Circle + Hey String
Isn’t it refreshing when a band exceeds expectations? When you were expecting something pretty good, and you get something astoundingly good. When the newbie support band has the class to headline their own gig. OK, to call the gayageum trio Hey String a newbie band neglects to mention their success as prizewinners in Seoul Namsan […]
Jambinai launches K-music 2019 with explosive force
Call me a grouch, but when you need both ear plugs and a blindfold to survive a gig in any degree of comfort you have to start questioning the wisdom of some of the sound and lighting judgments. Ear plugs, handed out for free at the entrance to Jambinai’s Purcell Room gig that opened K-music […]
K-music 2019: Black String, 18 Nov @ Purcell Room
Based on Black String’s latest album release, Karma, this closing concert could be the highlight of the festival. The concert is also part of the London Jazz Festival line-up. K-music 2019: Black String Monday 18 November 2019, 7:45pm Southbank Centre / Purcell Room | Belvedere Road | London SE1 8XX Tickets £15 + booking fee […]
K-music 2019: Kyungso Park: SB Circle + Hey String, 29 Oct @Purcell Room
Kyungso Park returns to London with her new ensemble, a collaboration with saxophonist Shin Hyunpil. Kyungso Park: SB Circle + Hey String Tuesday 29 October 2019, 7:45pm Southbank Centre / Purcell Room | Belvedere Road | London SE1 8XX Tickets £15 + booking fee | Book tickets A Southbank Centre takeover pushing gayageum to its […]
K-music 2019: Jambinai, 3 October @Purcell Room
Jambinai open the 2019 K-music festival as part of their six-city England tour. K-music 2019: Jambinai Thursday 3 October 2019, 7:45pm Southbank Centre – Purcell Room | Belvedere Road | London SE1 8XX Tickets £15 + booking fee | Book tickets Jambinai present Korean traditional music in a new and innovative way, with their ground-breaking post-rock […]
Kim Hyesoon and Don Mee Choi in National Poetry Library Lates
An evening of poetry from two South Korean poets at the Hayward Gallery: National Poetry Library Lates: May Wednesday 1 May 2019, 8pm Hayward Gallery | Dan Graham Waterloo Sunset Pavilion Approximate run time: 120 mins Tickets £10 + booking fee | Book tickets here Our new series of late-night poetry salons continues with two […]
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 […]
Lee Chang-dong’s Burning – Theatrical release
Lee Chang-dong’s Burning (2018) gets a UK theatrical release, from Thunderbird Releasing, in the run-up to the Oscars, for which it is shortlisted in the best foreign film category. In London it has a run at the BFI, among other venues, from 1 February. The evening screening on 5 February is followed by a Critics […]
Early Korean Cinema season at the BFI and KCC
Tickets for the Early Korean Cinema season at the BFI, which was announced as last year’s London korean Film festival came to an end, go on sale on 15 January. The organisers particularly direct our attention to two screenings: THU 7 FEB, 18:00 – OPENING SCREENING WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE + INTRO: Crossroads of Youth 청춘의 […]
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 […]
BFI, KOFA and KCCUK announce archive exchange
Something to look forward to in February 2019: BFI, KOFA and KCCUK announce archive exchange to mark the centenary of the birth of Korean cinema More than ten of Korea’s oldest surviving films to screen to UK audiences for the first time in February 2019 at BFI Southbank and the KCCUK BFI restorations to show […]
Recording: Screen talk with Lee Chang-dong at BFI London Film Festival 2018
In case like me you couldn’t get tickets to the Screen Talk with Lee Chang-dong as part of the BFI London Film Festival, here’s the recording on the BFI YouTube channel. The interview took place on 20 October 2018, the day of an anti-Brexit demonstration in London – which is mentioned more than once in […]
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 […]
8 more reasons to visit Lee Bul: Crashing
Lee Bul’s fabulous show at the Hayward Gallery closes this weekend. If you haven’t seen it yet, here are eight more reasons why you should. 1. Park Chung-hee naked OK, a rather sensationalist opener, and not something I ever expected to find myself writing, but yes: suspended from the ceiling are two naked effigies of […]
K-music 2018: Youn Sun Nah + Hyelim Kim & Alice Zawadzki, 20 November @QEH
The final concert of K-music 2018 is a double bill. After their amazing debut collaboration at K-music 2017, Hyelim Kim and Alice Zawadzki have a well-deserved reunion. Youn Sun Nah opened K-music 2016 with her regular on-stage partner Ulf Wakenius, and we look forward to her return this year. Youn Sun Nah + Hyelim Kim […]