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 […]
Organisations and venues: South Bank
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 […]
K-music: Near East Quartet + Kyungso Park
The penultimate concert of the 2018 K-music festival is a collaboration between composer / kayageum player Kyungso Park – who performed with Andy Sheppard during K-music 2016 – and jazz / fusion band Near East Quartet: Near East Quartet + Kyungso Park Monday 19 November 2018, 7:45pm | Buy tickets Purcell Room | Belvedere Road […]
K-music 2018: Ahn Sook-sun, 3 November @Purcell Room
Event of the year so far has been the Changgeuk Trojan Women, in which Ahn Sook-sun played a significant part. I’m thinking this fourth concert in the 2018 K-music festival could be even better. Note the early start time. The event is preceded by a free talk. Ahn Sook-sun: Heungbuga (흥부가) Saturday 3 November 2018, […]
Exhibition visit: Lee Bul – Crashing. Pt 2 – Scale of Tongue
The most eye-catching work in Lee Bul’s Hayward Gallery exhibition is the giant inflatable zeppelin, its grid of rectangular silver panels echoing the grid of skylights in the Hayward’s newly refurbished upper floor. The work, entitled Willing to be Vulnerable, memorialises the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when the giant airship, representing a possible future of […]
Exhibition visit: Lee Bul – Crashing. Pt 1 – Heaven and Earth
I thought I had come across most of Lee Bul’s work before, either physically (at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, 2014 and various gallery visits in Seoul) or through articles and books. But one work in the Hayward Gallery’s solo show caught me by surprise. Heaven and Earth (2007) is a larger-than-life reconstruction of the type […]
Theatre visit: a changgeuk Trojan Women
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 […]
Jambinai in Robert Smith’s Meltdown
It’s great that Jambinai now seem to be regular visitors here. But you’ll likely only catch them once this year, so don’t miss this chance to see them again, at the annual extremely diverse South Bank arts festival: Meltdown: Jambinai 16 Jun 2018, 7:45pm Purcell Room, South Bank Centre Tickets £15 | Booking fee: £2.50 […]
In-sook Chappell: The Free Nine, at the National Theatre
In-sook Chappell’s second new play this year gets a performance on the South Bank: The Free 9 by In-Sook Chappell National Theatre: Dorfman Theatre | Upper Ground | South Bank | London SE1 9PX Fri 29 June, 7pm £5.00 (or £8 for both Connections shows on the same night) | Book tickets In-Sook Chappell tkes […]
Shiyeon Sung and Sunwook Kim in Korea-UK Year of Culture Closing Concert
A celebratory concert to round off the performance strand of UK/Korea year of cultural exchange 2017-18. Late change: Shiyeon Sung replaces Han-Na Chang as conductor as Ms Chang is indisposed. Programme remains unchanged. Philharmonia Orchestra – Korea-UK Year of Culture: Closing Concert 7:30 pm, Thu 14 Jun 2018 Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre £11 – […]
National Changgeuk Company in Trojan Women
I hope I’m not setting my expectations too high, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is near the top of my list of events of the year. Trojan Women National Changgeuk Company of Korea | Ong Keng Sen Queen Elizabeth Hall Sat 2 June, 7.30pm | Sun 3 June, 5pm | Tickets £22 – […]