High tea at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas offers a special tea time for the summer season at The Lobby Lounge from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The promotion runs through August. Summer Passion Royal High Tea comes with premium tea or coffee and desserts featuring seasonal fruits and savory dishes, including coconut shrimp and a beetroot sandwich. A to-go option is also available for those who want to enjoy tea time at home or for special occasions. Summer Passi

Food July 16, 2021

Nam June Paik Art Center, the only art center dedicated to the video art pioneer, is showcasing two special exhibitions to help understand Paik’s philosophy when he was part of Fluxus -- an avant-garde art movement in the 1950s that challenged conventional art -- and how his legacy lives on today. The art center, located in Gyeonggi Province, kicked off “Open Codes: Networked Commons” this month in collaboration with ZKM Karlsruhe, a media art museum in Germany. The exhibitio

Arts & Design July 15, 2021

Sculptor Yi Hwan-kwon’s works easily catch people’s attention. His signature sculptures, made using 3D scanning techniques, create distorted illusions that provoke curiosity and are readily recognized by many people. While he has gained much popularity with his iconic sculptures, it hit him one day that he was finding it difficult to put his works into words. He then became skeptical about his own work. “Over the past several years, I strived to search for something. I don

Arts & Design July 13, 2021

The Arts Council Korea has announced that a new committee will be formed for the selection of the curator of the Korean Pavilion for the upcoming Venice Biennale after the previous committee resigned en masse over controversy surrounding alleged conflicts of interest in the screening process. "The selection committee members have decided to quit their positions in pursuit of fairness. It seems they felt pressured about the issue,” an official from the council told The Korea Herald

Arts & Design July 12, 2021

Art lovers may wonder how Korea’s ancient culture influenced its modern and contemporary artists. The exhibition “Dynamic & Alive Korean Art” is an effort to answer that question by delving into Korean aesthetics. The exhibition from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, brings together 35 cultural assets and some 130 artworks from the modern and contemporary era. Presenting modern works along with Korean cultural artifacts from the National Museum

Arts & Design July 10, 2021

Biking in Seoul, you can come across historic traces of the city which you may otherwise miss when taking bus, subway or car to get around. Here is a bike-ride course that takes you around the heart of Seoul -- from Deoksugung Palace’s stonewall road to Insa-dong. If you don’t have a bike – don’t worry – the city has a bike rental service named Seoul Bike or Ddareungi, through which you can rent bikes at Ddareungi stations across the Seoul. You can start your bik

Culture July 10, 2021

Ddareungi is Seoul city’s public rental bike service, which you can use across the city. You can download the Seoul Bike app on your phone then register or log in with Naver, Facebook or a Kakao account. The app is available in both Korean and English. You can select “Buy Pass” and select the plan that fits you -- one-time, weekly, monthly and annual pass. There are one or two-hour rentals for each time you check out a bike. A one-time pass for one hour costs 1,000 won ($0.88)

Travel July 10, 2021

  Seoul-based media artist unit a’strict will debut in New York, showcasing nature-themed immersive media art in Times Square, starting July 16. The media artist unit has expanded digital technology to the art sphere since it was formed last year. The group will present two works “Whale #2” and “Waterfall-NYC,” which will explore the theme of summer and provide chances to enjoy natural scenery even as the pandemic has restricted people from traveling in the su

Arts & Design July 9, 2021

Mayfield Hotel offers summer packages Mayfield Hotel in Seoul presents the Summer Garden Picnic Package and Golf & BBQ Package for the summer season. The packages include a stay at the hotel and breakfast for two. The Summer Garden Picnic Package is for families with kids, and offers gardening activities at the hotel’s garden of more than 100 plants accompanied by a special instructor. The package is priced at 260,000 won. The Golf & BBQ package includes golf at the hotel and

Food July 9, 2021

Interdisciplinary artist Jun So-jung has been selected as the first South Korean artist to join a global project showcasing digital artwork. Her newly commissioned work is scheduled to be presented in August. “The details, including the artist’s new work, are still in discussion with Josef O’Connor,” an official from the Barakat Contemporary told The Korea Herald. O’Connor is the founder and artistic director of digital artwork platform Circa. The gallery is the

Arts & Design July 6, 2021

When Gucci’s Gaok, the Italian high-end fashion brand’s second flagship store in South Korea, opened in Hannam-dong in late May, the store was the talk of the town not only for its luxury lineup but also the building itself in the posh Seoul neighborhood. The building facade features a nature-inspired artwork titled “Hwan (Illusion)” created by Korean artist Park Seung-mo. The outer walls of the building are fitted with more than 100 panels of overlapping stainless stee

Arts & Design July 6, 2021

Two national museums that received the bulk of art donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will hold exhibitions of some of the donated works starting July 21. “We are planning to showcase around 70 artworks among Lee’s collection along with the MMCA. The exhibitions will be held separately at the two museums starting July 21,” said an official from the National Museum of Korea on Sunday. In late April, a total of 1,488 modern and contemporary masterpieces we

Arts & Design July 4, 2021

The screening for the artistic director of the Korean Pavilion in the upcoming 59th Venice Biennale will start over, after a complaint emerged over an unfair screening process. A complaint alleged a conflict of interest between an applicant and selection committee member, according to the Arts Council Korea, the commissioner of the Korean Pavilion for the International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale slated for April 2022. “There was a complaint submitted that one of the&nb

Arts & Design July 2, 2021

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul Presents Special Teppanyaki Course Tamayura, the upscale Japanese restaurant at JW Marriot Hotel Seoul, offers authentic teppanyaki course menu featuring diverse seasonal ingredients and summer truffles. The summer teppanyaki course menu will be served throughout July and August and is priced at 180,000 won per person for the seven-course lunch menu and 280,000 won for eight-course dinner menu. Three wine pairings, curated by the hotel’s sommelier, are available

Food July 2, 2021

The Amorepacific Museum of Art is circling back with a third edition of its collection, returning to contemporary art after a major exhibition of its Asian art from before the modern period. The exhibition “APMA, Chapter Three” is the third exhibition presented by the museum since it has showcased the cosmetics giant Amorepacific Group’s art collection since 2019. Featuring contemporary art, the show presents around 50 artworks by renowned artists from Korea and abroad. In

Arts & Design June 30, 2021