Actor Gang Dong-won was not a big fan of zombie flicks until he starred in “Peninsula,” a zombie thriller that hit the theaters Wednesday. While filming the movie, he found himself physically challenged and his thoughts on zombie flicks have changed -- they are actually action movies disguised as horror movies, he said. “Before I filmed ‘Peninsula,’ I was not really interested in zombie movies because I always thought that Asian ghosts that hold grudges were much

People July 15, 2020

The National Theater of Korea announced Tuesday it would continue its annual Yeowoorak Festival online as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The state-run theater will live stream a total of six performances of the 2020 Yeowoorak Festival via Naver TV and YouTube without live audiences. The festival which kicks off Thursday will run until July 25. The six performances -- “Master&Master,” “I and My Fellow Traveler,” “Such is Life,” “Four Individual

Arts & Design July 14, 2020

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea announced Monday it has selected installation work “The Surface,” designed by stpmj, an architectural practice based in both Seoul and New York, for its MMCA Gwacheon Project 2020. “I hope MMCA’s Gwacheon venue could function as an outdoor shelter for visitors, providing fun and rest during the pandemic times with the installation work,” MMCA Director Youn Bummo said. The Gwacheon venue is located just so

Arts & Design July 13, 2020

King Sejong Institute Foundation is offering 15 online courses on Korean culture for foreigners as untact (contactless) learning is gaining ground amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The institute will offer online courses on five themes for the first session starting Monday -- culinary, handicrafts, paintings, dwellings and traditional wedding -- in Korean, English, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese via its website -- www.iksi.or.kr The second session of the online classes will kick off in October w

Culture July 12, 2020

Spanish painter Eva Armisen, known as an “artist drawing happiness” in Korea, is showcasing her work in Seoul to offer comfort amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibition “Eva Armisen Vida” at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun in central Seoul displays around 150 oil paintings, drawings, installations and media art by Armisen. The exhibition celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and S

Arts & Design July 12, 2020

Gallery Hyundai, an art gallery with a 50-year history, is set to embark on the next phase of its legacy, presenting Korean art to the international art scene. Founded as Hyundai Hwarang in 1970 by Park Myung-ja, the gallery was an art base for Korea’s representative modern artists. It was a place where artists and art-related figures gathered to talk and meet when there was no such place to do so here. Gallery Hyundai touts itself as a pioneer and catalyst for the arts community, paving

Arts & Design July 11, 2020

Horim Museum is holding an exhibition introducing paintings on books and letters as the first installment of its three-part series on folk paintings from the Joseon era (1392-1910). The exhibition “The Scenery of Bookshelves Chaekgeori and Munjado” held at the Sinsa branch of Horim Museum, located in Gangnam, southern Seoul, showcases nearly 40 paintings of “chaekgeori” and “munjado” from the Joseon era as the first engagement of its “minhwa” ex

Arts & Design July 8, 2020

The following is part of a series that explores museums dedicated to Korea’s well-known contemporary artists that bear their name. --Ed. A white porcelain moon jar, which resembles a full moon with its bluish hue, sits alone at the entrance hall at the Gizi Art Base in western Seoul, a place dedicated to contemporary art master Park Seo-bo. “I do love the Korean moon jars. The jars are created through a repetitive movement on a pottery wheel, and the clay is the only ingredient. T

Arts & Design July 6, 2020

Kim Deok-han applies lacquer to his art. It is not just a simple craft, but spiritual work to look into himself. After repeatedly applying lacquer layers mixed with colored powder on an object such as a wood panel or aluminum that he has covered with linen, he rubs the surface with sandpaper. He explains the rubbing process is a spiritual action to look into himself. This artwork also reflects his belief that the current self is from the accumulated times of his past. “The whole proc

Arts & Design July 6, 2020

Sometimes a crisis turns into an opportunity. When COVID-19 began to spread across the country, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) quickly moved online in March, grabbing global attention for its digital content. More than 3,000 people viewed the museum‘s first live-streamed exhibition, its first calligraphy-only exhibition in its 51-year history, on the museum’s YouTube channel. “The Modern and Contemporary Korean Writing,” a 80-minute cur

Arts & Design July 1, 2020

The following is part of a series that explores museums dedicated to the well-known Korean contemporary artists that bear their name. --Ed. Driving through a winding road in Yanggu County in Gangwon Province, the Park Soo Keun Museum slowly comes into sight. Surrounded by granite, the museum lies low to the ground as if representing the humble personality of Korea’s representative modern artist Park Soo-keun. The granite pieces that surround the museum are familiar objects here as the

Arts & Design June 30, 2020

An artist presents two different ideas through the single exhibition “I Have No Idea, Because I Have No Idea,” which runs through Aug. 15 in Jongno, central Seoul. Insane Park borrowed the title from a popular internet meme. “The phrase is fundamentally ironic, and within that irony there is humor and a sense of vitality which has led to its mass consumption as a meme,” Park said. “I skim through memes and comments (on the internet) before going to bed,”

Arts & Design June 28, 2020

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) is hosting a special exhibition to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War by looking at the memories of the war captured through artworks and contemplating the lessons learned from the war. The English title of the exhibition, “Unflattening,” derives from a novel by Nick Sousanis, and suggests that people should look back at the war from diverse perspectives. The Korean title can be translated into Englis

Arts & Design June 24, 2020

A painting album by Jeong Seon (1676~1759), an artist hailed as the Joseon-period master of landscape paintings, will be put on auction for the first time next month. Designated as Treasure No. 1796, the painting album of Haeak palgyeong and Songyu palhyeondo comprises 16 paintings by Jeong Seon -- eight scenes of Mt. Kumgang (Haeak palgyeong) located in today‘s North Korea and eight paintings depicting the eight Confucian scholars of China’s Song Dynasty (Songyu palhyeondo). The

Arts & Design June 24, 2020

The following is part of a series that explores museums dedicated to the well-known Korean contemporary artists that bear their name. --Ed. When Western culture started to flood Korea in the early 1900s, many Korean artists faced a crucial question: how to apply Western art in their paintings without Korea’s painting tradition losing its cultural identity. Born in 1904, Lee Ung-no was one of the artists who agonized over this question and successfully integrated the two different cultu

Arts & Design June 22, 2020