Premium sneaker exhibition ‘Neck Breakers’ held at Hoard Gallery

An exhibition that features trends of premium and unique sneakers titled “Neck Breakers” is being held at Hoard Gallery in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. The exhibition will run through Sunday. It displays various valuable sneakers including Michael Jordan’s Nike shoes, Kanye West’s Adidas shoes and also sneakers that were considered futuristic in the films of the ‘80s. The exhibition also features some behind stories related to sneaker companies and celebrities’ p

Jan. 21, 2022

[Well-curated] Climbing enters cinemas as movies go outside

   Watching movies at theaters without masks now seems a distant memory due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which still shows no sign of ending. For this reason, you might be more interested in going climbing in your local movie theater than watching a film in it, which is precisely why CJ CGV has turned one of its movie theaters into a climbing venue for health-conscious moviegoers. If you‘re still itching to watch a movie on the big screen, we'd recommend seeking out a drive-

Jan. 21, 2022

Shopping fest for foreigners opens online

The charms of Korean culture and entertainment are being showcased online at the 2022 Korea Grand Sale, until Feb. 28. The festival kicked off Jan. 13, with an online K-pop concert livestreamed on YouTube, featuring boyband Tomorrow X Together, a dance crew from Street Woman Fighter, Lachica and girl group Everglow. This year‘s annual shopping festival focuses on K-beauty as the main theme, bringing together popular Korean beauty products. Some 40 active beauty brands are offering spec

Jan. 20, 2022

National language institute to use AI to improve writing assessment

The National Institute of Korean Language unveiled an ambitious plan to create a Korean language proficiency diagnosis system that utilzes artificial intelligence, the organization’s director Chang So-won said on Tuesday. The AI-based language proficiency test, to be developed over a five-year period from 2023 to 2027 with a budget of 10 billion won ($8.39-million), is meant to help improve the nation’s overall writing skills, which stood at 48 out of 100 in a research study conduc

Jan. 19, 2022

Shuttered schools get makeover, find new purpose

Nearly 400 empty school buildings, chiefly in rural areas, are sitting idle after closing their doors due to lack of students, government data showed Tuesday. The Ministry of Education has a thorny task of giving new life to abandoned classrooms. As of May last year, a total of 3,855 schools have closed across South Korea in nearly 40 years since 1982, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Education, as the number of students declined to just 60.3 percent of 1990 levels. The data on

Jan. 18, 2022

UK Tate collection's Seoul exhibition explores the use of light in art

Light has been a popular subject in art explored throughout history, inspiring many artists particularly since the Age of Enlightenment started to dominate the world of ideas in the 17th century across Europe. Some significant works of art from the Tate in the UK that show how qualities of light have been interpreted across centuries have been brought together and on display in Seoul. The exhibition, titled “Light: Works From the Tate Collection” at the Buk Seoul Museum of Art in N

Jan. 16, 2022

‘Squid Game’ director Hwang Dong-hyuk planning story set in near future

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, the mastermind behind South Korea’s global phenomenon “Squid Game,” had said that he plans to make a story set in the near future. “I am planning something that is futuristic. I’ve done stories of the past and eccentric things that can happen in the present. I would like to make a social drama, which talks about the problems that we might face within the next 20-30 years,” Hwang said in a pretaped interview with Corea Image Communica

Jan. 13, 2022

Hwang Dong-hyuk, Netflix, Sumi Jo, Kim Je-deok bag trophies at Korea Image Award

“Squid Game” director Hwang Dong-hyuk on the global streaming platform Netflix, celebrated Korean soprano Sumi Jo and Tokyo Olympics gold medal archer Kim Je-deok were named as the winners of the Korea Image Award on Wednesday. The 18th edition of the annual awards took place at the InterContinental Seoul Coex in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul. “Though we are experiencing a challenging time with the COVID-19 pandemic, I am grateful that we are able to have the chance to hold

Jan. 12, 2022

Who can lay claim to title of ‘national orchestra?’

As the Korean Symphony Orchestra, which is often mistaken as a private orchestra, is set to change its name to include “national,” the KBS Symphony Orchestra, which was once the National Symphony Orchestra, stands in opposition to the move, which was decided without consultation with them. After making the decision to change its name last year, the Korean Symphony Orchestra is considering several options for its new name, including simply “National Orchestra,” and wil

Jan. 12, 2022

[Eye Plus] A thatched house that holds history

Sunae-dong House is a historic building in Bundang Central Park in Gyeonggi Province.  Built in the 19th century, the house is situated next to the tombs of the Hansan Yi clan, who lived in the area from the 16th to the 18th century. Around 70 houses once formed a clan village in the area, but all but one house, which once belonged to a man called Yi Taek-gu, were demolished as part of the city’s development in the 1980s.  A sizable thatched dwelling, Sunae-dong House consists

Jan. 8, 2022

How Koreans survived winter the old-fashioned way

The winters in Korea can be notoriously tough with temperatures sometimes falling to below minus 10 degrees Celsius. Seoul saw the coldest day in 35 years in January last year, with a low of minus 18.6 degrees Celsius. Some parts of the city such as Nowon-gu and Eunpyeong-gu registered lows of minus 21.7 and 22.6 degrees Celsius respectively, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. Records also show that winter used to be longer on the Korean Peninsula. The average yearly temper

Jan. 8, 2022

[Well-curated] Ready to wolf down a 31,000 won burger?

The Gordon Ramsay Burger is finally here. The Michelin-starred chef’s first burger chain in Asia officially opens on Friday at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, southern Seoul. The news of the premium burger chain landing in Korea a few months ago created a buzz concerning its high price. Its iconic Hell’s Kitchen Burger is priced at 31,000 won ($25.91) here, which is much pricier than other so-called premium burger chains like Shake Shack. Shake Shack burgers‘ prices range from

Jan. 7, 2022

Presidential candidate Yoon’s wife's work experience at a gallery claimed as false

Kim Kun-hee, wife of the main opposition People Power Party’s presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl, is accused of falsifying her work experience at Alternative Space Loop, a nonprofit cultural center in Seoul, amid continued criticism over Kim’s exaggeration of her past career in applying for jobs at colleges. Loop was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization to share contemporary art and cultural experience with the public as well as promoting experimental artists who have b

Jan. 5, 2022

[From the scene] Conservation or development?

GIMPO -- Twelve years after the Joseon royal tombs Jangneung in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, were made UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2009, it is faced with the possibility of having the designation removed, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration.　 In August, the CHA ordered its committee of experts to review 19 of the 44 apartment buildings undergoing construction by three developers for breach of the cultural property protection law as they were located within 500 meters of the royal

Jan. 5, 2022

Metaverse rises to cultural mainstream

The metaverse, regarded as a technology whose emergence was seen as timely in the pandemic era, has cemented its position as a key avenue to pushing cultural experiences to another level. While prepandemic cultural contents were based on face-to-face experience, the virtual world-centered metaverse emerged as a notable alternative, offering a similar experience as face-to-face encounters as the coronavirus and a multitude of its variants have changed the way people interact. With the advances

Jan. 3, 2022

S. Korean performing arts scene sees revenue jump nearly 80% in 2021

The local performing arts scene saw its revenue soar nearly 80 percent in 2021 from a year earlier, thanks to eased social distancing rules and a rising vaccination rate, data showed Monday. The combined revenue of 12,000 theatrical plays, musicals, classical concerts and other performances reached 307.1 billion won ($258.1 million) last year, according to the data by the Korea Performing Arts Box Office Information System (KOPIS). The 2021 amount marked a 78.4 percent on-year surge from 172.1

Jan. 3, 2022

Year of the Tiger: Why tigers have a special place in Koreans’ hearts

After winning the John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished children’s book in 2020 with “When You Trap a Tiger,” author Tae Keller said the book was inspired by a folktale that her Korean grandmother used to tell her. The Korean folktale she was referring to was “The Sun and the Moon” that centers on two siblings and a tiger. Keller’s storybook also includes a tiger from a Korean folklore which appeared at a grandmother’s house to find something t

Jan. 2, 2022

[Visual History of Korea] Daegeum: Korean bamboo flute hits all the right notes

The large bamboo flute called daegeum, used in traditional Korean music, is uniquely capable of producing a wide range of listening experiences from a single ancient woodwind instrument. Daegeum, a one-of-a-kind woodwind instrument indigenous to Korea, is made from double-groove bamboo, which is an anomaly in bamboo but perfect for making daegeum flutes with thick walls. Because a daegeum is made from natural bamboo, no two instruments are alike. Double-groove bamboo is unlike regular bamboo

Jan. 1, 2022

‘Tidal flat harvesting’ joins National Heritage list

Five months since the official designation of Korea’s “gaetbeol,” or tidal flats, as a UNESCO world heritage, “tidal flat harvesting” has made its way onto the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list, the Cultural Heritage Administration said. Four tidal flat areas spanning Seocheon in South Chungcheong Province, Gochang in North Jeolla Province, Sinan, Boseong and Suncheon in South Jeolla Province, were collectively inscribed on the World Heritage List in July

Dec. 31, 2021

Religious groups release New Year messages about change

Religious groups in Korea have sent out their New Year messages this week, calling on people to make changes in 2022. The United Churches of Korea, one of the biggest Protestant church associations in South Korea, said Monday in a statement, “The Korean churches must once again restore the purity of the gospel and be reborn as a community that pursues the value of Jesus’ disciple.” The UCCK’s message said that the world’s view and evaluation of churches have becom

Dec. 29, 2021