Plastic Art Seoul to highlight Korean sculptures and installations

The Plastic Art Seoul 2016, Korea‘s first art fair devoted to sculptures and installations, will open next week in Seoul.The art fair will bring together more than 4,000 pieces of plastic art by some 150 artists represented by major galleries in Korea. Plastic art refers to 3-D visual artworks using materials, stones, wood, metals and mixed media. “The fair offers a chance for visitors to view a variety of sculptures and installations in one spot,” said Shin Jun-won, head of the Plastic Art Seou

July 12, 2016

Eric Nam to release new single on Friday

Korean-American singer-songwriter Eric Nam will release a new single this week, announced his management agency CJ E&M. The summer track “Can’t Help Myself” will be available on local music sites from midnight on July 15, and Nam will be holding a special performance of the single on Mnet’s “M Countdown” a day ahead of the official release.Epik High’s Tablo wrote the song’s lyrics upon personal request from Nam, according to Nam’s agency. “The two have a very close, sibling-like relationship,” s

July 12, 2016

Exhibitions offer glimpse of two very different lives of Joseon

Two exhibitions in Seoul are offering a rare glimpse into the lives of different social classes in the Joseon era.Seoul Arts Center’s Calligraphy Museum has brought together a rare collection of still life paintings from the Joseon era, depicting stacks of books with decorative luxury items, which were popular among royals and aristocrats. In contrast, the exhibition also features paintings of Chinese characters that wealthy commoners hung in their homes to emulate the upper class’ cultural tast

July 11, 2016

Korea’s longest DJ festival comes to Seorak Beach

Korea’s longest DJ festival, 2016 Summer DJ Festival, is coming to Seorak Beach in Gangwon Province, from July 21 to Aug. 15. The 26-day festival will bring together 20 of the most prominent and up-and-coming DJs and musicians in the country, including DJ Chunja, Super Junior’s Kim Ki-bum, DJ Peachade, Davii and DJ Pascal Dior. In addition to showcasing some of the season’s hottest electronic dance music, the festival will include dance performances and other exciting attractions.  Big Bang memb

July 11, 2016

Taeyeon carries solo show with strong vocals

Fans came from all over Asia. According to S.M. Entertainment, some 6,000 fans flocked to Seoul’s Olympic Park on Sunday for Girls’ Generation member Taeyeon’s first solo concert.On Sunday, the concert’s second and last day, occasional bursts of cheers in Chinese, Japanese and even Spanish could be heard throughout the packed stadium in between songs. The show was also live-streamed at some 44 theaters in Japan, according to the singer. The 27-year-old singer performed 22 songs, including those

July 11, 2016

F.T. Island releases teaser poster

Gearing up for its return to the spotlight, five-member Korean rock band F.T. Island unveiled a teaser poster for the lead track “Take Me Now” from its sixth full studio album “Where is the Truth?” on Monday. Composed by the band’s member Lee Hong-gi, “Take Me Now” is a hard rock tune that embodies the band’s explosive energy, said the group’s management agency FNC Entertainment in a press release.  Since the group’s official debut in 2007, F.T. Island has been gaining global acclaim with hit tr

July 11, 2016

I.O.I’s Yu Yeon-jung to join Cosmic Girls

K-pop group I.O.I’s Yu Yeon-jung will be joining another girl group Cosmic Girls as its 13th member, announced the singer’s management agency Starship Entertainment on Monday.“We came to this decision after evaluating the synergy created between Cosmic Girls and Yu Yeon-jung, and ask fans for their support for the new 13-member Cosmic Girls,” said Starship Entertainment in a press release. I.O.I, which debuted in May, was created through Mnet’s reality K-pop group survival show “Produce 101.” Fo

July 11, 2016

[Herald Interview] Korean indie's awkward couple

The members of indie duo Kim Sawol X Kim Haewon were nearly complete strangers when they recorded their award-winning album “Secret” back in the summer of 2014 in a cramped studio in Seoul. At first, it was “intensely awkward” to be cooped up together, writing songs and recording for long hours that often stretched into dawn, the band told The Korea Herald in an interview last week at a café in Itaewon. But if it hadn’t been for that shabby room, the sweltering heat and that tension between them

July 10, 2016

Big Bang makes Forbes’ 2016 Celebrity 100 list

The five-member K-pop band Big Bang will be included in Forbes’ 2016 Celebrity 100 issue, which analyzes and ranks the world’s top 100 highest-earning entertainers and celebrities. This will be the first time a K-pop group is featured on the annual list and Big Bang’s ranking position will be revealed when the list is announced on Tuesday.The band made $44 million in pretax earnings from June 2015 to June 2016, according to a recent Forbes article. This is over $10 million more than the annual i

July 10, 2016

Thousands strip and paint themselves blue for U.K. art event

LONDON (AP) -- Thousands of people have stripped naked and painted themselves in four shades of blue to celebrate the English city of Hull’s relationship with the sea. Hull City Council says some 3,200 people took part in the art installation, staged by New York artist Spencer Tunick on Saturday. The work is called “Sea of Hull” and was commissioned by the Ferens Art Gallery to mark the city’s celebration next year as the U.K. City of Culture.Tunick says the resulting photos incorporate some of

July 10, 2016

Eyelike: Maxwell, Sara Watkins, Tribute to Dennis Brown

Another slice of timeless neo-soul　Maxwell“blackSUMMERS’night”　(Columbia)　Maxwell isn’t all that concerned with timeliness.　When the neo-soul pioneer launched his “BLACKsummers’night” trilogy in 2009, no one really expected him to take seven years to release the next installment. But the second part, “blackSUMMERS’night” (Columbia), is so sleek and well-crafted that it’s hard to complain.　The first single, “Lake by the Ocean,” is really the only track that seems touched by current sounds and sad

July 8, 2016

[Highlights] Arts and entertainment calendar

Exhibitions　 Installation view of artist Gwon O-sang’s solo exhibition “New Structure and Relief” at the Arario Gallery in Seoul. (Arario Gallery)　“New Structure and Relief”: Artist Gwon O-sang, known for his sculptures made with photographs, is presenting his new series in a solo exhibition at Arario Gallery Seoul until Aug. 21. The artist presents his reinterpretation of Alexander Calder’s iconic stationary sculpture “Stabile” in his new series of photograph sculptures “New Structure” that con

July 8, 2016

Retired freighter transformed into rest spot for museum visitors

A retired cargo ship that operated between Mokpo and Jejudo Island for 35 years has become an architecture installation that serves as a summertime shelter in the courtyard of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The installation “Temp’L” by Shinslab Architecture, led by architect duo Shin Hyung-chul and Claire Shin, is the winning design project of this year’s Young Architects Program. The Korean edition of the program, launched by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1

July 7, 2016

Batik reinterpreted with digital technology

An unusual exhibition of batik-meets-digital was held June 30 at the Art and Technology Expression Center, Seoul Institute of the Arts in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.“Batik: Accumulation of Time – Meeting the soul of Indonesia’s traditional arts,” explored the textile design method of Batik, which dates back to the 5th century. It is still popular in its home country, and is a UNESCO-designated cultural heritage.  SIA, a prominent arts college that strives to make traditional art come alive for pre

July 6, 2016

[Herald Interview] Park Yoo-jin blazes trail for violins in jazz

While the thought of jazz may conjure up images and sounds of Miles Davis on the trumpet and John Coltrane on the saxophone, it’s a safe bet to say few would ever consider, or know of, a jazz violinist. The jazz scene is dominated by the uniquely free-styled sounds of brass, woodwinds and percussion. Up-and-coming Korean jazz violinist Park Yoo-jin is looking to slowly tear away at this genre stereotype. “It is true that the world does not have that many well-known jazz violinists, I mean you ca

July 6, 2016