The Busan International Dance Festival is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary with spectacular performances across various locations in Busan. Over the past two decades, BIDF has showcased some 1,000 works from more than 60 countries. This year, the festival will bring over 60 performances by 40 dance troupes from 10 countries, including Lithuania, France, Brazil, Peru, Indonesia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, involving over 400 participants. The opening ceremony will kick off at 7 p.m. on

Performance May 31, 2024

Paju Book City will be transformed into a vibrant performing arts festival site in September, showcasing a variety of performances rooted in books. The inaugural edition of the Paju Fair_Book & Culture will take place Sept. 6 to 9, aiming to bring fresh energy to the cultural complex of publishers and printing houses located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The fair endeavors to explore and expand cultural and artistic narratives rooted in literature while serving as a global platform for their i

Performance May 30, 2024

Samulnori Ttamtti, a Korean traditional music quartet composed of four individuals with disabilities, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a concert titled "Ttamtti's 20-Year Journey to Fly High." The group was formed in 2003 as part of a music therapy program for disabled individuals, bringing together Ko Tae-woog, who has a developmental disorder; Park Jun-ho, who has autism; Lee Seok-hyun, who has a brain disorder; and Cho Hyeong-gon, who has Down syndrome. All four members

Performance May 24, 2024

Explore Play Aquarium Bucheon Feast your eyes on colorful fish and remarkable marine life at Play Aquarium Bucheon in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. Though Play Aquarium Bucheon is not as big as the country’s better-known aquariums -- Lotte Aquarium and Coex Aquarium -- it still has everything there is to satisfy young visitors by showing them exciting sea creatures up close. The aquarium greets its visitors with a wide range of fish tanks that house various fish species from around the world

Culture May 24, 2024

In April and May, the heartwarming story "A Thousand Blues," the bestselling SF novel by Cheon Seon-ran, found new life through different adaptations by two performing arts troupes -- the National Theater Company of Korea and the Seoul Performing Arts Company. First published in 2020, the story envisions a Korea of 2035, where humanoid robots are commercialized. The plot weaves two storylines. One follows Collie, a humanoid jockey, and his partner horse, Today. A researcher's mist

Books May 23, 2024

The Universal Ballet is set to present its original production, 'The Ballerina," a work that offers a glimpse into the daily lives of ballet dancers striving for a shining moment on stage. The performances will take place at the Seoul Arts Center's CJ Towol Theater from May 31 to June 1. This is the first time the production will be performed in Seoul, following its premiere in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, and subsequent regional tours in 2022 and 2023. Choreographed by artistic dire

Performance May 22, 2024

The 14th Korea Ballet Festival is set to kick off next week at the Seoul Arts Center, boasting a lineup of 12 works, including one special production, three invited pieces and eight selected through open submissions. A diverse array of ballet performances ranges from classics like "Don Quixote" and "The Barber of Seville" to reimagined literary works such as "Scent of Chrysanthemums" and "The Desolate House," alongside contemporary productions forecasting

Performance May 22, 2024

South Korean literary giant Hwang Sok-yong's missed out on the 2024 Booker International Prize after making the shortlist with "Mater 2-10." The prestigious literary award ceremony took place at the Tate Modern in London on Tuesday, where the jury announced German author Jenny Erpenbeck's "Kairos," translated by Michael Hofmann, as this year's winner. Erpenbeck's winning title tells the story of a tangled love affair during the final years of East Germany.

Books May 22, 2024

The National Museum of Korean Literature broke ground Monday at Gijachon Neighborhood Park, in Eunpyeong-gu, northern Seoul, five years after the plan for the museum was announced in 2019. The museum, located in Jingwan-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, at the foot of Bukhansan National Park, will have a total floor area of 14,993 square meters and a site area of 13,248 square meters. The building with two underground floors and two above-ground floors is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2026. T

Books May 21, 2024

Seven Korean dance groups are scheduled to tour Budapest and the US from Tuesday to June 16. The tour will cover four cities: Budapest in Hungary, Seattle, Hudson Valley and Manhattan in the United States, starting with the 11th International Monodance Festival held at the Bethlen Theater in Budapest on Tuesday. On June 2, the "Seoul-Mate Korea Dance Festival" will be showcased at the Stissing Center for Arts and Culture in Hudson Valley, New York, and at the Cosmopolitan Club in Manha

Performance May 20, 2024

The 2024 Seoul International Book Fair, the country's largest literary festival, will kick off June 26 at Coex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Over 90 overseas publishers and publishing-related organizations from 17 countries and 350 Korean publishers will participate in the five-day event. Visitors can look forward to various activities including markets, book exhibitions, talks and signing events. This year's theme, "Houyhnhnm," is inspired by Jonathan Swift's satirical 1726 nov

Books May 17, 2024

On a white Christmas, a building collapses trapping a woman named Bo-gyeong in the basement. Amid the ruins and darkness, Darpa, a rescue robot navigates the debris to locate signs of life. Outside, people gather in despair, praying for a miracle, while the woman’s mother pleads for her daughter’s rescue. Darpa spots Bo-gyeong and calculates the survival odds: body temperature at 35 degrees Celsius, an 88 percent chance of another collapse, and only 20 seconds left. It estimates Bo-g

Performance May 15, 2024

Few voices resonate as uniquely as that of Bora Chung, whose gripping stories like the haunting narratives of “Cursed Bunny” captivate readers worldwide. With her genre-defying short story collection, translated by Anton Hur, Chung became a finalist for the UK International Booker Prize in 2022 and the US National Book Award in 2023. Chung once again plunges readers into her blend of horror and absurdity, sprinkled with dark humor in her second short story collection “Your Utop

Books May 14, 2024

The fourth installment of the National Changgeuk Company of Korea's "Peerless Pansori" series returns this weekend with emerging "pansori" performers Cho Yu-ah and Kim Soo-in. The shows, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Daloreum Theater, were sold out soon after tickets sales opened. The "Peerless Pansori" concert series was launched in 2021 to create opportunities for young and emerging pansori singers to explore the music and mise-en-scenes with conte

Performance May 13, 2024

The soundtracks of popular online games such as Black Desert and Lineage have been rearranged as traditional Korean music. The National Gugak Center is unveiling a series of single albums titled "National Gugak Center x Game Sound Series," which rearranges 13 popular game melodies into traditional Korean music, starting from last Thursday to May 24. Among the tracks are theme songs and background music from Lies of P, Skul, Sanabi, MapleStory, TalesWeaver, Epic Seven, Lost Ark, Guardia

Performance May 12, 2024