Russian author Ludmila Ulitskaya received the Park Kyung-ni literary prize at a ceremony held in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Friday. Ulitskaya, 69, is the author of more than 14 novels and short stories including “Daniel Stein, Interpreter,” “Kukotsky’s Case” and “Sonechka.”Having worked in the field of genetics and biochemistry, the author debuted with her first novel “Sonechka” when she was 40 and instantly rose to prominence in the literary scene. She has also won prestigious literary awards,

People Oct. 28, 2012

MILL RUN, Pennsylvania ― Masterpiece. Art. Perfection. Many fancy words and rapturous phrases have described Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous house.It’s all true. But what is also true is that I kept thinking, wow, this house is not childproof. A 2-year-old could tumble out that low, unlocked window and fall to his death! A toddler would drown in that unfenced plunge pool! The railings aren’t high enough. The floor is too hard. And that giant open fireplace, what a safety issue. An

Travel Oct. 26, 2012

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, presents the country’s first exhibition of works by British sculptor Anish Kapoor. The first major show by Kapoor in East Asia, the exhibit encompasses the artist’s major works from the early years of his career to the present. Known to the general global audience as the creator of the giant red steel “Orbit” tower in London Olympic Park, Kapoor has enjoyed great success, holding a solo exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Arts as the first living artist in 2009.

Performance Oct. 25, 2012

A week of fashion shows for the 2013 spring and summer season kicked off with menswear collections shown on Monday and Tuesday at Seoul Fashion Week. Although womenswear shows command center stage, men’s shows are gaining momentum, slowly establishing a distinctive Korean style. “Menswear collections have evolved tremendously and established a Korean identity over the past years, which is still lacking in womenswear,” Elisa Pervinca Bellini, editor of Vogue Italy who has returned to SFW for the

Arts & Design Oct. 24, 2012

Two biennales in Korea serve as a bridge for international art exchanges, building on common purpose and roles of contemporary art events and offering networking opportunities.Gwangju Biennale, the largest contemporary art event in Asia, will hold the first World Biennale Forum, a gathering of representatives of more than 30 international biennales from Oct. 29-31 in Gwangju.Busan Biennale, an event which is just now emerging on the global scale, held its second Asia Biennale Forum on Oct. 13, g

Performance Oct. 23, 2012

Artday, a subsidiary of the Herald Corporation, presents a special selection of nature-inspired paintings for its fall auction and exhibition this week. It features a total of 134 paintings by Korean and foreign artists including established figures such as Lee U-fan, Chon Kyung-ja, Oh Chi-gyun and Sa Suk-won and internationally celebrated artists Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Joan Miro and Yin Jun. Works of young Korean artists such as Do Sung-wook, Yoon Hyun-mi and Byung Woong-pil are also o

Performance Oct. 22, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Celebrating a design 40 years in the making, dignitaries on Wednesday dedicated a new memorial park to President Franklin Roosevelt overlooking the United Nations that he helped found.The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, on an island in the East River, “will stand forever as a monument to the man who brought us through the Great Depression and brought us victory over great evil,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told several hundred people at the dedication ceremony.Former Presid

Travel Oct. 19, 2012

Land. Sea. Land. Sea.Ferry. Road. Ferry. RoadFish for lunch. Fish for dinner. Pancakes for breakfast (yes, you can have fish if you really must).A looping trip west out of Vancouver, British Columbia, means a lot of water and mountains that get in the way. But the Canadians have tamed their pockmarked geography with winding roads, deep tunnels and, most of all, ferries that link the once-isolated villages and big cities.It’s a fragmented trip. Just when you start rolling along the highway, you c

Travel Oct. 19, 2012

Hyundai Card Music has launched an indie music compilation album project, releasing its first collection on Thursday. Titled “It Tracks,” the compilation album aims to introduce indie music to fans and other listeners. The online music website plans to release four albums a year ― an album every three months. “‘It Tracks’ offers a chance for indie musicians to meet fans through albums and concerts. Fans can also listen to a variety of indie songs on one album,” said an official of Hyundai Card,

Performance Oct. 19, 2012

From strong eye images to peaceful landscapes, artist explores life’s core values in his ‘Videocracy’Korean media artist Yook Keun-byung, once acclaimed as “the next Paik Nam June” in the global media art scene, has not held an official solo exhibition for 14 years in Korea.After a huge success at Kassel Documenta in 1992 and other major international biennales, he chose to stay overseas while participating in exhibitions from time to time in Korea. Yook, now 55, who seemed to have been forgotte

Performance Oct. 18, 2012

Rene Magritte paintings recreated by renowned Korean photographer Kim Jung-manThe celebrated photographer Kim Jung-man has always photographed objects as they are, without alteration. But for the first time in his 38-year career, he had to use Photoshop editing techniques to recreate paintings of Belgian Surrealist painter Rene Magritte with photographs. “The recreation of one of the greatest artists was meaningful because no one has ever tried to do it before,” Kim said at a news conference las

Performance Oct. 14, 2012

Famous fashion stylist Patricia Field, who served as a costume designer for “Sex and the City” and “The Devil Wears Prada,” hosted a Korean fashion event last Thursday in New York. The celebrated stylist attracted more than 200 people in the fashion industry to the event titled “K-fashion Sensation” held at Dream Hotel, a modern luxury hotel in Manhattan, and introduced Korean fashion brands by having models wear clothes designed by Korean brands such as Buckaroo and Morine Comte Marant.The even

Arts & Design Oct. 14, 2012

Exhibition“Erwin Olaf”: Gallery Kong holds the first solo exhibition of Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf in Korea. The international award-winning photographer exploits his experience as a successful commercial photographer and creates his own distinctive style. Through his photos, Olaf explores social problems of the day such as isolation and hidden racial discrimination. He shows two most recent series “The Keyholes” and “Dawn and Dusk” that involve different mediums such as installation, photogr

Performance Oct. 12, 2012

Icheon in Gyeonggi Province, famous for producing high-quality rice, is holding a rice festival this month to celebrate the harvest. The city will hold its 14th rice festival from Oct. 25-28 and offers a variety of activities related to rice and Korean agricultural traditions and customs. Korea’s traditional activities and performances held during the harvest season in the old days will be recreated to celebrate the successful harvest season this year despite frequent typhoons and rains this sum

Travel Oct. 12, 2012