One of the biggest challenges mankind faces today is climate change, which has become a frequently discussed topic globally as more people become aware of humanity’s impact on nature due to the coronavirus and the plastic waste generated from face masks and food containers. The “Climate Museum: Life and Death of Our Home” exhibition at Seoul Museum of Art in Jongno, central Seoul, shows how indiscriminate development has hurt Earth’s ecology through a variety of artwor

Arts & Design June 23, 2021

The exhibition “Korean Eye 2020: Creativity and Daydream” has kicked off in Seoul after touring the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in Russia and the Saatchi Gallery in London last year. Twenty-six Korean contemporary artists participating in the exhibition were selected by Dimitri Ozerkov, head of the department of contemporary art at the State Hermitage Museum, Serenella Ciclitira, founder of Parallel Contemporary Art, and Philippa Adams, director of the Saatchi Gallery

Arts & Design June 22, 2021

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea’s plan to celebrate the legacy of South Korea’s pioneering video artist Paik Nam-june will be canceled again this year, with an exhibition dedicated to Paik unlikely to happen for a second year in a row, according to the museum. Earlier this year, MMCA Director Yun Bum-mo announced a “large-scale festival” would be held to shed light on Paik’s legacy, including an opening the exhibition titled “After t

Arts & Design June 21, 2021

British artist Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press’ first exhibition in Asia is being held at Barakat Contemporary in Seoul, unveiling the artist’s 14 new works comprising paintings, installations and video art. Banner first gained attention in the mid-1990s for her “wordscapes” and “still films,” which explored the relationships of primitive human desire and violence conveyed through traditional nudes, pornography and Hollywood war films relayed as dense verb

Arts & Design June 20, 2021

Australian artist Daniel Boyd has presented his identity as part of a native tribe of the country, challenging Western hegemony through his convex-dot paintings that ask radical questions of the audience about their identity, roots and true self. The artist’s second solo exhibition, “Treasure Island,” in South Korea is running through Aug. 1 at Kukje Gallery in Seoul, presenting 24 works including a video unveiled for the first time in the country.  "I think there

Arts & Design June 20, 2021

The Seoul Yangnyeongsi Market, located in Dongdaemun-gu, eastern Seoul, is the capital’s hub of herbal medicine. Walking through the market, one may be struck by the fragrances in the air created by the wide variety of herbal ingredients -- from ginseng and dates to milk vetch roots. The smell of “hanyak,” traditional Korean herbal medicine, provides comfort and relaxation for many, as it invokes memories of aromas they may have smelled at their grandparents’ homes.&nbs

Culture June 19, 2021

Gardening has become a new trend recently as people start to turn their eyes to nature to seek comfort from it. Although gardening is not easy in South Korea as many live in high-rise apartment complexes, many are growing potted flowers and plants at home and take care of them as “pet plants.” Why are we attached to plants and flowers? The exhibition “Gardening” at Piknic in central Seoul explores our psychology behind gardening and how we can interact with the nature.

Arts & Design June 19, 2021

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul launches online store for to-go menus  The Four Seasons Hotel Seoul has opened an online store for to-go dishes that can be picked up at the hotel. All orders need to be made at least 24 hours in advance. The online store’s most popular dish is American-style smoked BBQ that offers beef, pork and side dishes, including roasted potatoes, coleslaw, a brioche bun and mac and cheese. The BBQ menu serves 4 to 6 people and is priced at 220,000 won. The online s

Food June 18, 2021

The opening of the licensed Korean-language musical “Beetlejuice” -- a production based on Tim Burton’s iconic film -- will be postponed to June 29 for technical improvements, according to CJ ENM, the co-producer of the show. Describing the musical as a tech-heavy show, an official from the entertainment company told The Korea Herald, “We have decided to move back the opening date after concluding that we need more time to thoroughly prepare the technical elements for

Performance June 16, 2021

The musical “Dracula: The Musical” has been an all-time hit since it premiered in 2014 with Kim Jun-su, a former lead vocalist of the popular boy band TVXQ and now a veteran musical actor of 10 years, in the leading role. His hair dyed a bright red color again -- Kim’s signature look for his Count Dracula character -- the actor stood on the stage for the musical’s fourth season which kicked off on May 20 at the Blue Square in Seoul. The red-colored hair was intended to

Arts & Design June 15, 2021

Curator Shin Hae-won of the Korean Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale has agonized over how to bring people together to discuss climate crisis, diaspora and innovation. Although those themes may seem comparatively less relevant for an architecture exhibition, Shin believes architecture is not just a physical thing but something that reflects our lives and the issues that we currently face. The Korean Pavilion has been turned into “Future School” at the biennale wh

Arts & Design June 14, 2021

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province -- A large peaceful ground, Imjingak Pyeonghwa Nuri Park stands facing the Imjin River, just south of the Demilitarized Zone. Although it sounds like an area of heightened tensions, the park is crowded with visitors, especially on weekends, who come for a picnic and to view the works of art on display. The exhibition “DMZ Art Project: Peace, Again” shows works by 12 artists and collectives that deal with the theme of peace. The works that are scattered throu

Arts & Design June 12, 2021

An exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, reminds people to be playful instead of getting obsessed with the results of their actions in this efficiency-oriented society. The exhibition, “Switch Things Up,” was inspired by Dutch historian and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga’s (1872-1945) philosophy of “homo ludens,” which suggests that the desire for play is a defining characteristic of humanity and urges a return to “playf

Arts & Design June 11, 2021

When PKM Gallery showed Cody Choi’s “Database Painting Series 1 - Stolen Data, Tiger #00” at the Art Basel Hong Kong 2021 in March, it was a long-awaited moment for the artist who began “database painting” in 1997. He had to wait a long time for people to pay attention to digital art, he said. “Not many people were interested in digital art until recently when NFT seems to have inspired interest in digital art,” Choi said during an interview with The

Arts & Design June 9, 2021

When it was recently announced that NFT-based artworks by Korean modern art masters -- Kim Whan-ki, Park Soo-keun and Lee Jung-seop -- would go on the block at an online auction, the Korean art industry was bewildered. The families and foundations raised copyright issues, claiming that they owned the original works and had never given the rights for those works to be minted as nonfungible token artworks. Minting refers to the process of tokenizing an asset and once an artwork is minted, it bec

Arts & Design June 9, 2021