The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, kicked off its annual year-end MMCA Wishing Tree event Wednesday. Visitors to the Seoul venue are invited to make wishes for 2021 amid the pandemic situation. Visitors will be given pieces of paper to write their wishes on, which they can then tie to the MMCA Wishing Tree. Participants can also donate money to World Vision, an international humanitarian aid organization, to support art therapy for children at local institutions. The

Arts & Design Dec. 2, 2020

The Yeol Korean Heritage Preservation Society, a private organization dedicated to promoting Korean aesthetics and cultural heritage, will showcase pieces created by two artisans -- “gat” master Jung Choon-mo and ceramicist Kim Deok-ho. The exhibition “Lines/Layers” will open Dec. 1 at Yeol Bukchonga in central Seoul as part of the organization’s annual year-end showcasing of works by the winners of the Yeol Artisan of the Year and Yeol Young Craftsman of the Yea

Arts & Design Dec. 1, 2020

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea will stream its fourth online performance as part of the MMCA Live series planned to reach a wider range of audiences amid the pandemic. The fourth show will feature a performance by Korean synth pop group Adoy. The performance “MMCA Live X Adoy,” which took place at MMCA’s Cheongju location, will be released at 4 p.m. on Dec. 4 via the MMCA’s YouTube channel. MMCA has released the MMCA Live series starting wit

Arts & Design Nov. 27, 2020

Ha Chong-hyun is one of the few pioneers of abstract art in Korea who is still alive today. He is also a leading member of the “dansaekhwa” movement, which arose in the 1970s and is regarded as South Korea’s first collective art movement. This year the 84-year-old artist held solo exhibitions at home and in London, which he said were particularly special at a time when the pandemic has disrupted many art events around the world. The pandemic has led the artist to spend most

Arts & Design Nov. 26, 2020

Lee Seung-taek is a representative figure in the Korean experimental art scene who has challenged himself to make new attempts in his works since the 1950s, when the country was going through the turmoil of the Korean War and times of rapid industrialization. At a time when many artists tended to follow art trends popular in the West or Japan, some struggled to find characteristics of their own, delving into the Korean culture that was overlooked during the Japanese colonial era, with a belief

Arts & Design Nov. 25, 2020

  The Inje Icefish Festival -- one of the most popular winter festivals in South Korea -- will not be held next year as the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic has hit the country. The annual winter festival held in Inje, a mountainous county in Gangwon Province some 165 kilometers northeast of Seoul, is centered around a pond with small ice holes, measuring 20 centimeters wide, made for visitors to try to catch the fish that live in water below. The nine-day festival was scheduled to kick o

Arts & Design Nov. 24, 2020

The first comprehensive book in English on South Korea’s modern artist Yoo Young-kuk, a pioneer of Korea‘s abstract art, will be published in December by Rizzoli New York, introducing the artist’s philosophy and Korean art history of the time. Known as a “magician of colors,” Yoo devoted himself to pioneering a unique compositional approach to his art. Born in 1916 in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, he lived through the Japanese colonial era and the Korean War

Arts & Design Nov. 24, 2020

After stepping into a completely purple exhibition hall, visitors to this gallery may find themselves a bit confused. On display are metal sculptures with multiple eyes, a line of hands with a string of magnetic beads, the Virgin Mary with minerals attached to her pupils -- each looking quite odd, but also beautiful. Visitors will each have their own interpretations of the objects and find themselves curious about Yangachi, the creator, and what he intended to achieve through these beautifull

Arts & Design Nov. 23, 2020

A floating museum in commemoration of Korea’s modern art master Kim Whan-ki will be established in the artist’s hometown in Shinan County, South Jeolla Province, late in the next year. “The floating museum is the first-ever floating museum in Korea,” an official from the county office told The Korea Herald on Sunday. “The floating museum is part of our project to build a kind of a theme park dedicated to Kim Whan-ki in his home town.” The floating museum w

Arts & Design Nov. 22, 2020

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, will screen films starting Friday that shed light on the ordinariness of everyday life that has gone missing due to the pandemic. “Intermission 2020” will run through Dec. 6 at the MMCA’s Seoul venue, presenting seven indie films by French director Philippe Garrel, Lithuanian American filmmaker Jonas Mekas and American director Anne Charlotte Robertson. “Intermission,” launched in 2014, takes place betwe

Arts & Design Nov. 21, 2020

The 13th Gwangju Biennale -- South Korea’s largest art biennale, which has become a major art event in Asia -- will kick off Feb. 26, having been pushed back due to the spread of COVID-19. The theme of the 73-day biennale will be “Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning,” with 69 artists participating and 41 new commissions. The artworks will be on display across the city of Gwangju -- at Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, Gwangju National Museum, Gwangju Theater and Horanggasy Artpolyg

Arts & Design Nov. 18, 2020

As South Korea decided Tuesday to tighten the social distancing rules to Level 1.5 in the Greater Seoul area from the current Level 1, the cultural sectors will have to make adjustments to comply with restrictions for state-run and public facilities, performance halls, religious facilities and movie theaters. The stricter social distancing rules will go into effect Thursday in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, and Monday in Incheon. The announcement came after the region began to see a coronavir

Culture Nov. 17, 2020

The black and white photographs of birds in nature -- some flying over a lake, while others rest amid falling snow -- are quiet and comforting. The longer you look, the more visually complex they become, with small stories and textures scattered throughout each artwork. Photographer Min Byung-hun -- who has been practicing film photography for decades -- is showing his recent bird series at an exhibition titled “Bird” at Gallery NoW in southern Seoul. His photographs feature faint,

Arts & Design Nov. 17, 2020

Seoul Design Festival 2020 -- one of Korea’s major design fairs -- will start on Dec. 9 at Coex in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, with the theme “New Normal.” This year’s festival will provide an opportunity to explore sustainable designs that are expected to be used widely after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. During the five-day festival, approximately 200 design brands from home and abroad will set up 400 booths. The participating brands will present a varie

Arts & Design Nov. 16, 2020

The Moomins, a family of trolls from Finland, known for their white fur coats and large snouts, live in their house in the Moomin valley and go on adventures with friends. They learn to understand each other with empathy and overcome struggles together. The story of the Moomins, which marks its 75th anniversary this year, is comforting people around the world who are exhausted from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has forced us apart. An exhibition “Moomin Original” -- which op

Arts & Design Nov. 14, 2020