Inspiring house items for spring

E-commerce platform 29CM’s curation showroom, 29 Seongsu, in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, is holding an exhibition for the spring season under the theme of “inspiring house,” introducing the living and lifestyle brands' items for garden, lounge, dining room and bathroom.

Danish brands Hay and &Tradition’s signature color lamps adorn the lounge-like space on the first floor of the showroom, whereas the second floor has been turned into a bathroom space filled with Poltronova’s playful patterned products.

Exclusively during the exhibition period, visitors can enjoy four spring-themed desserts on Ginori 1735 plates, along with Manufact coffee. However, coffee-dessert sets are only sold in limited numbers -- 16 sets on weekdays and 32 sets on weekends.

The exhibition continues until April 2 and the showroom opens every day except Monday.

A Dandy from the Provence

The current exhibition at The Hyundai Seoul, Yeongdeungpo-gu, showcasing the beautiful nature of Provence is ideally timed for the spring season.

Some 130 original paintings by David Jamin, a modern French painter based in Uzes, a small town near Provence, are on display, including 100 new works that Jamin painted in 2022.

The exhibition begins with a trip to Jamin’s atelier in Provence, capturing the peaceful yet lively atmosphere of southern France through paintings that feature warm sunlight, blue skies and the Mediterranean Sea.

Another 20 pieces explore his interpretation of dandyism in his iconic series “Dandy,” the alter ego and the character he has created. Some 30 pieces pay homage to great artists such as Monet and Van Gogh.

The exhibition also unveils the series “The Stars of Korea,” prepared specially for the Seoul exhibition. His latest 18 works are dedicated to football star Son Heung-min, Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yuna, volleyball icon Kim Yeon-koung, Cannes-winning director Park Chan-wook and Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung.

Tickets cost 18,000 won for adults. You can get a 20 percent discount if you hold a ticket to the "Six Centuries of Beauty in the Habsburg Empire" exhibition at the National Museum of Korea.

The exhibition continues through April 27.

Photographs show passage of time

Wherever you live in the world, all places manifest an accumulation of time, each containing their own unique history. While such history is often neglected, some photographers document the passage of time with their cameras.

It has been decades since Seoul first began to look like it does today, thanks to the rapid industrialization of the 1960s and 1970s. High-rise apartments dominate the skyline and continue to be built even at this very moment.

Seoul National University Museum of Art is presenting 196 photographs that captured neighborhoods before they went through urban redevelopment from the 1980s to 2000s. The exhibition titled “Myein, the Concave Lens in my Heart,” features photographs by four photo journalists and professional artists -- Kim Jung-il, Lim Chung-eui, Choi Bom and Kim Jae-kyeong. The word "myein" is an ancient Greek verb meaning "to sanctify."

“In 1982, the year when some 40 redevelopment districts were announced, real estate speculation began and the gap between the rich and poor grew out of control. The concept of neighbors, who were once people that shared a sense of space and time, has been phased out by urban regeneration,” the museum’s director, Sim Sang-yong, noted in reference to the exhibition.

Although gradually fading away from our memory, old districts in Seoul can be seen at this photography exhibition, sharing humanity and evoking nostalgia. The photographs also ask visitors if society is headed in the right direction by reflecting back on the past few decades of development. The exhibition runs until Sunday.