KCC UK Muse Exhibition Review

So, a short while back I applied to the London KCC to take part in their Korean classes. Having been successfully picked, I popped down there last weekend for a placement test. After my exam, I figured I would make use of my trip and check out the (recently finished) art exhibition, the fourth of its kind, held at the KCC. 

The exhibition, titled "Muse London", was, in my opinion, really well set out, making fantastic use of the spacious exhibition area and including works from six different artists; E.E, Eemyun Kang, Seokyeong Kang, Kiwoun Shin, Wonwoo Lee and Sean Roh, who are all Korean artists living and working in London. 


The Director of the KCC UK, Yonggi Won, described the exhibition in the following way "concentrating on the developing genre of media art, Muse London brings together six artists who each specialise in this exciting exciting field. Inspired by their lives int he capital, Muse London celebrates the canvas that London offers each and every day. Specifically dveloped on video and film, the artworks deliver very personal stories, depicting an inner world of each artist. This adds to the attraction and excitement of the exhibition whilst also reflecting the overall picture of Korean artists' practice in London."

According to the Artrabbit.com; the artwork in the exhibition is meant to 'reflect their [the artists] personal experiences of being in London- more specifically dwelling on the "artist' interior world as seen through the lense of a foreign world city".' 

Here are some examples of the pieces in the exhibition;

 

The exhibition predominantly focused on videos (so unfortunately all these pictures don't really do the pieces justice - capturing only one of many slides) however it really was a very interesting presentation that gave of a particularly strong and edgy vibe. 


Despite being the daughter of an art teacher, I am far from being an art connoisseur and I have to admit I am sure many of the more subtle, technical points in the art flew right over my head. That said, I found it a really enjoyable experience and the symbolism was somewhat intriguing - it really started to make you think, even without necessarily knowing what the piece itself was about. 


The art ranged videos of a timed countdown (shown on the red wall of screens above) to interviews (as seen on the left below), focusing on themes from the normal to the utterly bizarre. My personal favourite was a rather peculiar video which followed a wine glass, through what seems to be a night in a bar. The changing light during the evening and variety and transition of colour was subtle but equally stunning and made a fascinating watch. 

 

I was sadly unable to make it but for those who were able to attend the final evening of the exhibit early last week, they were treated to a live performance by one of the artists. EE which can be seen below; 

 EE's art has been described as being " "perhaps the closest thing to clichéd expectations of video art from a technologically advanced place like Korea. But is is stranger than that, themes of life, death, birth and carnival abound, the work is macabre and brutish but very much mirros old rock and pop videos and the graphic imagery that they pioneered to illustrate and describe the modern world.".....exciting! 

I had a little look around the rest of the building before it was time to head home for lunch! 


Thank you to all the artists who participated and I look forwards to the next exhibition at the KCC UK. 

The centre itself~!

Our beloved Korean Cultural Centre~!

Skinny Baby...positive message much?

Now it's no secret in Korea that body size and weight are big issues but when I saw an MV titled "Skinny Baby" hit youtube in the last week of December I thought Korean pop music had really hit a new low. Having watched the video and been bombarded with lines such as "Skinny Skinny Boys Boys, Skinny Skinny Girls Girls....Skinny Baby hot hot, you know I can't stop" by the end of the video my appetite was gone and I felt the inclination to go munch on a carrot.

The production can be somewhat  excused by the fact that the song has actually been produced as a Cube artist collaboration to advertise for Korean clothing brand Skool Looks' new range, Skinny Baby. (Again, what a confidence inspiring name for a clothing brand - but we'll touch on that later) I will admit that while I'm not particularly fond of the song itself or the underlying message...it is incredibly addictive. A striking intro sequence, powerful beats and the good voices of B2ST and APink make a not bad song that will leave you striding down the street like a wannabe catwalk model...or was that just me? 

I did find it slightly amusing that despite the fact that Skinny Baby is actually meant to be a uniform range...although our idols are seen strutting around sleek, stylish, monochrome attire in the music video. Apparently this is something to do with showing off the "unique sensibility of teenagers"...whatever that is supposed to mean. (Credit korea.com/blog) 

 At least in the advert itself, they are donning what I guess is supposed to be school uniform. I can only say, if I ever turned up at school in uniform looking like that (I'm talking about the girls' clothes here!) , I would probably be sent home to change. No lie. Could a school skirt get much shorter....probably not. 

Check out the advert for yourself:, would you get away with it? 

On a slightly wider scale, it's worth considering the underlying message of the song. Is Skinny Baby really an ideal name for a clothing range? While I've seen hundreds of people commenting "OMG B2ST are so fit" "OMG APink are soooo pretty!" has nobody (apart from me) actually stopped to think about the fact that this song is actually portraying a pretty negative message...whether it's aware of it or not. The wonderful entertainment industry combined with the media (I won't say Korean media because in this example, it is the same all around the world) have once again raised the bar for what young men and women should aspire to look like. For girls in particular, there are a number of alphabet inspired skinny body shapes to try and work towards (see below - can you tell the difference?!) and if that's not enough, it's not like you just have to dress in small sized clothes...now you even have a new "Skinny Baby" clothing range to dress your skinny body in. Sad times but here to stay.

For those who are interested~ the following advertisements show wonderfully photoshopped  realistic photos illustrating the S and X lines~ 

The unachievable "X Line" exhibiting long legs and a very slim waist ...supposedly

The infamous S-line referring to the shape of the body  with ample breasts and a "good amount of junk in the trunk" (Thanks to Simon@Eat Your Kimchi for that one!) 

The notorious 2008 advertisement for Amore Pacific featuring Yoon Eun Hye ..well, that's her on the right anyway...I'm not quite  sure who's body they stole in order to create the monstrosity of the X-line advert on the left but it's definitely not Yoon Eun Hye! 

Credits : (CF credit) b2utygirls04 youtube channel 

(MV credit) APink's youtube channel 

Photo Credits : Adverts / Body Lines : www.thegrandnarrative.com

Happy New Year : Bring on 2012

or not quite yet if you're Korean! As many of us have gradually started to settle in to 2012, despite all the doom and gloom we're told it will bring, many Koreans are still yet to fully join in.

Most Koreans now follow and celebrate New Years Day according to the regular ('solar') calendar that we follow in the West, however, many more still choose to celebrate the traditional holiday of 설날 (Seol-nal), which marks the first day of the Lunar calendar. The celebrations for 설날 last for three days and serve as an opportunity for Koreans to return to their hometowns for family gatherings to perform ancestral rituals. Regarded as one of the most important holidays, 설날 provides a great opportunity to get together, get dressed up in Korean traditional clothing (a hanbok) and to eat yummy 떡국 (ddeok-guk - rice cake soup).

Many celebrities release pictures in traditional dress: here's 소녀시대  aka  Girls Generation in hanboks

And the male hanbok...kindly modelled by 샤이니 aka Shinee...

New Years is also a time for the expression of filial piety - or paying respects to your parents. In this time, while wearing the hanbok, children perform a deep bow to their elders and say 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (sae-hae bok man-i bad-eu-se-yo) which translates into something along the lines of "(I wish you) a happy new year".
In return, the children are given gifts, historically of fruit and rice cake but now, also of money and words of wisdom.

This year, 설날 will be falling on Monday 23rd of January giving you lots of time to prepare for the festivities! This Korean holiday is really all about getting together, eating well and celebrating the start of the New Year. As for me, I'll probably be back home for the weekend and I've decided to learn to make 떡국! How will you be celebrating?

Here's 떡국 : this is what I'm going to try and make! 

LoKo: Korean Dance Workshop in London

The workshop is full swing - there's me in black and bright pink converse! 

 As someone who has spent a lot of time trying to learn K-pop dance routines off videos on youtube (and frequently failed or given up), I found a smart solution while surfing facebook where I found a London based Korean dance workshop! Held on the 18th December, I quickly signed up and waited with anticipation for the day...

So, Sunday morning and I was up and out early to go to my first workshop which was held up in Finsbury Park. Run by the recently formed "LoKo" Group, their increasingly popular previous dance workshops have had nothing but great success with the most recent one even being taken by none other than a choreographer from SM Entertainment! I was really hyped having seen the amazing 9 song remixed playlist that we'd be dancing too including Mr Simple, Dr Feel Good, I Am The Best, Fiction, Neverland, Hot Summer, Cry Cry, The Boys and Paradise (which was definitely the most popular song on the day...all that thrusting!)

We danced from 10-5 stopping only for an hour or so for lunch. We were taught by Caroline, Isabelle and Tammy who each taught three of the nine songs. All were really great - going through the choreography at a pace that everyone could follow before throwing in the music - just to keep us all on our toes!!! We all had great fun learning the dance whether it was the thrusting in Infinite's Paradise, Minzy's dance solo from I Am The Best or the infamously difficult penguin dance from B2ST's Fiction, we all had a really good time. It was a pretty tough day but I think everyone really enjoyed themselves and it was well worth the effort at the end.
I had so much fun and for anyone who is based in London, I would highly recommend coming along to the next workshop. As clichéd as it sounds, I made lots of new friends and got to spend most of the day dancing to Kpop and my breaks chatting to everyone about everything Korean. I was lucky enough to get the chance to sit down and have a chat with some fellow bloggers from KoreanClassMassive so if you get the chance, you should definitely go and check out their blog - http://koreanclassmassive.blogspot.com. After that, we did a few final run-throughs of the dance before everyone went home...knowing that tomorrow they probably wouldn't be able to move...!

                                                               All in all - a great day!

A class photo at the end of the workshop

Me with Tammy - one of the workshop teachers and also a good friend of mine from last year's MBC

Mid Drama Review : Brain (브레인)

I think it has something to do with my secret childhood obsession with becoming a doctor but I am an absolute sucker for medical dramas. Having watched 산부인과 여의사 earlier in the year (definitely worth watching although the end is a bit....) I have been on the lookout for another medical-based Korean drama for a while. Enter Brain - well paced, intriguing, well balanced and believable, it follows the lives of a group neurosurgeons at the prestigious Chunha University Hospital. 

The plotline centers around Lee Kang-Hoon (Shin Ha-Kyun) an exceptionally talented but equally exceptionally arrogant neurosurgeon from a poor background who basically had to fight his way, tooth and nail, to get to where he is now and his rival classmate, Joon-Suk (Jo Dong-Hyeok), who comes from a family of doctors and was, for want of a better phrase, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The relationship between the two doctors is significantly influenced by their interactions with Kim Sang-Chul (Jung Jin-Young), a renowned surgeon and well liked professor, popular with both his peers and his patients.

I have to admit I've actually become really fond of many of the supporting actors/actresses in this series. I know I'm fond of them because I can remember their names - I always take this as a strong hint! Choi Jung-Won presents a well developed character as feisty, confident yet warm hearted resident Dr Yun Ji-Hye. While a little wimpish at the start, her encounters with Lee Kang-Hoon give her the opportunity to shine and learn to stand up for herself. My real favourite however has to be Head Nurse Hong Eun-Sook, played by Im Ji-Eun. I confess, I am slightly biased as I have supported her since watching her in God of Study (공부의 신) but she never fails to impress, delivering a solid performance providing a depth to her character that is rare in the world of Korean dramas. 

There are a number of things I really like about this drama. 

1. It doesn't really follow the stereotypical Korean drama plot (poor girl, rich boy, strange meeting, fall in love, horrible mother....you get me!).While still predictable in parts, as most dramas are, it still manages to captivate the viewer and the various twists in the plot make for interesting, somewhat unexpected events leaving us, as viewers, wondering what is going to follow...

2. It doesn't rely on eye candy. Now, first things first, I'm not saying that the actors in this drama aren't attractive - they are! - but I just don't get the feeling that they're relying on their looks rather than their skills as actors. Consequently, this results in a much more conclusive presentation. There are no huge bursts of overacting nor does it feel fake or "cold". 

3. As already mentioned, I'm a sucker for medical dramas and a big fan of Im Ji-Eun! 

I'm generally rather disappointed with the lack of press dramas such as Brain receive just because they don't have a 'pretty' line up.... *cough* Pretty/Flower Boys in the Ramyun Shop *cough* I wish people would look beyond the gleaming white smiles and cute faces of the likes of Cha Chi-soo*. I mean, it's not that I dislike Pretty Boys in the Flower Shop, I do like it and I'm watching it at the moment - I guess it just frustrates me that awesome dramas like Brain get sidelined and pass under the radar.... >< 

This is only a mid-drama review so I won't say anymore but if you haven't seen it, you know what you should spend the rest of the day / evening doing! 

ENJOY! 

*A further reference to the Pretty/Flower Boys in the Ramyun Shop drama. 

Kpop on the BBC...!

ok....so it was on BBC Asia and it was broadcast from Singapore...but still!


This morning at exactly 05:01 am GMT (no, I wasn't awake for this, I was just mooching the website today and found it!), BBC Asia presented a piece titled "K-pop singer 'honoured' at the MTV awards" following 2NE1's success at the MTV awards in New York having been voted "New Band of the Year".

It included an interview, conducted in English, with the lead singer, CL, of 2NE1, a Korean pop girl group formed in 2009, as well as footage from the MV of the Japanese version of "I Am The Best" and also performance footage of "Fire".

CL answered a number of questions including where she believed the future lay for K-pop and it's appeal on a more global basis, particularly regarding the language barrier.

I was actually really pleased to see such coverage as it just goes to show how far the Hallyu wave is spreading. Congratulations to 2NE1 for their recent success and I can't wait to see what's coming next!

If you wish to watch the original interview via BBC iplayer, follow the link below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16212073

(Credits to BBC Asia - Singapore)

One year anniversary of MBC The Birth of a Star Competition

Exactly one year ago to this day, I was getting off a plane to land in Korea to participate in the famous MBC 위대한탄생 competition. I managed to get past the primary Youtube round so I was then invited to go to Seoul, Korea for the next round.
(Here you can see my original audition video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNs0GGkysAQ)

It was all a little crazy, none of us really knew whether we were coming or going but I rocked up to London Heathrow airport in time to catch my flight. In the queue to board, I was lucky enough to meet another UK based contestant, Tammy, who was also flying out for the competition.

We flew Korean Air - I have to admit that I'm a sucker for plane food and the food they served was actually pretty good. We got Bibimbap and a little thing of kimchi - really rather cute :D

When we arrived in Seoul, it was snowing fairly heavily and it was absolutely freezing. Around 5 of us were arriving at similar times - we all quickly realised we had not really come dressed for a Korean winter!! Having just landed, many of us coming off long haul flights, we were asked by the camera crews to do a variety of things to provide footage for the show. We had to go back through the arrivals gate and pretend to arrive (again) in the airport and walk through the gate with looks of happiness and amazement on our faces, then walk into the terminal and then come back out a few times together, pretending to be best friends already - I even got asked to walk around the airport singing....in Korean...which left many of the people in the airport rather confused!

We arrived at our 'officetel' (kind of like a long-stay hotel...except we weren't long stay) close to the MBC Studios and the next day it was off to the TV studios for our official auditions! Here is a picture of Tammy and I while we were waiting to audition in the dressing rooms;

Although neither of us passed, we had a really good day and I made lots of friends from all over the world.
In fact, those of us that didn't pass took the opportunity to go have a look around, eat some good food and go to 노래방! (Korean karaoke!)

Look at Daniel still wearing his audition sticker ^^ We all had an amazing time and funnily enough, we actually all still keep in touch via a facebook group...except we're all a little depressed at the moment, reminiscing over the times we had in Seoul exactly one year ago. What I wouldn't give to have the chance to go back now...!