SEOUL Weekly: The Flower That Doesn’t Wilt

Mar 5, 2014 / Issue No. 622

Seoul Selection is looking for a part-time Korean-to-English translator, preferably one who majored in economics. If you’re interested, please send a resume and cover letter to atoz@seoulselection.com.

Seodaemun Prison History Museum is hosting the exhibition “The Flower That Doesn’t Wilt” (Korean link) thru Mar 30.

Featuring 14 works by some of Korea’s top comic illustrators, the exhibition aims to convey the painful experiences of Korea’s “comfort women,” women who were forced to serve as sex slaves by the Japanese imperial military.

This is an encore of the exhibition that showed at France’s Angouleme International Comics Festival, the world’s largest comic exhibition. The exhibit drew an enthusiastic response despite reported Japanese attempts to shut it down.

Around the Web

– In LA, a Korean company is building the tallest building in the US west of the Mississippi.

– What Korea can teach the world about living.

– Want North Korean desktop images for your Linux distro?

– Art workshops are bringing life to a gritty Suwon neighborhood.

– The Galaxy 3 makes an appearence at the Oscars.

– Blue skies and white snow in Daegwallyeong.

– Don’t miss this spring scenery at the end of the month.

– What to do around Hwarangdae Station.

– Unjusa Temple is one of Korea’s weirdest places.

– Yours Truly went to Seodaemun Prison History Museum… among other places.

Events

The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is coming to Seoul with its young principal guest conductor Daniel Harding. Founded in 1904, LSO has been extensively engaged in tours and recordings for top music labels and original film scores like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter and Braveheart. Its March 10 program in Seoul includes Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” and Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony.” The next day, LSO will perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, sharing the stage with Korean pianist Kim Sun-wook.

The Hongdae indie scene is ready to give a hearty welcome to American electronic musician Will Wiesenfeld, who is better known by his stage name Baths. With his 2010 debut album “Cerulean,” he soared his way out of the oversaturated electronic and club scene in LA. Thanks to his arty, experimental, yet humanist approach on glitch-pop. Wiesenfeld is now seen as a friendly wunderkind of digital pop music, even though “Cerulean” is often comfortably categorized under the loose “chillwave” umbrella of Toro Y Moi and Washed Out. Baths’s recent effort “Obsidian” is an altogether more stark, introspective affair than “Cerulean” in both tone and songwriting, shaped partly by Wiesenfeld’s depressed disposition. In 2011, he was struck down by a dire bout of E. coli, leaving him bedridden for months on end.

VENUE: Rolling Hall

DATE: Mar 8, 11pm

ADMISSION: KRW 40,000–45,000

MORE INFO: T. 02-325-6071, http://lasrevinu.org

In Kiss & Cry, fingers do the walking and talking as they tell the story of romance on a table-sized stage: a collaboration between Belgian choreographer Michele Anne De May and her countryman filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael. Though certainly not traditional dance, these hands shock, entertain and move in a bittersweet, cathartic performance. The finger performance on the minuscule stage is captured on camera with lighting and small-scale special effects and relayed to the big screen for audience members to watch. Dollhouse furniture and electric trains form each scene’s setting.

VENUE: LG Art Center

PERIOD: Mar 6–9

ADMISSION: KRW 30,000–70,000

MORE INFO: T. 02-2005-0114, www.lgart.com

GETTING THERE: Yeoksam Station 역삼역 (Line 2), Exit 8. Walk into the first alley on your left and you’ll see it.

Spring Session Begins April 2nd.

*Saddle Club – A horseback riding program instructed by a professional equestrian instructor.

*Stanley Club – An ice hockey program coached by a former national team player.

*Mickelson club – A golf program instructed by a PGA certified instructor.

*Little League Club – A fun baseball program run on Saturdays.

CAU Kid’s Global Club is provided by Chung-Ang University to foster inter-cultural friendships and to create an extracurricular environment where children can grow and develop themselves through various sports and cultural activities.

MORE INFO: http://kidsclub.cau.ac.kr, T. 02-820-6119/6492

During this excursion, Dr. Robert J. Fouser will guide participants along eastern sections of the Seoul City Wall and explore several neighborhoods along the edges of the wall. The excursion will begin at the Hyehwamun near the Hanseong University Station. From there, participants walk along the wall heading south, stopping at Naksan Park. At the park, participants will make a short detour to visit Jangsu Village, a troubled “redevelopment district” that has sponsored several public art projects. Continuing south along the wall, participants will make another detour to visit public art projects in Ihwa-dong, before coming to the end of this section of the wall at Honginjimun (Dongdaemun). The villages offer interesting insight into efforts to revive older neighborhoods in Korean cities.

VENUE: Seoul’s Naksan Park area

DATE: March 9, 1PM to 4:30PM

ADMISSION: KRW 20,000 for RAS-KB members; KRW 25,000 for non-members

MORE INFO & GETTING THERE: See this link.

Everyday Koreans

Notifications

Send Your Event Info – If you would like to advertise any upcoming events you are organizing, please send us the press release material at book@seoulselection.com by the preceding Friday in order for it to appear in the following Tuesday’s issue.

Freelance Contributors Wanted – SEOUL Magazine needs writers who are fluent in both Korean and English. Writers should have a strong interest in Korean culture and be able to interview Koreans. Send your resume and writing samples to book@seoulselection.com.

We Buy & Sell Used Books – Seoul Selection buys and sells used books in English. Unlike our regular selection of publications that specialize in Korea-related topics, our Used Book section carries books on all subjects. It’s all part of our effort to make life easier for the English-speaking community.

SEOUL (March 2014)

Buy Books at Seoul Selection’s ONLINE Bookshop!

An Encyclopedia of Korean Buddhism

The Russian Novel

The Korean State Public Administration and Development

North Korean Defectors in China

The History of Immigration Policy in Korea

SNU Korean Language Student’s Book 1A

Korean War

Veil

Fasten Your Seatbelt

Days of Wrath

Miss Cherry’s Love Puzzle

The Face Reader