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Author: Yurim Oh

Minhwa: Korean Paintings of the People, by the People, and for the People

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Tiger with Two Cubs and Two Magpies, Late Joseon Dynasty (18th or 19th Century), Mattielli Collection. Image courtesy of jstor.org | 

In this lecture, Professor Sunglim Kim explores Korean folk painting, minhwa, and examines its origin and development, the different genres within it, and their meanings and functions. She will also illustrate how minhwa paintings were consumed by Koreans in the past and the present.

 

Minhwa
Korean Paintings of the People, by the People, and for the People
by Sunglim Kim

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 | 6:30 PM (EDT)


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Sunglim Kim is an associate professor of Korean art and culture at Dartmouth College. She specializes in the material and consumer culture of the late Joseon period and women artists in modern and contemporary Korea.

gamin & ensemble: Korean Music & Beyond

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Robert Browning Associates, Lotus Music & Dance, and Roulette present in association with The Korea Society and the Korean Cultural Center New York: gamin & ensemble: Korean Music & Beyond

This entrancing program of traditional Korean music (rooted in shamanic rituals and agrarian life) and contemporary music influenced by Korean culture is led by the engaging master multi-instrumentalist gamin (piri -double-reed oboe, saenghwang – mouth organ, and taepyungso – double-reed horn). Her extensive credits include being a principal player at the National Gugak Orchestra for a decade, performing in the Silk Road concert with Yo-Yo Ma in Seoul, and touring the world. The program features improvised music for rituals, percussive farmer’s music, and modern works. gamin will be joined by Satoshi Takeishi (percussion), Vong Pak (janggo – drum), Jeff Fairbanks (piano, trombone), Choi Fairbanks (cello), Marty Ehrlich (bass clarinet, saxophone), and other artists to be announced.

This event is co-presented by Robert Browning Associates, Lotus Music & Dance, and Roulette, in association with The Korea Society and the Korean Cultural Center New York.

 

Robert Browning Associates, Lotus Music & Dance, and Roulette present in association with The Korea Society and the Korean Cultural Center New York:

 gamin & ensemble: Korean Music & Beyond

Friday, March 31, 2023 | 8 PM

PURCHASE TICKETS

Roulette Intermedium

509 Atlantic Avenue | Brooklyn, NY 11217

 

 

 

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About gamin:

gamin is a Korean born NYC based multi-instrumentalist specialized for traditional Korean wind. She tours the world performing both traditional Korean music and cross-disciplinary collaborations. She is a scholar and designated Yisuja, official holder of Korea’s Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46.

From 2000 to 2010, gamin was the principal player at the National Gugak Orchestra. gamin has received several cultural exchange program grants, including Artist-in-Residence at the Asian Cultural Council, and has collaborated in cross-cultural improvisation with world-acclaimed musicians, presenting premieres at Roulette Theater, New School, and Metropolitan Museum. gamin was featured artist at the Silkroad concert, Seoul, 2018, performing on-stage with the founder, Yo-Yo Ma.

Since 2018, gamin curated performances at the Center for Remembering and Sharing. For 2020, gamin was selected as artist-in-residency at the HERE Arts Center, NYC, and her album ‘Nong’ was released by Innova Records. gamin’s Carnegie Hall solo début, accompanied by Nangye Gugak Orchestra, scheduled for March 2020, was postponed by Covid 19. For 2021-2022, gamin was awarded the prestigious two year Fellowship by Jerome Hill Foundation.

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

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The Korean-born, German-educated, life-long New Yorker, Nam June Paik (1932-2006) coined the phrase “the electronic superhighway” long before the Internet was born. A consummate shape-shifter — classical composer, subversive trickster, pioneer of experimental “interventions” (he called “action music”) and, according to friends, speaker of nine languages (all badly). Paik’s influences ranged from Hegel to Schoenberg, from traditional Korean dance to Buddhism, space travel, and beyond.

Debut filmmaker Amanda Kim’s captivating, kinetic documentary — narrated by actor Steven Yeun (MINARI, BURNING) — uses archival footage and clips from the artist’s work to recount his collaborations and fascinations with Joseph Beuys, Charlotte Moorman (the topless cellist), David Bowie, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, Merce Cunningham, and his great mentor and friend, John Cage.

The Korea Society and Asian American Writers’ Workshop will present a Q&A with the filmmaker Amanda Kim, moderated by Mary H.K. Choi, following the screening.

Purchase Tickets @ Film Forum

Use promocode KOREA for a discounted $11 rate for general tickets (reg $15) up to two tickets per person. The discount is valid for any screening throughout the film’s run.

     * Scroll to your desired screening(s) and click BUY TICKETS
     * In the top right corner of the screen, click PROMO CODE
     * Enter KOREA, then click submit
     * Select 1 or 2 General $15.00 tickets (Note: you may purchase multiple tickets, but discount will apply only to the first 2)
     * Click Add to Cart – the discount will be applied at checkout

 

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
Q&A with the filmmaker Amanda Kim

Monday, March 27, 2023 | 8 PM


 @ Film Forum
209 West Houston St., NYC.

 

About the Speaker:

 

Amanda Kim is a Tokyo-raised, Korean American director and producer. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in Comparative Literature, she worked many odd jobs in music, fashion, and design, before landing a job at Vice Media. A former creative director at Vice Media, she led U.S. video direction for i-D, Creators, and Garage magazine. Kim also worked on Viceland, Vice’s TV channel, as a creative producer in an experimental incubator where she directed a nimble production crew to test out pilots and innovative content formats.

 

About the Moderator:

 

Mary H. K. Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record and Yolk. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times, New York and GQ. Previously, she was a culture correspondent for Vice News and has written comic books for Marvel and DC. She is currently developing Permanent Record for a feature film and Yolk for TV. She lives in New York City.

Artist Talk: Seongmin Ahn with Eleanor Hyun

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Traditional Korean Painting for Modern Times: In Seongmin Ahn’s paintings, it is not our past we are looking at but our possible future. – John Yau, Hyperallergic

In her solo exhibition at The Korea Society, Seongmin Ahn presents a series of paintings and wall installations that fuses her insight in the relativity of perception with a deep regard for traditional Korean art, especially minhwa–folk painting. In her work, Ahn begins with traditional forms and themes, which she then extends into multi-disciplinary and multi-media practices by adopting science, technology, and multiple cognitive models.

In conversation with Eleanor Hyun, Associate Curator for Korean Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seongmin Ahn discusses her work, her career, and her solo exhibition at The Korea Society.

 

Artist Talk: Seongmin Ahn
with Eleanor Hyun

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | 6 PM (EDT) | In Person

Friday, March 24, 2023 | Video Release

 

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: (M-F) 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

**Pre-registration is now required for all Korea Society events, and an ID is required for security.**

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

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ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Seongmin Ahn holds an MFA in Asian traditional painting from Seoul National University and another MFA in mixed media from the Maryland Institute College of Art. As an active participant in the contemporary art scene in New York and East Asia, she has exhibited work at such major venues as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, and the Charles Wang Center at Stony Brook University. She has received a number of funding awards, including two Pollock Krasner Foundation grants, AHL foundation artist grant and Café Royal Cultural Foundation grant. Her work has been reviewed in The Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Baltimore Sun, The Plain Dealer and others. Her work has been acquired by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, Princeton University Art Museum, and Hudson River Museum.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR:

Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun is the Associate Curator for Korean Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She joined The Met in September 2019. From 2015 to 2019, she worked at the British Museum as the first Curator for the Korean Collections. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago completing a dissertation on late imperial Joseon Korean and Qing Chinese art.

Han!

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“[Han] is not an easy word to understand. It has generally been understood as a sort of resentment. But I think it means both sadness and hope at the same time. You can think of Han as the core of life, the pathway leading from birth to death. . .” Park Kyongni (1994)

An ancient dance is performed under a neon light. A virgin ghost stares out of the TV. A baby left alone in an apartment meditates on the nature of solitude. A woman explores memories of her life in relation to the Korean concept of Han.

Our heroine moves back and forth between the ancient myths of “Gojoseon,” the era of her dead grandmother, her mother’s past and her own life. Three generations of Korean women bound together in the “resilient silence” of Han. How will she navigate the sea of expectations that life, family, and nation have thrown her way? Through her struggle to understand the complexity of her own Han, which ignites a fire in her mind, we are carried into a dynamic meditation that explores the no man’s land that exists between myth and modernity, as we weigh the relation between suffering, sacrifice, and destiny.

HAN! is directed by Thomas Richards, theater director and former Artistic Director of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Pontedera, Italy. There, he began as the protégé and then essential collaborator of famed Polish director and performing arts theorist Jerzy Grotowski, considered to have been one of the greatest reformers of 20th century theater and one of the founders of experimental theater.

Directed by Thomas Richards; Assistant Directors: Cécile Richards Jessica Losilla-Hébrail.

The show is in Korean with English subtitles performed by Hyun Ju Baek.

Thursday February 9, 2023 | 7 PM

JERSEY CITY THEATER CENTER
White Eagle Hall

337 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302

 

 

 

February 23 – March 12, 2023

LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATER

66 E. 4th Street, New York, NY 10003

 

 

 

 

             

 


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Performer:

Hyun Ju Baek was born in South Korea. Her career developed mainly as a musical theatre actress for a decade in Korea. She traveled to London to study theatre directing and earned a master’s degree in Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. Before joining the Workcenter Hyun Ju worked as an actress, director, and playwright in both Seoul and London. She wrote, produced and directed many theatre pieces including: Flatmates V Zombies (Tristan Bates Theatre UK, Camden People’s Theatre UK – a piece that won a fund of the Arts Council of England); The lady of Burma (Moon Light Theatre Korea); Today and (commissioned by Kyunggi Cultural Foundation); The Sound Factory (commissioned by the Pusan Cultural Foundation). In 2017, she participated in the Workcenter’s Master Course, supported by the Korean Arts Council. After attending another pedagogic encounter with Thomas Richards in Hongkong, she organized a theatre group: The association for Theatre Craft and Creative Process GB, and held the Seoul Work Encounter 2018, inviting to Korea the Focused Research Team in Art as Vehicle. The following year, she joined the Workcenter’s Focused Research Team in Art as Vehicle.

Consequences of Korea’s Compressed Modernity

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Join our discussion about the consequences of Korea’s rapid economic development on the family unit and society at large, featuring Seoul National University sociology Professor Chang Kyung-Sup. This program is a collaboration with the Policy Department and the Education Department.

 

Consequences of Korea’s Compressed Modernity

Thursday, February 9, 2023 | 7 PM (EST)

 

 


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker :

Kyung-Sup Chang is a SNU Distinguished Professor at Seoul National University, teaching sociology since 1991. His work has dealt with comparative development and modernity, Asian citizenship regimes, Korean liberalism, etc. His authored books include: The Logic of Compressed Modernity (Polity, 2022; Korean, Chinese, French, Arabic versions forthcoming); Transformative Citizenship in South Korea: Politics of Transformative Contributory Rights (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022); Developmental Liberalism in South Korea: Formation, Degeneration, and Transnationalization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019); South Korea under Compressed Modernity: Familial Political Economy in Transition (Routledge, 2010; Chinese version in 2023); The Risk of Compressed Modernity (Polity, forthcoming), etc.

A Very Asian Guide to Korean Food

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Introduce children to Asian cuisine and the #VERYASIAN movement! Written by Michelle Li, A Very Asian Guide to Korean Food introduces young readers to classic and modern Korean dishes and provides fun facts about the foods and culture of Korea.

Michelle Li is an award-winning, veteran journalist and co-founder of the Very Asian Foundation. She started a global movement of unity with the viral hashtag #veryasian after she received a racist voicemail in response to her sharing on-air the Korean foods she eats. She is a vocal advocate for the Asian American community and brings this same pride and energy for her culture to her debut children’s book.

The book is the first in the Very Asian Guide series, a children’s book series that celebrates various Asian cuisines, and is published by Gloo Books, a new children’s book publishing company making books for a more inclusive, just and compassionate future.

Join us for a conversation with Michelle Li.

 

 

A Very Asian Guide to Korean Food with Michelle Li

Tuesday, January 24, 2023 | 6 PM (EST)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

Michelle Li is an award-winning, veteran journalist who co-launched The Very Asian Foundation in January 2022 alongside friend and fellow journalist Gia Vang.

Her response to a racist voicemail became a global movement of unity and caught the attention of The Ellen Show. Ellen’s monetary gift of $15,000 helped start the seed money to create a non profit focused on shining a light on Asian experiences through advocacy and celebration.

Michelle spent many years supporting adoptees through heritage camps and volunteer tours to Korea. She also launched a program to support Missouri children in foster care. All of this led to a congressional award in 2010. Michelle’s journalistic work has been honored with a national Peabody Award, several national Murrows, and multiple regional Emmys– often dealing with race or gender inequities. Michelle has appeared on CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, and The Washington Post. A Very Asian Guide to Korean Food is her first children’s book.

Michelle currently resides in St. Louis with her family.

Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema with Karen Han

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Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema by culture writer and screenwriter Karen Han is the first definitive critical and visual survey of the Academy Award–winning South Korean writer/director who has been making critically acclaimed feature films for more than two decades.

Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema by culture writer and screenwriter Karen Han is the first definitive critical and visual survey of the Academy Award–winning South Korean writer/director who has been making critically acclaimed feature films for more than two decades. Brilliantly illustrated and designed by the London-based film magazine Little White Lies, this lush monograph surveys Bong’s full body of work, including his short films and music videos. The accompanying text by Karen Han, interviews with Bong’s key collaborators, and foreword by David Lowery (The Green Knight) flesh out the stories behind Bong’s films and explore his rise in the cultural eye of the West.

Join us for a conversation about Bong Joon Ho’s career with Karen Han.

 

Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema with Karen Han

Tuesday, January 17, 2023 | 6 PM (EST)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

Karen Han is a Korean American culture writer and screenwriter whose work can be found in outlets such as the New York Times, the Atlantic, Vanity Fair, VICE, the Village Voice, New York magazine, and Slate. She has also appeared on television and radio as a critic on Good Morning America, Amanpour & Co., NPR, and WNYC. She lives in Los Angeles.

The Impact of the U.S. Midterms and the U.S.-Korea Alliance

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Join The Korea Society and Former Members of Congress (FMC) & the Congressional Study Groups for a dialogue with a bipartisan pair of Former Members of Congress to hear insights on the consequences of America’s midterm elections on the country at large and its dynamic relationship with South Korea. This conversation features former Representative Russ Carnahan (D-MO, 2005-2013) and former Representative Ted Yoho (R-FL, 2013-2021), and is moderated by Korea Society President and CEO Thomas Byrne. The roundtable dialogue features input from policy and corporate professionals and is released as a pre-recorded video and podcast.

 

The Impact of the U.S. Midterms and the U.S.-Korea Alliance
2022 Korea Society Van Fleet Policy Signature Event – In Partnership with FMC

Dialogue and Pre-Recorded Video Release

Thursday, December 8, 2022 | 11 AM (EST)

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

 

Russ Carnahan (D-MO, 2005 – 2013)

A former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Russ Carnahan most recently was an early prominent leader for the 2020 Biden campaign where he served as an outside adviser. From 2005-2013, Carnahan represented Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District. He served in several leadership roles, including as Senior Democratic Whip from 2009-13 and Co-Chair of the bipartisan Center Aisle Caucus focused on common sense solutions for both political parties. Carnahan was selected as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations and received a Presidential Appointment from the Obama/Biden Administration as Congressional Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. He also served on the U.S. House of Representatives committees for: Transportation & Infrastructure; Science & Technology; and Veterans Affairs. Carnahan began his career in public service when he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2000. He was Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and Deputy Majority Whip. He earned several awards for his legislative work, including from the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association, the St. Louis Business Journal and the Missouri Bar Association. Carnahan also served as Director of Government Relations for BJC HealthCare, one of the largest hospital systems in the country. After leaving Congress, Carnahan was a partner with Carnahan Global Consulting in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, MO., specializing in international business, legal and governmental consulting. His work particularly focused on issues of renewable energy, sustainable building technology, historic preservation, transportation infrastructure and transition to commercial electric vehicles
 

 

Ted Yoho (R-FL, 2013 – 2021)

Congressman Ted Yoho is a Senior Advisor to KHG, after serving in the House of Representatives for eight years, representing the 3rd Congressional District of Florida. Ted first entered Congress in 2013 as a member of the 113th Congress. He has served on the Agriculture and Foreign Affairs Committee during his time in congress. In the 115th Congress Ted became the chairman of the Asia-Pacific Sub-Committee. Ted and his Team led the passage of the BUILD Act in 2018 with strong bi-partisan support. The BUILD Act authorized the creation of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (U.S. IDFC). The U.S. IDFC, commonly referred to as DFC, is the largest reform to foreign aid in decades. It is a tool to modernize foreign aid and facilitate countries to move from, “Aid to Trade.” Congressman Yoho was honored with several distinguished awards during his tenure in Congress, including the Golden Plow Award presented by the American Federation of Farm Bureaus. This is the highest award given to a sitting member in the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate. Additionally, Ted is the only individual from Florida to ever receive this award. On December 8, 2020 Emperor Naruhito of Japan bestowed upon Congressman Yoho the distinguished “Order of the Rising Sun” and the Country of Mongolia presented on April 13, 2021 the coveted “Order of the Polar Star.” Previous American recipients of the Order of the Polar Star were President Obama, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Senator John McCain. These two awards are equivalent to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. These were given to Congressman Yoho for his contributions in strengthening the relationships between the United States and these two countries.

 

Three Futures: North Korea and the Korean Peninsula

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A discussion on the most likely scenarios for the future of the Korean Peninsula, featuring: Korea Risk Group CEO Chad O’Carroll, NK News Director and Professor at Kookmin University Andrei Lankov, NK News Lead Correspondent Jeongmin Kim, and NK News Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko, in conversation with policy director Jonathan Corrado. Utilizing forecasts that rely on the trajectory of current conditions, the experts debate the best possible case, the worst possible case, and the most likely scenario. The experts also opine on how to avoid the most dangerous contingencies and create conditions for positive developments. Join us for this discussion informed by a rich tapestry of journalistic and academic inquiry.

 

Three Futures: North Korea and the Korean Peninsula

Tuesday, December 6, 2022 | 12 PM (EST)

 


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Chad O’Carroll is the founder of NK News/NK Pro and related holding company Korea Risk Group. In addition to being the group’s CEO, O’Carroll is a frequent writer and commentator about the Koreas, having written about the two nations since 2010. He has visited the DPRK multiple times, worked and lived in Washington, D.C. with a focus on peninsula issues, and lived in the ROK since 2016.
 

Andrei Lankov is a Director at NK News and writes exclusively for the site as one of the world’s leading authorities on North Korea. He has been widely published in English, Russian, and Korean. A graduate of Leningrad State University, he attended Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung University from 1984-85. In addition to his writing, he is also a Professor at Kookmin University.
 

Jeongmin Kim is the Lead Correspondent at NK News, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean and DPRK-related foreign, defense and humanitarian affairs, and has covered the 2022 ROK Presidential election on the ground. Prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency’s Seoul bureau. Follow her on Twitter @jeongminnkim
 

Colin Zwirko is a Senior Analytic Correspondent for NK News based in Seoul who focuses on a range of subjects including diplomatic affairs, DPRK infrastructure, and trade issues. Furthermore, he is a satellite imagery specialist and produces regular work in this area. Follow him on Twitter @ColinZwirko.