Category: Art & Artist

Shown for the first time in the United States, the collection features a rare collection of locks, latches and key charms, from the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392-1910), beautifully designed metal and wood objects executed in myriad shapes.

This exhibition features a rare collection of locks, latches and key charms, from the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392-1910). The items reveal the richly symbolic and exquisitely decorative dimensions of traditional Korean aesthetic and craft traditions. On loan from the Lock Museum in Seoul and shown for the first time in the United States, the collection includes beautifully designed metal and wood objects executed in myriad shapes: dragons, turtles, butterflies, fish, bats and swallows. Although these objects served functional purposes in everyday life, such as securing gates and protecting the contents of chests and other kinds of furniture, the beauty of their design underscores the primarily symbolic nature of the protection they afforded. Traditionally, Koreans believed that locks and latches fashioned in the shape of talismanic animals could invoke the power of these animals both to ensure the protection of their property and to bestow the blessings of wealth, health, fecundity and happiness. As an accompaniment to the locks and latches, key charms evolved from functional key holders into exquisitely decorated personal accessories passed from mothers to daughters as a symbol of the transfer of responsibility for ensuring the good management of household affairs.

Related program:

Crossing the Line, directed by Daniel Gordon and narrated by Christian Slater
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
6:00 PM-6:30 PM • Registration and Reception
6:30 PM-8:30 PM • Screening and Q&A

Through Friday, August 15, 2008

Kyopo (교포) is a Korean term for people of Korean descent who reside permanently outside of the Korean Peninsula. The Kyopo Project is a collection of images created by photographer CYJO to highlight the diversity of the global kyopo community.

Emigration from Korea to other countries in Asia began as a trickle in the mid-nineteenth century, and accelerated during the first half of the twentieth century as the depredations of Japanese colonial rule increased. A second wave of emigrants began leaving for the Western Hemisphere, particularly the United States, in the mid-1960s. Kyopo hail from virtually every country in the world, but the vast majority reside in just three countries: China, the U.S. and Japan. Today, kyopo number approximately 6.5 million—one for every ten Koreans residing in the Korean Peninsula.

This exhibition features a series of 171 full-length portraits of kyopo from around the world. It shows each subject in their analogical plenitude, as Roland Barthes would say, and betrays/displays the intimate relation of the photographer to the portraits. The subjects are posed frontally, with their eyes returning the camera’s and the viewer’s gaze. Thus, each subject connects with and mirrors the others, while also reflecting their inherent differences. Ranging in age from teenagers to a septuagenarian, they are novelists, actors, teachers, comedians, athletes, executives and retirees. The striking diversity of the group—the subjects do not appear to have much in common other than their Korean ancestry—challenges the idea of a monolithic, authentic Korean identity and stimulates exploration of what it means to be Korean. The exhibition also poses the question of how kyopo negotiate the sometimes conflicting expectations and sensibilities arising from their intrinsic bicultural identity.

April 24–May 16, 2008

Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Korea Society is pleased to present Inside North Korea with the New York Philharmonic, an exhibition of photographs by award-winning photographer Mark Edward Harris that document the concert by the New York Philharmonic orchestra in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on February 26, 2008.

In these fascinating and often-stunning photographs, Harris offers a portrait of the historic event, encompassing both the concert itself and all the other major activities of the nearly 300-member delegation—artists, staff, accompanying patrons, guests and press corps. The exhibition captures multiple aspects of the New York Philharmonic orchestra’s two-day visit to Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Most notably, the photographs afford an inside view of this previously unimaginable influx of Americans—the largest group since the days of the Korean War over half a century ago—and insights into the inhabitants of this reclusive country.

The exhibition is accompanied by Harris’ book, Inside North Korea, published by Chronicle Books in 2007, which features photographs from previous visits to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. These photographs document life in Pyongyang and scenes from along the northern border with China, the highly militarized DMZ and the tightly controlled economic and tourist zones. The book, which includes short essays, extended captions and a foreword by noted North Korea expert Bruce Cumings, will be available for purchase at The Korea Society during the period of the exhibition.

• Voice of America News (Coverage of exhibit in Korean)
• FrictionTV (Video with President of The Korea Society, Evans Revere, and photographer Mark Edward Harris)