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| Photo Courtesy of: The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) |
The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) presents the ‘Connect Korea Campaign’ highlighting Korean arts and culture across the UK. Collaborating with leading arts organisations and partners, the campaign includes a selection of events in various fields of film, music, visual arts, education, and more. It is an audience-focused campaign responding to the growing interest in Korean arts and culture.
From 5 September – 1 November, the autumn exhibition ‘Digital Heritage, Now! AI with You (KCCUK Exhibition Hall)’will offer a unique experience re-exploring the beauty of Korean cultural heritage through a fusion of digital data and AI-powered media art. ‘Mind’ by artists Shinseungback and Kimyonghun, features AI by analysing human emotions observed through a ceiling-mounted camera that then generates corresponding wave sounds by moving ocean drums placed on the floor.
The exhibition also brings together the enigmatic expression of the digital Pensive Buddha and the varied emotions displayed on the faces of audiences, creating an unpredictable sea of emotions. In addition, the exhibition features digital images of several Korean national treasures, including ‘Mongyu dowondo’ and the ‘Annals of the Joseon Dynasty,’ as well as Korean cultural heritage items housed in institutions in the UK.
In addition, the KCCUK will host a ‘Korean Aesthetics Series’ with a variety of experts, beginning on 28 September with ‘Sharing Korean Culture with the World’ delivered by Dr. Wonntack Woo, a director of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology UVR Lab. Between September and November, Dr. Anders Karlsson, a Chair of the Centre of Korean Studies at SOAS University of London, will host the ‘K-History Special’ which discusses Korean histories with Korean films and dramas.
Moreover, there will also be a ‘Digital Heritage Workshop with Namwon National Gugak Center’ (14 Oct) and ‘Pansori and Folk Songs with the Chae Soo-jung Sound Group’ (19 Oct). For young audiences, the KCCUK will present a newly launched ‘Young Hallyu’, a pilot project of Kpop classes with a local primary school in Southwest London, ‘New Talents’, a monthly showcase program for creatives of any genre, and the ‘Korean Webtoon and Video Contest’, a contest covering 26 Korean words added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Between 7-13 October, the KCCUK will host ‘Korean Art, Now’, a series of special events during Frieze London. We will invite artists and industry figures to discuss Korean arts and culture as we celebrate the unprecedented gathering of Korean artists in major London galleries. Most notably, the 23rd Serpentine Pavilion designed by Minsuk Cho (7 June – 27 Oct), the Hayward Gallery exhibition ‘Leap Year’ by Haegue Yang (9 Oct 2024 – 5 Jan 2025), and Tate Modern’s Hyundai Commission Artist Mire Lee (9 Oct 2024 – 16 Mar 2025).
In music, the ‘K-music Festival' returns for its 11th edition bringing an eclectic mix of Korea’s foremost artists who will create exciting new sounds by blending tradition and contemporary elements. This year the festival will open at the Barbican Theatre with the National Changgeuk Company of Korea’s highly anticipated production of ‘Lear’ on 3 October. This major restaging of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy at the Barbican Theatre will offer an unmissable experience for London audiences. The Lear programme is presented by the Barbican in partnership with the National Changgeuk Company of Korea (NCCK).
In Film, from 28 October – 31 December, the BFI will present an unprecedented two-month-long season of Korean cinema at BFI Southbank. Under the name ‘Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema’, it will introduce the 30 essential films produced during the Golden Age of the 1960s and the New Korean Cinema era (1996-2003).
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| Photo Courtesy of: The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) |
Also, between 1-13 November, the ‘London Korean Film Festival: Cinema Now and Women’s Voices’, which is also a part of the 'Echoes in Time’ season, will highlight 11 films including new releases and works directed by women. In partnership with the BFI and supported by the Korean Film Council, it will revisit early 2000s Korean Cinema by female directors, review female-centric works, and introduce new works from emerging female voices
In Literature and Non-Fiction, the KCCUK will return with our annual ‘Korean Culture Month at Foyles’. In collaboration with the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency, the KCCUK will invite authors for the following talks including Dong-geun Joo (11 Oct. KCCUK, 12 Oct. Foyles), Miye Lee (26 Oct. Foyles, 16 Nov. KCCUK, Online), Geum-gi Lee (Nov. KCCUK), and Heekyung Eun (Nov. KCCUK). Between November 2024 – January 2025, the special exhibition ‘Bestselling and Beloved, Korean Books’ will feature Korean literature, from 20th -century classics to web novels and webtoons.
Dr. Seunghye Sun, Director of the KCCUK, said: “Connect Korea Campaign connects the future through arts and culture. We will create a new aesthetic by connecting heart to heart, person to person, art to art, institution to institution, and country to country, but also disparate fields that we have thought of as completely different. The KCCUK will contribute to the future of humanity by a variety of cultural connections.”
For more details about ‘Connect Korea 2024’, please visit kccuk.org.uk
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