The Korea Times

French pansori singer Laure Mafo shows passion in Korean music

Laure Mafo poses during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Kwon Mee-yooThese days most people are exposed to Korean culture through the global phenomenon of K-pop or addictive Korean dramas. However, for Cameroonian-born French citizen Laure Mafo, it was pansori, a traditional style of narrative music. Mafo quit her job to fly to Korea to learn it.The 36-year-old appeared for the interview in a custom-made hanbok which combined the traditional Korean clothing with a traditional Cameroonian pattern. "After being named an honorary ambassador of the Korea-Africa Foundation, I thought of ways to bridge Africa and Korea and came up with this hanbok with traditional fabric used by my grandmother. I will mix and match more African patterns with hanbok," Mafo said.Mafo was born in Cameroon and was adopted by her aunt in France when she was about 10 years old. Her first exposure to Korea was a documentary about the work culture here."Back then, I thought if I work in Korea for about three years, the experience would help me find a better jo

Oct 15, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

French pansori singer Laure Mafo shows passion in Korean music

Arts & Theater

'Ghost' director lauds Koreans' sense of responsibility

A scene from the musical "Ghost," based on the 1990 film of the same name, which is being performed at D-Cube Arts Center through March 14, 2021 / Courtesy of Seensee CompanyBy Kwon Mee-yoo"Ghost" associate director Paul Warwick Griffin / Courtesy of Seensee Company"Ghost," a musical based on the 1990 film of the same name, returned to Korea seven years after its premiere, presenting the timeless love story on stage with a touch of technology and theater magic. The musical's associate director, London-based Paul Warwick Griffin, flew to Korea amid the COVID-19 pandemic to lead the production currently showing at the D-Cube Arts Center in southwestern Seoul. Griffin arrived in Korea about two-and-a-half months ago as three projects he is connected with were being staged howing in Korea when most of the world's theaters still remained dark. He is also a producer at GWB Entertainment which provides general management for world tour productions of "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Cats."As a producer and director in the internationally vibrant theater industry, Griffin was a frequent trave

Oct 13, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

'Ghost' director lauds Koreans' sense of responsibility

Arts & Theater

Royal Culture Festival goes online amid pandemic

“Time Travel That Day, Jeongjo,” a musical performance revolving around King Yeongjo, his son Crown Prince Sado, daughter-in-law Lady Hyegyeong and grandson Jeongjo, is held at Changgyeong Palace as part of the sixth Royal Culture Festival. Courtesy of Royal Culture FestivalBy Kwon Mee-yooGyeonghoeru Pavilion in Gyeongbok Palace is one of the most iconic traditional structures of Korea. The National Treasure No. 224 was previously featured on the Korean 10,000 won banknotes from 1983 to 2002. The pavilion garnered worldwide popularity earlier this month as K-pop sensation BTS performed its hit song "Mikrokosmos" at the floating banquet hall for the BTS Week special on NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."The same location is being used for "Gyeonghoeru Fantasy ― Royal Lotus Flower," a media art and pansori performance for the sixth Royal Culture Festival to be held through Saturday. Emphasizing the architectural and historical characteristics of the two-story state banquet pavilion on a pond, the performance features highlights of the story of "Simcheong-ga," in

Oct 11, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Royal Culture Festival goes online amid pandemic

Arts & Theater

Entertainers blur boundaries in art, conjure controversy

By Kwon Mee-yooK-pop sensation BTS member RM is one of the most influential figures in K-pop as well as Korea's contemporary art scene. He has become a big player in the art market, raising interest in artists and exhibitions he visits and purchases he makes.RM frequently posts his visits to art museums and galleries as well as his growing art collection on social media, inviting his fans to take an interest in contemporary art. Last month, he paid a visit to a'strict's "Starry Beach" at the Kukje Gallery and the exhibit soon became more popular, attracting hundreds of visitors daily.He also recently donated 100 million won ($84,000) to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Foundation, Korea, to provide art books. The nation's flagship museum welcomed RM's positive influence in encouraging the appreciation of art.Other known art collectors from the K-pop scene are G-Dragon and T.O.P of boy band BIGBANG. They both have been avid collectors and were listed in the ARTnews' list of "50 Art Collectors to Watch" last year.Korean art collectors are known to be exclusive,

Oct 8, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Entertainers blur boundaries in art, conjure controversy

Arts & Theater

Dansaekhwa artist Ha Chong-hyun presents 'Conjunction' in London

Ha Chong-hyun speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in June 2019. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Kwon Mee-yooRenowned dansaekhwa (Korean monochrome painting) artist Ha Chong-hyun opened a solo exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery London, Tuesday. The artist, 85, is best known for his efforts to redefine the role of painting, bridging the gap between the avant-garde in the East and West.Born in Sancheong, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1935, Ha graduated from the department of painting at Hongik University, where he later served as a dean. He was also the director of the Seoul Museum of Art from 2001 to 2006.Ha began his "Conjunction" paintings in the early 1970s, opposing the traditional way of painting on canvas. In pursuit of finding a Korean form of abstract art, Ha invented his unique back-pressure method, also known as "baeapbeop." Ha applies thick oil paint to the back of the hemp canvas and pushes it through the coarse weave, creating beads of paint on the front. The result is not always as expected, but Ha embraces the outcome resulting from his loss of control as

Oct 7, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Dansaekhwa artist Ha Chong-hyun presents 'Conjunction' in London

Ha Chong-hyun finds conjunction between spirit and performance

Arts & Theater

Yang Hae-gue delves into modern civilization in 'O2 & H2O'

Yang Hae-gue's "Silo of Silence ― Clicked Core" is installed for exhibition "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2020: Haegue Yang ― O2 & H2O" at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, through Feb. 28, 2021. Courtesy of MMCABy Kwon Mee-yooArtist Yang Hae-gue attempts to capture the abstraction of reality in her exhibition "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2020: Haegue Yang ― O2 & H2O" at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul.The title of the exhibition comes from essential elements for life ― air and water ― perceived through the human-invented chemical symbols, reflecting Yang's interest in tracing sensorial experiences in the abstract language of art.MMCA director Youn Bum-mo emphasized the importance of this exhibit of the prolific and celebrated artist. "We hope that this exhibition as well as the anthology, an outcome of a collaboration over three years, will provide an opportunity to explore the oeuvre of Yang in depth," Youn said.Yang's monumental blind sculpture "Silo of Silence ― Clicked Core" is installed in the Seoul Box space of the m

Oct 4, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Yang Hae-gue delves into modern civilization in 'O2 & H2O'

Arts & Theater

Park Eun-tae breaks frame in 'Kinky Boots'

Park Eun-tae, center, as Lola in the musical "Kinky Boots" / Courtesy of CJ ENMBy Kwon Mee-yooThe musical "Kinky Boots" has returned to Korea, this time with a new Lola in Park Eun-tae, who breathes new life into the show which conveys the message of “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”The musical tells the story of an unexpected friendship between Charlie, the inheritor of a four generation shoe manufacturing family business, and Lola, a drag queen whose father was a boxer who disowned him for cross dressing.CJ ENM took part in the production of Kinky Boots on Broadway and subsequently earned the rights to stage the show in Asia. It premiered in Korea in 2014, soon after its Broadway debut in 2013, and was staged again in 2016 and 2018.This year, three actors play the role of the flamboyant yet serious drag queen, Lola ― Choi Jae-rim and Kang Hong-seok returned to reprise their previous roles, while Park takes his first step into the transvestite role. Park was an unlikely choice to play Lola when the cast was announced. A business major from Hanyang University

Sep 28, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Park Eun-tae breaks frame in 'Kinky Boots'

Arts & Theater

National art museum opens to dogs

A visitor and her dog look around “A Museum for All, A Museum for Dogs” exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul. Courtesy of MMCABy Kwon Mee-yooThe latest attempt by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) at interdisciplinary art is rather radical ― it has created an exhibition for dogs and their owners. Titled "A Museum for All, A Museum for Dogs," it is the first national art exhibit in Korea to invite canine companions, opening a discussion on the role of museums. The exhibit was originally scheduled for May, the month of family, but postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The exhibit at MMCA Seoul explores "significant otherness" between companion animals and owners. According to statistics, about 30 percent of Korean households live with companion animals and the museum is attempting to experiment whether companion animals can be accepted as social constituents in public spaces and whether it can offer an exhibit for non-human visitors."Companions animals are now part of many families, but few public plac

Sep 27, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Arts & Theater

Pansori performance 'In a Dream' highlights minor characters

A scene from Lee Seung-hee's "In a Dream ― I, A Hitchhiker with a Reason" / Courtesy of Doosan Art CenterBy Kwon Mee-yooAs a practitioner of pansori, a traditional narrative musical genre, Lee Seung-hee is familiar with the five existing repertoires of pansori ― Chunhyangga, Simcheongga, Heungbuga, Sugungga and Jeokbyeokga. Also as a contemporary woman living in the 21st century with a new found focus on women's rights on the agenda in Korea, Lee found some uncomfortable elements in the traditional plots.So she started digging into the story and text of "Chunhyangga," the best-known pansori repertoire and her favorite. Instead of adding a modern twist, Lee went back to the basics, questioning what the tradition to inherit is and how to resonate with contemporary audiences while maintaining the essence of the original.In her earlier work "In a Dream" in 2018, Lee intensively explored the protagonist Chunhyang as an individual who determines her own fate and what takes place inside the character's mind through her dreams.Lee's interest shifts to Hyangdan, handmaiden of Chunhyang, in he

Sep 23, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Pansori performance 'In a Dream' highlights minor characters

Arts & Theater

Korean art inspired by traditional culture to be exhibited in Warsaw

Kim Seung-young's "Sadness," left, inspired by Korea's National Treasure No. 83, the Pensive Bodhisattva statue. / Courtesy of Savina Museum of Contemporary ArtBy Kwon Mee-yooEleven Korean contemporary artists will present work inspired by Korea's traditional culture at a special exhibition in Poland. The Savina Museum of Contemporary Art presents "ONE INSPIRATION ― The Very First Ideas from Korean Tradition and Culture" at the Royal Lazienki Museum in Warsaw, from Oct. 3 through Nov. 29 in cooperation with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange's Traveling Korean Arts programThis touring exhibition debuted in 2018 at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo and the Shirota Gallery, and traveled last year to the Korean Cultural Center Canada and Gallery 101 in Ottawa, Canada. The 2020 exhibit is a part of the Month of Korean Culture program operated by the Korean Cultural Center in Poland during October. "We conceived the exhibition as a strategy for the international promotion of Korean culture, globalizing the aesthetics of Korean tradition and simultaneously maintain

Sep 21, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Kwon Mee-yoo

Read more

French pansori singer Laure Mafo shows passion in Korean music

'Ghost' director lauds Koreans' sense of responsibility

Royal Culture Festival goes online amid pandemic

Entertainers blur boundaries in art, conjure controversy

Dansaekhwa artist Ha Chong-hyun presents 'Conjunction' in London

Yang Hae-gue delves into modern civilization in 'O2 & H2O'

Park Eun-tae breaks frame in 'Kinky Boots'

National art museum opens to dogs

Pansori performance 'In a Dream' highlights minor characters

Korean art inspired by traditional culture to be exhibited in Warsaw

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