Culture beckons around the peninsula

By Ines Min

Staff reporter

As spring winds into the warmer months, the art world is working to keep things moving by going to the countryside. For those looking for culture outside of Seoul, here are a few venues that are offering unique experiences.

Ansan

The Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (GMoma) is holding a lecture series for the arts through June 24, featuring experts in literature, dance and design.

The six-part "Art & Plus" series will feature two-hour long lectures every Thursday in the GMoma hall, hosted by professionals in various fields. The event's second edition kicked off last week with sculptor Kang Seok-hee, a former professor at Keimyung University's School of Music.

This week's lecture will be given by Choi Young-mi, a published poet who has released books internationally, including the English-language "Three Poets of Modern Korea." Next week will be hosted by Kwang Kyung-shin, a novelist and the editor-in-chief of the monthly "Paper," followed by An Eun-mi, a professional dancer who is a former art director for the Hi Seoul Festival and a choreographer for a Manhattan-based art foundation. Designer An Sang-soo will be the final speaker of the lecture series.

Admission is free for "Art & Plus," but online registration is required beforehand to reserve a seat (Korean only).Visit www.gmoma.or.kr.

Daegu

Jennifer Steinkamp will open her first solo exhibition in Korea at the Leeahn Gallery this week. The American video installation artist has helped thrust digital technology into the sphere of contemporary art with her work that oxymoronically emphasizes the power of nature.

"Nature Created by Light" is a series of different video projections that demonstrates the beauty of flowers, trees, clouds and the sky in a single cohesive exhibition. Ten different components of the series will be shown at both the Daegu and Seoul branches of the gallery, and the artist has been working on installing the pieces directly since Sunday.

Other well-known examples of her work include "Fly to Mars," a video projection of four trees as seen during each of the seasons. The leaves and branches of the trees move with the wind and wait silently when the air is still. In "Rapunzel," Steinkamp turns the idea of the princess' long locks and translates it to flowers woven together. The strings of nature also flutter with realistic movement.

Visitors will have a chance to meet the artist in person, as Steinkamp will attend the opening reception at the Daegu location on Friday at 6 p.m.

The internationally-known artist has permanent exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon in Spain, and the Towoda Center in Tokyo. Her work was first introduced to Korea at the 2004 Gwangju Biennale.

Visit www.leeahngallery.com for more information.

Yangpyeong

Dr. Park Gallery will be holding an exhibition of Ha Hyoung-sun's unique photography through June 20.

Ha's "Window" is a commentary on the borders separating the ideal and real worlds, and the concept of a "current" position. Taking photographs of scenery as seen through a window, the artist produces blurry images of subdued hues, speckled with white flecks _ which is actually rice that was sprinkled onto the light-sensitive paper during the developing process.

The lasting effect is one of a dizzying confusion of depth-perception, which demonstrates Ha's idea of space. While the out-of-focus composition represents the past, the sporadic white from the rice firmly grounds each piece into reality, or the current.

Ha's work has been exhibited in various cities from Brooklyn to Toronto, and he has permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon.

But the Dr. Park Gallery itself is another cultural experience not to be missed. The art venue is located near Namhan River and was designed by famed architect Seung Hyo-sang. Seung, who established the Iroje architectural firm, was designated as the commissioner of the Korea pavilion for the Venice Biennale and was awarded as an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2002.

For more information on the exhibition "Window," visit www.drparkart.com.