Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Clubs & Exhibitions

Clubs Club Answer Cheongdam-dong Equipped with state of the art sound and lighting, Club Answer is the foremost venue for electronic music in Seoul. Located in front of Hotel Prima in Cheongdam-dong, the club presents world class DJs in an extensive space with modern decor to offer a memorable dance experience. Visit www.clubanswer.co.kr, for more information. Club Heaven Yeoksam-dong Located next to the Renaissance Seoul Hotel, Club Heaven is gaining a reputation as a clubber’s paradise with star DJs and a celebrity clientele. Electronic music is the main menu, with laser light and paper confetti shows aplenty on the side. The club caters to partying at any hour of the night: the “main stage” on the first floor is open until 6:30 a.m., while club hoppers can enter the upper level’s “after stage” after 4:30 a.m. Call 1644-8466. Underlounge Seoul Hongdae or Hongik University Area This is the local club of a hip Japanese chain that’s also to be found in Shanghai. Located in the popular clubbing area, Hongdae, it’s all flashy with loud music and lights. Spacious,

Oct 21, 2010

A season ripe for tragic melodramas

By Lee Hyo-won Offering a symphonic blend of vocal power, theatrical bravura and live orchestral melodies, operas continue to serve as a medium apt for exploring various aspects of the human condition. The summertime lineup of operas for children has ceded its place to an array of more weighty, atmospheric pieces befitting the mellow fall season, and fans can look forward to something classical as well as new that rings with tragic melodrama. From Wednesday through Saturday at Seoul Arts Center, the Korea National Opera (KNO) will stage ``Mefistofele’’ for the first time in the country. The Faustian drama is the only opera to be completed by the 19th-century Italian composer Arrigo Boito, who is better known here as the librettist for Verdi’s works such as ``Otello.’’ Though eclipsed by his contemporaries, Boito was only 26 when he wrote the intellectually and musically stimulating piece and is said to have inspired the elderly Verdi to start composing again. The story follows Goethe’s approach to the legend of Faust and unfolds from the perspective of the Devil. Mefisto

Oct 18, 2010

Charity auction to support local artists, youths

By Ines Min The second annual philanthropic art auction will kick off Friday with a week-long exhibition preview of its largest collection yet at the Arko Art Museum in Daehangno, central Seoul. The 2010 Artist Charity Auction, organized by the Arts Council Korea, sees an increase in participating artists with the number of auctioned works growing to 183 from the 20 showcased last year. This year’s list of contributors includes well-known artists such as Yoon Jung-sik, acclaimed director Song Il-gon and popular singer Naul. After on-site sales during the exhibition period through Oct. 28, the final auction will take place on Oct. 29 at K Auction in Sinsa-dong with all proceeds donated to the Community Chest of Korea. The profits will be spent toward funds for medical expenses for struggling artists, supporting social welfare and expanding art education programs for youths in low-income sectors. Partial proceeds will also be donated from the currently ongoing 10th Seoul Performing Arts Festival, Daegu International Opera Festival 2010, and a literature publishing event that

Oct 17, 2010

Czech jewelry sparkles with colorful glamour

By Chung Ah-young Prague is a cultural treasure trove boasting of its time-honored museums, galleries and theaters as it was a hub of Europe throughout history both in trade and culture that still lives in the hearts of Czechs today. Among its historical and cultural rich legacies, Czech jewelry has outstanding and timeless glamour that penetrates the past and present. The World Jewellery Museum is holding “Lovers from Prague,” the first major exhibition in Korea for Czech jewelry as one of the important European design movements of the 20th century through Dec. 30. The exhibition is also designed to strengthen cultural ties between Korea and the Czech Republic. The exhibition features 100 works of Czech garnet jewelry and five contemporary designers — Svatopluk Kasaly, Eva Eisler,

Oct 17, 2010

A vicseral experience of web art

Why go to an exhibition when it’s possible to see the works online? By Ines Min Jackson Pollack was criticized for his now-famous application of paint; Marcel Duchamp was grossly misunderstood during the time of Dadaism. Like artists before them, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (YHCHI), an internationally acclaimed web art duo of Chang and “partner in crime” American Marc Voge, endeavor to redefine their own contemporary outlet of choice: the Internet. Seoul-based YHCHI is hosting a solo exhibition in Korea at Gallery Hyundai in Sagan-dong, central Seoul, through Nov. 7. The second show comes after a break of six years because they have been busy abroad with commissioned works from the Tate Modern in London to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The artistic pair, who also participated in the 2003 Venice Biennale, provides a platter of complex perspective, existential importance and manic editing through Flash videos, original scores and text alone — a combination of words that is at once literary, poetic and absurdly bare.

Oct 15, 2010

Clubs, art exhibitions and sports games

Clubs Club Answer Cheongdam-dong Equipped with state of the art sound and lighting, Club Answer is the foremost venue for electronic music in Seoul. Located in front of Hotel Prima in Cheongdam-dong, the club presents world class DJs in an extensive space with modern decor to offer a memorable dance experience. Visit www.clubanswer.co.kr, for more information. Club Heaven Yeoksam-dong Located next to the Renaissance Seoul Hotel, Club Heaven is gaining a reputation as a clubber’s paradise with star DJs and a celebrity clientele. Electronic music is the main menu, with laser light and paper confetti shows aplenty on the side. The club caters to partying at any hour of the night: the “main stage” on the first floor is open until 6:30 a.m., while club hoppers can enter the upper level’s “after stage” after 4:30 a.m. Call 1644-8466. Underlounge Seoul Hongdae or Hongik University Area This is the local club of a hip Japanese chain that’s also to be found in Shanghai. Located in the popular clubbing area, Hongdae, it’s all flashy with loud music and lights. Sp

Oct 14, 2010

Concerts, museums and theater

Classical Concerts Lucerne Festival Strings Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center* (See venues for more information) Oct. 25 Lucerne Festival Strings, an esteemed chamber orchestra from Switzerland, will hold its first concert in Korea with pianist Cho Seong-jin and conductor Achim Fiedler. The program features “Malediction for Piano and String Orchestra, S. 121” by Liszt, “Serenade for Strings, Op. 48” by Tchaikovsky and “Four Seasons” by Vivaldi. Tickets cost 30,000 to 100,000 won. For more information, call (02) 599-2743. Matinee Concert Concert Hall, Seongnam Arts Center* Nov. 18 Top local orchestras including Ensemble TIMF and KBS Symphony Orchestra will give a matinee concert. They will perform “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Copland, “Adagio for Strings, Op. 11” by Barber, “All I Ask of You” from the musical “The Phantom of the Opera”and more. Popular baritone Kim Dong-gyu will narrate. All seats cost 24,000 won. For more information, call (031) 783-8000. Opera ‘Mefistofele’ Opera Theater, Seoul Arts Center* Oct. 20-23 Korea National Opera will stage A. Bo

Oct 14, 2010

Exhibition traces Joseon’s reading culture

By Chung Ah-young What did the Joseon people read? During the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), the noble class was the primary producers and consumers of knowledge and culture. Women in those times, on the other hand, whose priorities were caring for their husband, children and household work, quenched their intellectual thirst by reading novels and other popular literary works. A special exhibition themed “Best Sellers in the Joseon Dynasty” is now displaying the very reading culture of the Confucian state at the Seoul Museum of History. The exhibition features about 90 classical books and records donated in 2008, by Hong Du-seon, 82, a former police chief. The exhibit contents were selected from 967 donated items. “Due to the early development of printing technology in our history, the Joseon people appear to have loved reading. The exhibition shows how the different classes from the Joseon era enjoyed books and its printing and publication culture,” Kim Moon-taek, a curator of the museum, said. Books were made with different methods back then. They were printed either

Oct 13, 2010

A look into Russian ballets education powerhouse

MOSCOW — "Muuyong," the Korean for dance denoting it as being worthy of discipline and discourse, was coined fairly recently when ballet and other foreign traditions were introduced here about half-a-century ago. Yet "chum," which Koreans traditionally call the art, was a way a life, and as of late an increasing number of local dancers are making their way into international ballet competitions and troupes. Korea's top ballet stars, however, mostly still have foreign pedigrees — while institutes of higher education here offer reputed dance majors there is no ballet academy. “But first, a school,” Russian legend George Balanchine is famously reported to have said when he was asked to help establish a ballet company in the United States in the early-1930s. Decades later, the School of American Ballet in New York stands among the most prestigious in the world. The choreographer knew how Russia — so far away from the Western European roots of the art, became a ballet capital —the power of education. The Bolshoi Theater, the dream stage for ballet and o

Oct 12, 2010

Bolshoi Theater welcomes Korean artists

MOSCOW — Korean soloists were invited to perform lead roles in a Bolshoi Ballet performance, and it seems the unprecedented event may be more than a one-time gesture of friendly diplomacy. “We hope to continue the artistic exchange with the Korea National Ballet Company,” Anatoly Iksanov, general director of the Bolshoi Theater, told Korean reporters last week, expressing a special affinity for Korea. On Oct. 7 and 8, nine KNBC soloists performed in Yuri Grigorovich’s rendition of “Romeo and Juliet” for the 20th anniversary of Korea-Russia bilateral relations. “It was a wonderful performance,” he said about the first evening. “We are looking into hosting a full production by the Korea National Ballet Company. We open-heartedly welcome more joint projects and exchanges.” The 58-year-old, moreover, noted Korea’s emerging ballet scene. “International ballet competitions these days are dominated by Koreans, and I think Korea is taking strong root in the global ballet scene. I am happy that Mr. Grigorovich (the Bolshoi Theater’s choreographer-in-residence) has contributed

Oct 11, 2010

Arts & Theater