Around Town 2 Feb 9, 2018
Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Art Museum is hosting Korea’s first major retrospective of American designer Alexander Girard until March 4. /Courtesy of Culture & I Leaders Exhibition Team
Traditional
‘Madangnori Shim Chung'
National Theater of Korea, Haneul Theater
Until Feb. 18
National Theater of Korea presents “Madangnori Shim Chung” at its exclusive dome-shaped Haneul Theater until Feb. 18. The theater features a circular stage surrounded by audience seats, an optimal structure for madangnori shows. In this original production, the two main characters Shim Chung and Sim Bong-sa have been recreated as more modern and relatable characters.
All members of National Changgeuk Company of Korea will perform in this “Madangnori Shim Chung”. Min Eun-gyeong, who garnered attention by playing Shim Chung back in 2014 when the production premiered, will take the role again. Lee Gwang-bok and Yu Taepyeongyang will play Sim Bong-sa on the stage.
Tickets are 50,000 won. For more information, visit ntok.go.kr or call (02) 2280-4114.
Museums
‘PLASTIC FANTASTIC’
D Museum
Until March 4
D Museum presents “PLASTIC FANTASTIC,” a unique exhibition showcasing designs born from the artistic imagination of international designers and the unlimited possibilities of plastic, until March 4. PLASTIC FANTASTIC illustrates the magical journey of plastic, the substance sometimes described as the 20th century's miracle material, as it entered the public realm and brought such wide-ranging transformations to everyday life. The exhibition offers an overview of more than 2,700 products, furniture pieces, lights, graphic designs and photographs produced over the past half-century via the individuality and innovative spirit of around 40 international creators.
Admission costs 8,000 won. For more information, visit daelimmuseum.org or call (070) 5097-0020.
‘Alexander Girard’
Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Art Museum
Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Art Museum hosts Korea’s first major retrospective of American designer Alexander Girard until March 4. As part of the world tour by Vitra Design Museum in Germany, more than 700 pieces of Girard’s artworks are on exhibit at Hangaram Art Museum.
Born in 1907 in New York City, Girard was one of the leading figures of postwar American design, along with his close friends and colleagues George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames. The primary focus of his wide-ranging oeuvre was textile design. Girard created numerous textile patterns and products reflecting his love of festive colors, patterns and textures. He favored abstract and geometric forms in a variety of different color constellations.
Having originally studied architecture, Girard made a name for himself over his long career in the fields of furniture, exhibition and interior design as well as in the graphic arts.
Admission costs 13,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call (02) 6273-4242.
‘Marie Laurencin’
Until March 11
French painter Marie Laurencin’s works are being exhibited for the first time in Korea at Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul Arts Center until March 11. Laurencin is one of the few female Cubist painters of the early 20th century. While her work shows the influence of Cubist painters Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who were her close friends, she developed a unique approach to abstraction which often centered on the representation of femininity. Her works are well known for delicate depictions of young women in idyllic landscapes mainly using muted pinks, dove grays, and mint greens which allowed the artist to create dreamlike visions of reality.
More than 160 pieces of Laurencin’s drawings and paintings will be introduced to viewers in chronological order.
Admission costs 13,000 won. For more information, visit sac.or.kr or call 02-580-1300.
‘Dan Flavin, Light: 1963-1974’
Lotte Museum of Art
Until April 8
Newly-opened Lotte Museum of Art hosts a special exhibition “Dan Flavin, Light: 1963-1974” until April 8. This Exhibition is the first ever to introduce Dan Flavin, who is not much familiar to Koreans but has impacted our daily lives.
His artist experiment was installing fluorescent lights as art works and changing the space where they were displayed. The artist’s experiments influenced visual culture as well as the art world. Fourteen earlier works of Flavin are staged in the exhibition halls at the Lotte Museum of Art.
Admission costs 13,000 won. For more information, visit lottemuseum.com or call 1544-7744.
‘Alberto Giacometti’
Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Design Museum
Until April 15
Hangaram Design Museum of Seoul Arts Center presents Korea’s first major retrospective of Alberto Giacometti until April 15. Celebrated as a sculptor and painter, Giacometti’s distinctive elongated figures are some of the most instantly recognizable works of modern art. This exhibition reasserts Giacometti’s place alongside the likes of Matisse, Picasso and Degas as one of the great painter-sculptors of the 20th century. Through unparalleled access to the extraordinary collection and archive of the Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, Paris, this special exhibition presents over 250 of Giacometti’s works. It includes rarely seen plasters and drawings which have never been exhibited before and showcases the full evolution of Giacometti’s career across five decades.
Admission costs 16,000 won. For more information, visit sac.or.kr or call 02-532-4407.
‘From Classicism to Impressionism: Three Centuries of the French Art’
National Museum of Korea, Special Exhibition Gallery 1 & 2
The National Museum of Korea presents “From Classicism to Impressionism: Three Centuries of the French Art, Masterpieces of the French Art of the XVII?XIX Centuries from the Collection of the Hermitage” in collaboration with the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.
This exhibition examines 17th century to early 20th century French art, of which the State Hermitage Museum has the largest collection in the world outside of France. This impressive collection of French art was acquired over the centuries by Russians including Catherine the Great, Russian aristocrats and entrepreneurs.
Featuring 89 paintings, sculptures and drawings by French masters including Nicolas Poussin, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Claude Monet and Henri Rousseau, this exhibition offers an opportunity to sense how the Russians in the 18th and 19th centuries appreciated French culture, as well as to see quintessential French art from that time.
Admission costs 6,000 won. For more information, visit museum.go.kr or call 02-2077-9000.
Art Exhibitions
‘National Geographic’s Photo Ark’
War Memorial Special Exhibition Hall
War Memorial Special Exhibition Hall hosts “National Geographic’s Photo Ark” until March 4. The exhibition aims to raise awareness for many species in need of greater conservation. As Joel Satore, National Geographic photographer and speaker, once said, “Today we're losing species at rates 1,000 times greater than ever before. This is the best time ever to save species because so many need our help.” Satore founded Photo Ark in 2005, as a project to document species before they disappear. So far, he has visited more than 40 countries, and some photographs he took of 7,000 endangered species are on display at this special exhibition.
The exhibition will feature large-format prints, as well as a grid of many more images to highlight the range of species in the Photo Ark. Visitors are encouraged to take selfies with these impressive portraits and share them on social media to show their support.
Tickets cost 15,000 won. For more information, visit ngphotoark.modoo.at or call (02) 6263-2621.
‘HI,POP’
M CONTEMPORARY
Until March 18
Modern art center M CONTEMPORARY is hosting a special pop art exhibition “HI,POP” until March 18. Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in Britain and America. The movement presented a challenge to fine art traditions by including imagery from popular and mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects, most often through the use of irony.
The artists who shaped the pop art movement include Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Indiana, Keith Haring and Roy Lichtenstein. At the “HI,POP” exhibition, there will be more than 150 art pieces by these pop artists including the 60 best of Lichtenstein.
Admission costs 16,000 won. For more information, visit m-contemporary.com or call 02-3451-8187,8199.
Kids
‘Cat Zorba’
Gangdong Arts Center Grand Theater Hangang
Until Feb. 25
The children’s musical “Cat Zorba” is being staged at the Grand Theater Hangang of Gangdong Arts Center until Feb. 25. “Cat Zorba" is based on the historical event that after the plague was rampant in the Middle Ages, cats were executed mistakenly as minions of witches.
The story is set in 1347 when a rumor has been spread about the cats and so a small number of them have left the human world to build a secret kingdom of cats called Ieper.
One day, a cat named Mimi arrives in Ieper from the human world and through her, a good detective and math genius, Zorba, comes to know that someone is plotting to completely close the only route connecting Ieper to the human world. Zorba and Mimi try to solve the magic puzzle and save the kingdom of Ieper.
For those aged three years and older. Tickets cost 33,000 to 66,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call 02-1577-3363.
Sports Games
Korean Basketball League
Feb. 10
Goyang Orions vs. Seoul SK Knights
Goyang Gymnasium
Busan KT Sonicboon vs. Anyang KGC
Busan Sajik Indoor Gymnasium
Wonju Dongbu Promy vs. Ulsan Mobis Phoebus
Wonju Gymnasium
Feb. 11
Seoul Samsung Thunders vs. Changwon LG Sakers
Jamsil Indoor Stadium
Incheon ET Land Elephants vs. Jeonju KCC Egis
Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium
Anyang KGC vs. Wonju Dongbu Promy
Anyang Gymnasium
Horseracing
Let's Run Park Seoul
Let's Run Park Seoul holds races from 10:30 a.m. to 5:10 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. It is located by exit 3 of Seoul Racecourse Park Station on Line 4. For more information, visit kra.co.kr or call (02) 509-1114.