Some 1,039 works by 421 artists, collectives and companies from more than 50 countries are on show at the 2021 Gwangju Design Biennale, which opened Sept. 1. The 61-day biennale aims to show designs that reflect differences in gender, race, ideology and culture and how to embrace the differences by exploring the beauty of each one. An example is Dutch designer Inge Kuipers’ “Tea-Set Touch,” a te...

The remains of a 135-centimeter-tall woman, who is estimated to have died in the mid-4th century, were discovered along with the bones of animals such as horses and cows, as well as earthenware. In April, when the remains of the woman were first excavated, the agency thought she was a girl due to her height. However, the further study of the remains revealed that she was an adult. “Her growth p...

China’s top search engine giant, Baidu, is facing criticism for its misrepresentation of hanbok. Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, strongly criticized Baidu’s encyclopedia portal, demanding a correction to the entry on hanbok, via email Tuesday, according to Seo. Baidu states that hanbok originates from “hanfu,” and that the costume represents “traditional clothing of ...

The discovery is considered especially important as they were among the first Korean Catholics killed by Korean rulers who believed that the spread of Catholicism could threaten the country’s Confucian monarchy. The Rev. Frederick Kim Sung-bong of the Jeonju Diocese, who was responsible for overseeing projects at the Chonami Shrine area where the remains were excavated, said the discovery happen...

Online format and digitalization cannot be the answer to everything, director Song Seung-whan says

The world’s first private-led movable type printing of a newspaper met all the definitions of a modern daily newspaper -- its private production, commercial business operations and their own movable types, daily publication, and editorial independence, followed by a violent shutdown by the king with absolute power over the kingdom. By Hyungwon Kang ( hyungwonkang@gmail.com ) Korean American...

At Thursday‘s event, the first session showcased was “Youth Mic in Metaland,” holding a special virtual reality concert. Artists from various local communities joined the project to expand their offline recorded performances to the digital universe. The second session continued with a presentation of individual artists’ “My Own Art Table.” Young artists took the initiative to create their own “t...

The Research Foundation of Korean Church History has published an English-language version of “The Letters of Saint Andrew Kim Dae-geon” to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the first Korean Catholic priest and saint. “We look forward to sharing the deep faith of St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon and his pioneering spirit with the world by publishing the English version of the book of letter...

“Solidarity and cooperation of the international community is of utmost importance to fight against the extended COVID-19 pandemic. Being one of the core values we share with the world is cultural communication, I hope we become closer to each other and receive insights from various cultural leaders across the globe,” CICI President Choi Jung-hwa said. Among those at the two-day forum were Korea...

The Culture Ministry‘s budget has surpassed 7 trillion won ($6.05 billion) for the first time. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Wednesday the passage of its budget for next year at 7.15 trillion won, marking a 4.2 percent increase from last year’s 6.8 trillion won budget. In 2022, the Culture Ministry plans to expand the support for cultural content production and hallyu, g...

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Theater Safety Center have jointly released a manual on theaters’ response to COVID-19 to effectively respond to virus infectious disease situations. According to the Culture Ministry, performing art halls have been evaluated to be relatively safe facilities, as there have been no audience-to-audience infections or actor-to-audience infections sinc...

K-pop girl group ITZY has debuted in Japan with a digital album containing its hit songs and opened an official Japanese website, the group's label said Wednesday. The album "WHAT'z ITZY," was released through Warner Music Japan at midnight Tuesday, carrying the tracks "Dalla Dalla," "Icy," "Wannabe," "Not Shy" and "Mafia in the Morning," according to JYP Entertainment. "We plan to share news o...

While vaccines are the first thing that come to mind among foreigners to Korea regarding COVID-19, masks top the list among Koreans, according to a survey conducted by the Corea Image Communication Institute and released at the Culture Communication Forum Tuesday. Half of the 432 survey participants were Koreans and the other half were foreigners who have experienced Korean culture during their ...

The government has earmarked 5.8 billion won ($5 million) in next year’s budget for managing and exhibiting artworks donated by the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. A total of 3.3 billion won has been allocated toward research personnel, equipment and facilities as well as establishing a database to manage the artworks, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday. Another 2.5 bil...

Early next year, the museum plans to launch a high-quality English language website and the English edition of a brochure, “Korean Art 1900–2020,” to introduce Korean modern and contemporary art globally. The website is tentatively named as “A Korean art website.” The website will consist of major exhibition archives from the 1900s. “Korean Art 1900-2020” is a survey of 120 years of Korean art t...