Life in miniature Miniatures, or tiny meticulous artworks, are intuitive. No one has to be schooled about the way they should be looked at or studied. And that only puts added pressure on the artist to create a message navigating analogies and twists, without losing anyone in the process. Tatsuya Tanaka is a Japanese artist doing just that. At the IFC Mall in Seoul, the exhibit “Miniature Life” showcases over 200 miniatures spanning seven themes, including home, life and the world.

Culture April 19, 2024

An exhibition on Korean dialects kicks off Friday as part of events run by the National Hangeul Museum to mark its 10th anniversary on Hangeul Day, which falls on Oct. 9. The “On Dialects” exhibition shows collections of literary works and documents exploring efforts made to preserve different ways of speaking Korean. It runs until Oct. 13 at the museum in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul. “What makes the exhibition special is that it’s presenting some of the materials museum of

Arts & Design April 18, 2024

South Korean Buddhist monks will bring back long-sought 14th-century Buddhist relics from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, following a transfer ceremony there Tuesday. The event is the latest highlight from a deal struck in February in which the museum agreed to “donate” the sarira, or bead-shaped objects found among cremated remains of Buddhist masters. The agreement between the museum and a delegation of Cultural Heritage Administration officials and monks from the Jogye Order of K

Culture April 15, 2024

Outreach to the young will be the focus of this year’s Buddhist Lantern Festival in Seoul, which starts Wednesday in the run-up to Buddha’s Birthday on May 15. The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the organizer of the annual festival, is betting big on an electronic dance music performance by the Ven. New Jean, a comedian who gained a following after he delivered Buddhist verses to EDM at last year’s event. The name, meaning a “fresh move forward,” is a wordplay on t

Culture April 14, 2024

  ‘Dosirak’ palace tours at night   Check out nighttime tours of Gyeongbokgung, the Joseon-era (1392-1910) palace that’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in Seoul. Tours featuring a “dosirak,” or a lunchbox-style meal, of royal-inspired dishes will take place twice daily at 6:40 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. until April 21 -- except Monday and Tuesday. Tickets, 60,000 won apiece, are sold at ticketlink.co.kr. The same tour will be made exclusive for forei

Travel April 12, 2024

Free guided tours exploring the flora of Changdeokgung will be conducted in English on Wednesday and Thursday mornings from April 17 to June 28, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Thursday. The first 20 people to make it to Donhwamun, the palace’s main gate, before tours start at 10:30 a.m. will be allowed to join the tour group upon presenting the 3,000 won admission ticket. The same tour of the only palace in Seoul of the Joseon-era (1392-1910) inscribed on the UNESCO World Herita

Culture April 11, 2024

The National Hangeul Museum is offering free in-person or online sessions on calligraphy of the Korean writing system for foreign nationals through Nov. 29. The two-hour in-person sessions will take place at the museum in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Thursdays at 10 a.m. and Fridays at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. One-hour online sessions will run Tuesdays starting at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. and Fridays at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Each session will be limited to

Arts & Design April 11, 2024

Over 630 works from more than 20 South Korean artisans will be featured at this year’s Korean Craft Show during Milan Design Week next week, under the theme “Thoughts on Thickness.” According to the Culture Ministry, the body backing the craft show for the last 12 years, two exhibitions will take center stage this time, with one sideline exhibit set up outdoors in the northern Italian city from Monday to April 21. The main exhibits will explore objects of varying thickness made

Arts & Design April 11, 2024

The disclosure by police of an ongoing investigation of a man charged with attempting to set fire to a UNESCO-listed palace in Seoul has put fresh pressure on officials to roll out measures to protect heritage sites. According to police on Wednesday, the man, whose identity is being withheld, allegedly last month tried to set fire to a door at Changdeokgung’s Daejo Hall -- the queen’s quarters at Changdeokgung, one of the five Joseon-era (1392-1910) palaces. Changdeokgung is the only

Culture April 10, 2024

For Sovan Meta, nursing was less a calling than finding a job with few ups and downs. Then an encounter with Korean Christians reaching out to the Cambodian national to volunteer as an interpreter led to the soul-searching of a lifetime. She ended up becoming a Christian minister. “In Cambodia, many people become nurses but few become ministers. I decided to become one and preach to those without the benefits of spirituality,” Meta said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. In

People April 10, 2024

K-pop stars and idols are now going through a phase of transition where versatility is required -- both to stand strong as individual artists and to project a collective appeal when called to perform as teams. How K-pop stars make it through this period of transition will largely determine whether South Korea will continue to command its global cultural reach and impact in years or decades to come in the name of Hallyu, or the Korean wave, said Kim Heon-sik, a culture critic who has written a bo

K-pop April 9, 2024

The National Museum of Korea in Seoul ranked sixth in terms of its total number of visitors in 2023, in a survey of 100 museums and galleries worldwide. According to the UK-based Art Newspaper, the figure for the state-run museum came to 4,180,285. The Louvre Museum in Paris topped the list with 8,860,000 visitors and the Vatican Museums followed with 6,764,858. The British Museum in London ranked in third place with 5,820,860 visitors followed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at 5,

Arts & Design April 9, 2024

Buddhism has traditionally prioritized silence, a hallmark of meditation that sets the religion apart. That notion took a hard turn Thursday as a DJ in a monk’s robe kicked off the four-day International Buddhism Expo in Seoul, shouting out Buddhist verses to the beat of electronic dance music. “I’d say the event is living up to the slogan they put out,” said Kim Hyung-sik, an undergraduate Seoulite in 20s attending the expo on the first day, referring to the slogan writt

Arts & Design April 8, 2024

The Cultural Heritage Administration planted trees at Joseon-era (1392-1910) historic sites in Seoul on Friday in celebration of Arbor Day, raising awareness of preserving cultural heritage and protecting the planet. CHA chief Choi Eung-cho and Starbucks Korea executives led a group of 50 people including company employees and elementary school students in planting 35 pine and fragrant snowbell trees at the shrine Jongmyo in Jongno-gu. On Saturday, Choi will lead another group of 35 people, incl

Culture April 5, 2024

The National Museum of Korea’s 10 regional museums across the country will start showcasing over 2,000 artifacts donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee as early as mid-April. The 2,254 pieces, which include 107 nationally-recognized objects, are part of over 20,000 pieces donated by Lee, a prolific collector of Korean and contemporary art. The collection spans from calligraphy and paintings to crafts, ceramics and sculptures. From mid-April, the Buyeo National Museum will s

Arts & Design April 5, 2024