For those planning their diaries well in advance, tickets for the Wigmore Spring 2027 season go on sale on 29 September. But if you want tickets for Yunchan Lim’s Mozart recitals you’ll need to be in one of the inner circle of Wigmore Hall friends and supporters to get access earlier. Otherwise, it’ll be nice to see Yeol Eum Son in a typically varied programme, and the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Gihoon Kim performs Rachmaninov and Ibert plus works by Wonju Lee and Hyeyoung Cho

Friday 5 March 2027, 7.30pm: Yeol Eum Son

Described by the Guardian as ‘a noted musical omnivore’ and praised for her ‘superb artistry’ by Bachtrack, Yeol Eum Son probes rarely explored depths of expression in her poetic interpretations. Her latest Wigmore Hall recital offers a gem of a programme, crowned by the formidable technical, musical and spiritual demands of Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata, among the greatest of his late works. She begins deep in Romantic territory with Franz Bendel’s exquisite improvisatory variation on Brahms’s Lullaby and a charming mazurka by Pauline Viardot.

Wednesday 10 March 2027 & Friday 12 March 2027, 7.30pm: Yunchan Lim

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791):
Piano Sonata in F K280
Piano Sonata in B flat K281
Piano Sonata in G K283

Piano Sonata in C K330
Fantasia in C minor K475
Piano Sonata in C minor K457

Yunchan Lim’s Mozart Cycle at Wigmore Hall stands squarely among the hottest-ticket dates in town. The Guardian hit the mark when it named the South Korean pianist, now in his early twenties, as ‘a once-in-a-generation talent’, a verdict underlined by a growing harvest of five-star reviews and the mounting evidence of audience ovations. He opens his latest Mozart programme with three youthful works, created in 1775 during their composer’s stay in Munich, and includes two masterworks in C minor, the key he most often employed to express tragedy and dark, introspective emotions.

Monday 29 March 2027, 7.30pm: Gihoon Kim (baritone)

With Simon Lepper (piano)

Gihoon Kim beguiled audience and jury alike with his wholehearted, first-prize-winning performance in the final of the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. The South Korean baritone’s career trajectory has since taken him to the world’s foremost opera stages. He makes his long-awaited Wigmore Hall debut with songs by Rachmaninov, the four Don Quichotte Chansons written in 1932 for the legendary Feodor Chaliapin, and three nostalgic contemporary kagok from Kim’s homeland.

A darkly comic theatre performance exploring failure, burnout and the body under pressure reflecting Korean industrialisation, capitalism and diaspora.

Music composed and performed by Seayool.

A broken Daewoo vacuum cleaner. A user manual that no longer works. A body trying to follow instructions that were never written for her. User Manual asks what happens when a person can no longer follow the instructions they have been given.

User Manual for a Broken Machine is a darkly comic interdisciplinary performance using the language of instruction manuals, troubleshooting guides and malfunction reports as a performance score. Through text, movement, sound and fragments of Korean traditional music, the piece follows a performer who reads, repeats, mistranslates, repairs and gradually becomes the broken machine she is trying to fix.

Developed by KASSNA, the work explores failure, productivity, migration and the pressure placed on female bodies to keep functioning within broken systems. Moving between the domestic object and wider histories of Korean industrialisation, capitalism and diaspora, it asks what happens when a person, a machine, or a society can no longer obey its original design.

Absurd, physical and unsettlingly funny, User Manual for a Broken Machine turns repair into ritual, breakdown into performance, and failure into a possible beginning.

The team

• Suyoung Park, our MOVER, brings her practice as a physical performer and choreographer.
• Seayool, our PLAYER, brings his original compositions and live Piri performance.
• Eden Jun, our READER, shares the intimate story of a broken vacuum cleaner and memories from Korea’s pre-Gangnam Style era.
• Directed by Namoo Chae Lee

Soaring melodies, impassioned orchestral writing – Bruch’s Violin Concerto is celebrated for its warm lyricism and emotional depth.

Taking centre stage is internationally acclaimed violinist Hyeyoon Park, praised for her ‘exhilarating musicianship’ (The Times) and ‘huge palette of tone’ (The Guardian).

The programme opens with Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans, driven by bold rhythms and percussive power, before moving into A Walk to Beethoven. As described by the composer, the work serves as an introduction to the symphony, inviting the listener on a musical stroll with glimpses of what is to come.

In this performance, the ensemble’s own voices will be woven into the piece through a specially created audio collage. Sharing their thoughts about the year ahead, it’s a portrait of a group brought together from across the world to create something new in London’s musical landscape and a celebration of the start of the new Fellowship year.

Anna Clyne: Restless Oceans
Max Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op. 26
Britta Byström: A Walk to Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92

Sinfonia Smith Square
Conductor: Eugene Lee
Violin: Hyeyoon Park

Meet Korea’s fox, ghost and princess to uncover how folklore carries women’s grief, resistance and transformation. Followed by Q&A.

Every culture has women who were wronged and refused to disappear. In Korean folklore, they return as foxes, ghosts and princesses, figures shaped by grief, injustice and a fierce determination to claim what society denied them.

Join Korean poet, scholar and educator Dr Melanie Hyo-In Han to meet three of the tradition’s most enduring female archetypes: the Gumiho, a seductive nine-tailed fox who can shapeshift into a woman; the Cheonyeo Gwishin, an unmarried maiden whose restless spirit exposes the constraints Confucian society placed on women; and Princess Bari, abandoned for being a girl before journeying to the underworld and returning as the Mother of Korean Shamanism.

Threading their stories together is han, a Korean feeling of unresolved grief and injustice that can settle in the body and outlast death. Through myth, gender and cultural history, discover how Korean women have carried, released and transformed han across generations, and what these stories reveal about women’s anger, ambition and resistance. Whether you’re new to Korean mythology or already fascinated by it, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of these unforgettable figures, and perhaps new questions about the stories your own culture tells about women who refuse to conform.

Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm – come down early to grab a good seat!

Speaker Bio:

Dr Melanie Hyo-In Han is a Korean poet, scholar and educator whose work explores Korean identity and translingual writing by women. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Surrey and is the author of four poetry collections. Her work has been recognised with fellowships from the Society of Authors, Gladstone’s Library and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She also leads creative writing workshops on language and culture, including Mother Tongue Other Tongue, and speaks internationally on Korean culture, folklore and occult traditions.

This talk is 16+

Excellent news: for those unable to make it to Director You’s Cambridge lecture, SOAS has arranged a talk in London. In this lecture, Director You Hong-june will explore the distinctive characteristics of ancient Korean culture and architecture through major archaeological sites, works of art, Buddhist monuments, temples and royal architecture.

Beginning with Korea’s prehistory and the Three Kingdoms period, he will examine the material cultures of Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla and Gaya, including tomb murals, pottery, gold crowns, Buddhist reliquaries and sculpture, and will trace the development of Korean Buddhist art and architecture, with particular attention to Seokguram Grotto, Bulguksa Temple, stone pagodas and the mountain temple tradition.

He will also consider the aesthetic principles that have shaped Korean artistic and architectural traditions, specifically the aesthetic principle of being “humble yet dignified, splendid yet not extravagant,” and will consider how Korean architecture has evolved through a close relationship with the natural environment.

Offering insight into Korea’s cultural heritage, the lecture will highlight the origins and identity of Korean culture, which continue to attract attention from around the world.

You Hong-june is Director of the National Museum of Korea (July 2025-present). He previously served as Chairperson of the K Cultural Powerhouse Committee and the Academy of Korean Studies, as well as Administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea. Over a distinguished academic career, he held professorial and leadership roles at Myongji University and Yeungnam University.

In 1981, You Hong-june received the Dong-a Ilbo Spring Literary Contest Award for Art Criticism and, in 1984, served as a commissioner of the first Gwangju Biennale. He has published numerous influential works on Korean art and cultural heritage, including the My Cultural Heritage Exploration series and Story of Korean Art. He holds a BA in Aesthetics from Seoul National University, an MA in Art History from Hongik University, and a PhD in East Asian Philosophy from Sungkyunkwan University.

Join the Preston Sejong Institute and the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Lancashire for Korea Day 2026, a celebration of Korean language and culture.

This event is open to students, staff and members of the public, offering an opportunity to experience Korean culture through a range of interactive activities. Whether you already have an interest in Korea or are discovering its culture for the first time, Korea Day offers something for everyone.

We look forward to welcoming you to celebrate Korean culture with us.

What you can expect on the day:

• Traditional Korean crafts
• Hanbok (traditional Korean dress) try-on
• Korean calligraphy and name writing
• Traditional Korean games
• Korean food and refreshments (subject to availability)
• Traditional music performance

Programme

• 4 PM Opening, with K-snacks and surprise goodie bags
• 4.30 PM Sounds of Korea: Traditional Korean Gayageum performance by Ji Eun Jung
• 5.30 PM & 6.30 PM K-Pop Dance Performance, with University of Lancashire K-Pop Dance Society
• 6 PM Buldak Challenge: Test your spice tolerance with Korea’s famously fiery noodles!
• 4 PM – 7 PM
  • K-Street Food: Tteokbokki (spicy Korean rice cakes), Mandu (Korean dumplings), and Jeon (Korean savoury pancakes)—subject to change, while stocks last.
  • K-Photo with Hanbok: Try on traditional Korean clothing and take an instant photo
  • K-Craft Corner: Make your own Korean crafts
  • K-Games: Play traditional Korean games, Gonggi (Korean jacks), Ddakji (paper-tile flipping), Tuho (arrow toss)
  • K-Calligraphy: Write your name in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet!
  • K-Language Book Bazaar: Get Korean textbooks at a low cost – the profits will be donated to a local charity.
  • K-Marketplace: Discover K-products and K-pop goodies, and meet businesses offering career opportunities

The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is excited to welcome Dr Hong-June You (유홍준), Director of the National Museum of Korea, to the University of Cambridge.

His lecture, delivered in English, explores the distinctive characteristics of ancient Korean culture and architecture through major archaeological sites, works of art, Buddhist monuments, temples, and royal architecture. Beginning with Korea’s prehistory and the Three Kingdoms period, it examines the material cultures of Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Gaya, including tomb murals, pottery, gold crowns, Buddhist reliquaries, and sculpture. It then traces the development of Korean Buddhist art and architecture, with particular attention to Seokguram Grotto, stone pagodas, Bulguksa Temple, and the mountain temple tradition.

The lecture emphasizes a recurring aesthetic principle in Korean art — “humble yet not undignified, splendid yet not extravagant” — and considers how Korean architecture developed through a close relationship with the natural environment.

This lecture will offer a glimpse into Korea’s cultural heritage, which reveals the roots and identity of Korean culture that is attracting growing attention around the world today.

Bio: Dr Hong June You (유홍준) is currently Director of the National Museum of Korea (국립중앙박물관) which holds the country’s largest collection of cultural artefacts. He is particularly famous for his best-selling book series My Cultural Heritage Exploration (나의 문화유산답사기) and has published numerous works on Korean art and culture. Dr You received his BA in Aesthetics from Seoul National University, an MA in Art History from Hongik University, and his PhD in East Asian Philosophy from Sungkyunkwan University.

This event is free and open to the public. For enquiries, please contact nk588@cam.ac.uk.

This event is part of the Ra Jong-Yil Forum in Korean Studies, organized by the Korean Studies Subject Group at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge.

This autumn in London, Lisson is honoured to present an exhibition of one of the world’s foremost abstract painters, Ha Chong-Hyun, surveying his experimentation and mastery over the past six decades of pioneering work. The Korean artist’s inaugural show with the gallery and his first in London since 2020 amounts to a wide-ranging yet succinct survey of Ha’s practice from some of his earliest extant works up to the present day.

The display begins with a geometric composition featuring woven, painted strips from the early Naissance series and an equally colourful folded and rippled canvas, dating to the late 1960s. These both signify his early positioning of painting firmly within the realm of objecthood – exploring it three-dimensionally and in the round – although he never claimed them as sculptural in intent, preferring to simply question where the painting’s surfaces and supports might really begin and end. Further pushing the possibilities of material and action within the now contested field of painting, Ha began burning his impasto surfaces and adding coiled springs or barbed wire directly to works made in the 1970s, reflecting South Korea’s protracted periods of martial law and military dictatorship, as well as the paucity of materials available to artists at the time.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Ha alighted upon his signature method of pushing paint through the reverse of coarse hemp canvas – literally turning the painting process inside out. Rather than applying paint onto an image plane, Ha forces pigment through the woven structure of the canvas, allowing pressure and material resistance to shape the final form. The resulting surface is determined less by expressive mark-making than by compression and persistence. This innovation, known collectively as the Conjunction series, continues to this day, with an array of different textures, gestures, tones and techniques that also vary in terms of orientation from vertical and horizontal, to perpendicular, radiant and freeform in gesture.

Over subsequent years, Ha has expanded and refined this inquiry, showing a sustained commitment to experimentation that has significantly shaped broader discussions of postwar abstraction. In the 2000s, his practice evolved into what has been described as the Post Conjunction series, extending his exploration of colour, scale, and spatial rhythm while maintaining the foundational principle of pressure and surface.

About the artist

Ha Chong-Hyun has gained international recognition for combining elements of monochromatic, minimalist and gestural abstraction with the conceptual, performative and material aspects and possibilities of painting. He is best known for developing a distinctive approach to painting in the early 1970s with the initiation of Conjunction, a series in which he pushes dense oil paint from the reverse side of coarse hemp canvas to its surface. Through this technique, often referred to as the reverse pressure painting method or linked to the Buddhist use of colouring or staining the reverse of images to produce transparency (known as baechaebeop), Ha altered the conventional relationship between front and back, surface and support, allowing material resistance to generate structure.

For over five decades, he has continued to refine this method, exploring variations in density, rhythm, and scale. Through sustained repetition and restraint, Ha has emphasized painting as a physical act grounded in labour and material presence rather than illusion or narrative.

Ha Chong-Hyun (b. 1935, Sancheong, South Korea) graduated from Hongik University in 1959 and has lived and worked in Seoul throughout his career. During the 1960s, he engaged in experimental practices that extended beyond conventional painting, exploring material assemblage, abstraction, and spatial construction in response to rapid postwar transformation. These early investigations established his enduring interest in structure, surface, and the physical conditions of form. After a period of painting loosely referred to as his informel period, in 1969 Ha became a founding member and Chairman of the Korean Avant-Garde Association (AG) and was later also regarded as one of the key figures associated with the Dansaekhwa movement of Korean monochrome painting, despite never being entirely convinced by its definition.

Ha Chong-Hyun is subject of a major retrospective opening this autumn at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (25 September 2026 – 25 January 2027). Recent solo shows include: Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France (2025); Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea (2025); House of Dior, Seoul, Korea (2024); 59th Venice Biennale Collateral Event, Palazzetto Tito, Venice, Italy (2022); Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea (2020); National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea (2012). Select group exhibitions include: ‘Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s’, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA (2024); ‘The Journey to the Venice Biennale: 1986–1993’, Space21, Seoul, South Korea (2024); ‘Geometric Abstraction in Korean Art’, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, South Korea (2023); ‘Perfectly Imperfect: Korean Buncheong Ceramics’, Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA (2023); ‘Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s’, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul, South Korea; traveled to Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (2023); ‘Meeting the Monochrome ZERO and Dansaekhwa’, Zero Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany (2021); ‘Beyond the Light of East and West’, Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA (2021).

Interested in learning Korean, exploring study opportunities, or simply travelling to Korea?

Join the KCCUK for Young K-Explorer: Study in Korea Seminar, an afternoon event designed to help you discover opportunities to study and learn Korean in Korea, while experiencing Korean language and culture along the way. Whether you’re considering a Korean language programme, exploring university study opportunities, or simply curious about living and learning in Korea, this event is a great place to start your K-Explorer journey.

Discover information and resources from participating Korean universities, including opportunities to study Korean in Korea. Hear from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and Korean Air and find out more about travelling to and experiencing Korea. You’ll also explore Korean culture through a guided KCCUK exhibition tour and get creative with a hands-on Hangeul Cookie Making activity.

There will also be Korean canapés & Polaroid Photo Moment, goody bags and a Lucky Draw with K-Beauty prizes!

Event Programme

Whether you’re considering a Korean language programme, university study, or simply want to experience life in Korea, this is your chance to find out more and start your K-Explorer journey.

Registration

Spaces are limited to 50 participants, so early registration is recommended. If you would like to attend the event, please register using the link below to secure your place.

Register here: https://forms.gle/TzFRSYQeubBKWPtZ8

We look forward to welcoming you and starting your K-Explorer journey together!

Travel Korea. Learn Korean. Explore More

Partners: Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and Korean Air

Gallery JIB presents SOUGHT AND FOUND: Contemporary Korean Art, bringing together six artists based in Korea: Yang Sunghoon, Jang sooji, Woo Jongtaek, Kwon Soohyun, Kim Seoul and Lim Hyunhee.

The six artists work from very different starting points. Their subjects range from the Korean moon jar and the experience of growing up to invisible forces, mechanical colour systems, memory and breath. What connects the works is an attention to experiences that are personal, often difficult to define, and sometimes recognised through feeling before language.

Sought and Found

The title refers to a particular experience of looking at art: encountering something and recognising its significance, sometimes before being able to explain why.

It may be an image, a memory, a sensation or a personal feeling. We do not always know exactly what we are looking for. Sometimes, only through an encounter with a
work does something become clear.

The exhibition brings together six practices that approach this experience from different directions, leaving room for the viewer’s own memory and perception to become part of the work.

Featured Artists

Yang Sunghoon

Yang Sunghoon paints the Korean moon jar, approaching this familiar historical form through the experience of looking.

His moon jars appear suspended within the picture plane, without a visible ground or conventional setting. Their simplicity gives them a quiet presence, while the white surface suggests warmth and tactility rather than the hardness normally associated with ceramic.

For Yang, the moon jar is not simply an image of a traditional object. It is a subject through which he considers perception, memory and the emotional response that can
gather around an object over time.

Yang Sunghoon studied Western Painting at Keimyung University and completed his graduate studies there. He has held solo exhibitions at Han Collection in London, Tong-in Gallery and Dongwon Gallery, and has participated in art fairs including Hong Kong Art Fair and KIAF.

Jang sooji

Jang sooji’s paintings consider the uncertainty of growing up and becoming an adult.

Her recurring figure, So, Nyeo, developed from the artist’s own experience but has become a more universal character. The figure occupies an uncertain space between childhood and adulthood, reflecting questions of identity, vulnerability and belonging.

Flowers, freckles and other details function as visible traces of emotion. The works remain light and dreamlike while addressing anxiety and loneliness without becoming overly sombre.

Jang sooji studied Painting at Konkuk University and completed her MFA there. Her recent exhibitions include IDEAL GIRL at SoBiJi Gallery, Busan (2024), as well as exhibitions at Gallery A, C.L. Art and other venues. She has also participated in Breeze Art Fair and exhibitions at the Seoul Arts Center.

Woo Jongtaek

Woo Jongtaek is interested in what is present but not necessarily visible.

His paintings register movement, direction and traces, suggesting forces that pass through space and disappear. Rather than depicting a particular object, the marks evoke the evidence of something that has happened or is still in motion.

This interest in the intangible extends his engagement with the relationship between nature and human experience. His work asks how something that cannot be directly seen can nevertheless influence perception and leave a lasting impression.

Woo Jongtaek holds BFA and MFA degrees in Korean Painting from Chung-Ang University and a PhD in Art from Sungshin Women’s University. He is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Incheon National University. His exhibitions include the Total Museum of Contemporary Art and Geumho Museum of Art, and he has participated in KIAF Seoul and Paper Positions Berlin. His work is held in collections including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and Kumho Museum of Art.

Kwon Soohyun

Kwon Soohyun works with the visual logic of mechanical reproduction.

Her paintings use strong colour, precise forms and highly controlled surfaces. At first glance, the uniformity of the image can suggest printing or digital production, as though the human hand has been deliberately removed.

Yet this apparent distance from the handmade is part of the work. Humour, touch and a sense of reassurance remain present in the image—qualities that cannot be reproduced simply through technical precision.

Her paintings use a language associated with repetition and control to consider something much less mechanical: the ways people connect and offer comfort to one another.

Kwon Soohyun graduated from Sejong University and its graduate school and has served as an adjunct professor there. Her solo exhibitions include Gallery H at Hyundai Department Store, Gana Contemporary and Art Space H. She has also participated in KIAF, Galleries Art Fair and Seoul Auction exhibitions.

Kim Seoul

Kim Seoul examines the relationship between images, memory and time.

An image encountered years ago can return with a different significance. What was once simply seen may later become associated with a place, a particular season, or a feeling that is more difficult to describe.

Working primarily with printmaking, Kim uses repetition and carefully observed detail to explore this shift in perception. Looking becomes a way of recalling, while the passage of time changes what an image can mean.

Her work considers how visual memory accumulates and how an image can reconnect the present with something experienced long ago.

Kim Seoul studied Printmaking at Hongik University before completing an MFA and PhD at Tama Art University in Tokyo. She has exhibited in Korea, Japan and the United States, and has received awards including the CWAJ Prize, the Duguay Prize and the Special Prize at the Novosibirsk International Graphic Art Triennial. Her work is held by RISD Museum, Tokyo Opera City Art Foundation, Kochi Prefectural Museum, Museum SAN and Korean Art Bank, among others.

Lim Hyunhee

Lim Hyunhee begins with breath as a physical measure of presence.

Through repeated inhalation and exhalation, breath becomes gesture, colour and accumulated trace on the canvas. What is ordinarily invisible is registered through repetition and gradually takes on a material presence.

Her work approaches breath as a physical process—transient, necessary and continuous. It becomes a way of considering presence, fragility and the persistence of life.

Lim Hyunhee studied Painting and Printmaking at Ewha Womans University before completing an MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, London. She has held solo exhibitions in Korea and London, including Honey Im at 10 Vyner Street Gallery, London, and has participated in exhibitions at Koningsby Gallery and Bargehouse in London, as well as the 3rd Biennale di Genova in Italy.

Sought and Found

The six artists in the exhibition approach very different subjects and materials, but their works share an interest in experiences that often remain partly outside language: memory, sensation, vulnerability, movement and connection.

A work may bring a past experience back into view, give form to a feeling that was difficult to name, or simply create a sense of recognition.

SOUGHT AND FOUND brings together six artists whose works invite us to look again at something that may have been part of our memory, experience or imagination without having been fully recognised.

SOUGHT AND FOUND: Contemporary Korean Art
24–30 September 2026
Gallery JIB | 67 York Street | Marylebone | London
11:00–18:00 | Sunday 11:00–17:00
Artists: Yang Sunghoon | Jang sooji | Woo Jongtaek | Kwon Soohyun | Kim Seoul | Lim Hyunhee

19 Korean and Korean diasporic creatives exploring identity, belonging and home through art, fashion, design and performance:

Discover contemporary Korean culture through art, fashion, design, food, craft and performance at RE-PLACE, a four-day exhibition bringing together 19 Korean and Korean diasporic artists and creatives in London.

Exploring identity, belonging, diaspora and the idea of home, RE-PLACE looks at how Korean culture, memory and traditions continue to evolve across different cities, generations and creative practices.

From contemporary art and experimental fashion to kimchi, Bojagi and live performance, the programme offers different ways to experience Korean culture — both traditional and reimagined for today.

Sponsored by the Overseas Koreans Agency.

Private View — Friday 18 September, 7 PM

Join us for the official opening of RE-PLACE and meet the participating artists and creatives.

The Private View will welcome invited embassy delegates, culture and fashion journalists, editors and members of London’s creative community.

At 8:00 PM, performance artist Oh Jiwon will present Geobukus in collaboration with INRYU, the Neo-Artisan fashion brand led by Haru Kim and Eunjae Jeon.

INRYU explores artefacts of the future and imagines post-human “FUTURE TRIBES” through handcrafted techniques, experimental design and wearable art.

Private View: Free, RSVP required.

Kimchi: A Fresh & Tangy Workshop, Saturday 3pm – 5pm

Join Kimchi Ambassador Irene Hyun Soo Song for a hands-on introduction to a gentler side of Korean fermentation.

Participants will make Oi Sobagi (stuffed cucumber kimchi) and vegetable rolls, exploring fresh, tangy and naturally sour flavours with less emphasis on spice.

A refreshing way to experience Korean food culture through making, tasting and sharing.

Bojagi Class with Eunju MacMahon, Sunday 2pm – 4pm

Spend Sunday discovering the Korean tradition of Bojagi with Eunju MacMahon, Senior Lecturer at London College of Fashion.

Using traditional Bojagi techniques, participants will create their own handmade coaster while learning about Korean textile craft, hand-stitching and the beauty of wrapping culture.

Exhibition

18–21 September 2026

RE-PLACE brings together painting, sculpture, installation, photography, fashion, textiles, moving image, creative technology, food culture, makeup artistry, wearable art and performance.

The title RE-PLACE refers to the act of locating oneself again after movement and change. Rather than presenting diaspora as one shared experience, the exhibition brings together different stories of adaptation, memory, cultural heritage and the ongoing process of making a home away from home. The exhibition’s original curatorial note similarly frames “home” through memory, the body, objects, food, clothing, relationships and cultural heritage.

Venue: KOPPEL Collective | 157 Regent’s Park Road | Chalk Farm | London NW1 8BB

General exhibition admission is free.
Private View RSVP required for Friday 18 September, 7 PM.

Come for the art. Stay for the fashion, food, craft and performance — and experience a new generation of Korean culture in London.

BewhY is one of the most well-known and technically skilled artists in modern Korean hip-hop. The South Korean rapper and producer, whose real name is Lee Byung-yoon, released his first mixtape Be The Livest in 2012, followed by his first single “Waltz” in 2014. Since then, he has established himself as a major figure in the Korean hip-hop scene, known in particular for his distinctive rap style, precise delivery, and strong live performances.

BewhY achieved his major breakthrough in 2016 when he won Show Me The Money 5. Songs such as “Forever” and “Day Day” became major hits in South Korea. That same year, he was named one of the Top 10 Artists at the Melon Music Awards and won Best Rap Performance at the MAMA Awards together with C Jamm for “Puzzle”. In 2017, further major awards followed, including Best Rap & Hip Hop Song at the Korean Music Awards for “Forever”.

Over the years, BewhY has also developed a highly distinctive musical identity. His music combines technically demanding rap with productions ranging from large-scale, cinematic arrangements to electronic and funk-inspired sounds. At the same time, themes such as his Christian faith, personal growth, and identity continue to play an important role in his lyrics.

In May 2026, BewhY released his new 15-track album POP IS CRYIN’, marking a new chapter under his current label, Opus Magnum. More than a decade after his first releases, he remains one of the most distinctive and established voices in Korean hip-hop.

In April 2026, H1GHR Music, the Hip Hop / R&B label created by Jay Park, once again showcased the undeniable chemistry of its artists with the release of the compilation PURPLE TAPE. Now, the label is taking that energy to the stage with its first-ever European tour.

Bringing together each artist’s distinct personality with the collective energy of H1GHR MUSIC, the tour promises a one-of-a-kind live experience. Expect explosive live performances, powerful stage presence, and a free-spirited atmosphere that blurs the line between the stage and the crowd.

With the raw energy and unmistakable sound that only H1GHR MUSIC can deliver, the tour is set to create unforgettable moments for fans across the UK and mainland Europe.

The main Korean interest in this year’s BFI London Film Festival is Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love, with two gala screenings in the Festival Hall (not an ideal venue IMHO with imperfect sightlines and suboptimal audio, but at least it allows a larger audience than a typical cinema), and one in Vue West End. Also screening is Easter, a documentary featuring “an ageing and charismatic Korean trans burlesque star”.

Details of both films from the BFI LFF festival site, with booking links, follow. Tickets are on general release on 17 September, but join the BFI to increase your chance of actually getting a ticket as you can book a week earlier.

Possible Love (가능한 사랑)

Director: Lee Chang-dong
Screenwriters: Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi
With: Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung, Cho Yeo-jeong
South Korea 2026. 164min
Courtesy of Netflix

A chance meeting introduces filmmaker Ye-ji to Mi-ok’s family, whose lives have been affected by her husband’s unemployment. They’re perfect subjects for her documentary on workers who have been made redundant, leading them to spend more time in Ye-ji and her husband’s world. But as their connection deepens, the stark contrast between their class and background sees fractures appear in the collaboration, forcing them to confront their marriages and the wider world they all inhabit.

text: Isabel Moir

Screenings | Booking link:

• Sunday 11 October 2026 17:15 Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
• Wednesday 14 October 2026 14:15 Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
• Sunday 18 October 2026 12:00 Vue West End, EPIC 2

Easter

Director-screenwriter: Mokya Shin
With: Saekja, Jinhyo Lim, Rosemary
South Korea 2026. 84min
Courtesy of Low Light Films

As the spotlight fades and ornate costumes are put away, Saekja, an elder in the Korean adult entertainment scene, reflects on her life. We are made privy to her thoughts on love, connection and being honest narrators of our own story. Intriguing dance sequences and astonishingly lush aesthetics bring Saekja’s story to life, making Easter a often touching feast of thought and image.

text: Lynn Nwokorie

Screenings | Booking link:

• Monday 12 October 2026 21:00 BFI Southbank, Screen NFT2
• Wednesday 14 October 2026 18:40 ICA, Screen 1