Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.

Features collection of traditional Korean art, 36 pieces of which have been designated national treasures, and modern and contemporary art from both Korean and foreign artists. Some of the notable names are Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst (yikes!), Jeff Koons, and so on. 

One of the most interesting aspects about this museum is building itself. Three of them were designed by three prestigious architects, Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel, and Rem Koolhaas.

Artspectrum 2012.

Special exhibition for young Korean artists who were selected for their potentials for future growth regardless of their age and of the genre and subject of their work. Just like the title of the exhibition explains itself, it reveals small part of the contemporary art scene in Korea. I liked it the way I liked the Nuit Blanche in Toronto.

'Some Watchtower' and 'Mass of Scaffolding' by Ji Eun Kim

"Human lives are formed in buildings and structures that surround us. In particular, the urban environment provides us with facilities of comfort while operating as a determining factor in our lives. Korean cities, which continuously change despite their old histories, give Kim Ji Eun an insight into manmade environments and into those that lie beyond them such as institutions and desires. The incompleteness and disorder of a construction site may be temporary conditions. At the same time, they constitute our quotidian reality marked by endless redevelopments and reconstructions. These structures also reflect a social structure, where secret surveillance and control through invisible regulations, and resistances and battles against them repeat endlessly."

'A Capital City of a Thousand Years' by Jang Boyun

"Jang Boyun explores our shared memores through photographs abandoned by others. The photographs collected by the artist are documents of our time containing cherished memories of the past that used to belong to anonymous people. Gyeongju, an important city in Korea's ancient history, used to be an even more personally meaningful place for many who visited there on their school trips and honeymoons- two important rites of passage- before overseas travels were deregulated. Although young students and married couples captured the famous tourist sites of Gyeongju in their photographs in order to preserve them in their memories, the photographs holding those precious moments ended up being thrown away. By recuperating personal traces left by others, the artist shows us the dim and disappearing shared memories whose realities are no longer graspable."

Maman (1998).

"The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother."  - Louise Bourgeois

I remember seeing 'Maman' for the first time in front of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Every time I passed it (mostly on the way to cross the Alexander bridge to Gatineau), I thought for myself what could possibly be the motif of this extraordinary sculpture. It's pretty interesting to see it again, on the other side of the world.

Cheongdam Bridge/청담대교

Full of people on Subway line 7. Lit up city colours. Usual week night.

Seongsu Bridge/성수대교

One of the 27 bridges across the Han River.

Commuters.

Once I was one of them but now I'm just an observer- watching others commute.

Employment contract made me give up certain amount my time but it was undoubtedly a good choice,

because I started to doubt my ability of time management and wanted to give up little bit of my freedom for rewarding experience. I wonder if it's in human nature to desire being told what to do or I'm just too young and doesn't have much experience on leading my way.

Hangang Railway Bridge/한강철교

National Museum of Korea.

Old World.

'혼일강리역대국도지도', 'Map of Integrated Lands and Regions of Historical Countries'- 

Back in 1402, they didn't have the word for 'world', so that's how they named the map.

China, being the most influential kingdom to the Korean Peninsula, was drawn in the centre and took up the most space of the map.  However, Japan, being the least developed nation at the time, was drawn simply as a small cluster of islands. Interestingly enough, European, Middle Eastern and African countries were also shown on the top left corner of the map according to the size of their importance. 

EIDF/EBS국제다큐영화제

I've spent the evening at the documentary festival hosted by the EBS, a national public television network featuring educational and cultural programs. All the films were being screened for free and most of them were scheduled with a director's after talk.

The film I've chosen was 'Father's E-mail', under the category of Korean Docs Panorama, directed and narrated by Hong Jae-hee. There were other popular choices under the competition category, but I was more tempted to know about the story of a family and a patriarch- reflected according to the each modern era of Korean history; Korean war and anti-communist activity, dispatch to Vietnam war, Summer olympic in 1998 Seoul, and the shadow of rapid economic development. The director led the timeline of her father's life based on 47 emails he sent before death. The story turned out to be more than just a historical reflection but a life of a father of that specific generation born in 30's and 40's. It was excellent 85 minutes of my life.

During the QnA session, someone asked the director about the motivation of making the film, instead of leaving it as a personal memory. Her answer was that it's in her nature to share the story to public, through the medium of documentary and that is an important part of the soul-searching(자아성찰) for her. She also noted that the best part of filming is not about getting an award or a good critique, but the pleasure of discovering through filming itself.

When she talked about what 'filming' meant for her, I immediately thought about what 'blogging' meant for me. No one expects me to write things and upload things here, and yet I'm doing it. I wonder if keeping this blog running is part of the soul-searching for myself.

August 20, 2012.

There are less than two weeks of times until the flight back to Toronto.
In other words, soon, I'll have to look back and think of what I've done in the past 4 months.

I will try to spend the next 13 days keep exploring the city and meeting with people that I love.

August 18, 2012.

The short-term internship was a success. Manager of the team was very satisfied with the case-study reports that I prepared and told me that I did better job than those who just graduated from university and started working as employees. It could be either, he didn't see many new employees or he didn't expect much from a student who just finished his first year - but really, it's a compliment anyway.

During the short period of time, I was able to get along with other co-workers and built relationships with those who are at least 10-20 years older than me. From time to time, they've given kind advices on careers and I tried to stay engaging in conversation. It wasn't an easy thing for a quiet, inexperienced youth like me, and it was definitely an out of the comfort zone experience.

The work was more than just a paycheque for me. Perhaps the written amount was nothing compare to the gained confidence that my personality and language skill could come handy in near future.

iPod Shuffle.

I wanted to give myself a reward with little bit of what I earned.

This shuffle will allows me to listen music without having to browse up and down

 to 'choose the perfect song that fits the mood'. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Alpensia Ski Jumping Stadium.

In less than 6 years, this empty stadium would be full of crowd, media, athletes, and snow.

I'll be 24 going on 25 on that year and god knows what I would've gone through by then.

2018 sounds like a year that's never going to come, but I already know that I'll be referring to this post when I write a new blog post when the winter olympic starts on that year. Let's see.

Daegwallyeong/대관령

Green pasture on a plateau, just off the coast of the East Sea. 

Samyang Ranch/삼양목장

London Olympic.

Being on the other side of the planet, I wasn't able to watch a lot of this year's olympic.

(Plus, olympic lost me since they voted out baseball!)

I did manage to watch important fencing, archery, and shooting games  which Korean players have won gold medals. They say olympic games are 'competition between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries' (Article 6 of the Olympic Charter), but meh- it's hard to see it without the shades of patriotism.

Team Korea did it well. Considering that only 64 years ago, they joined the 1948 London olympic for the very first time as a nation, with 17 people who spent 2 weeks on a ship, gaining 2 bronze medals.

Hide and Seek.

Dark Knight Rises.

Being a Nolan fanboy, I expected the film to have slightly more of his colour: well developed story that makes sense back and forth, profound examination on individual character, and fresh and thoughtful themes such as alter ego. 

I might have hoped too much for the same sensation and awakening as I felt 4 years ago, while watching the Dark Knight at the Ottawa Coliseum cinema. But really, I wished there were more insights to new characters of the franchise and less number awkward cliches... like Batman asking a commissioner to put a burning torch on a ground to fire up the oil covered batman symbol on a side of Brooklyn Bridge. Oh yeah, and I didn't like the fact they choose New York City as a filming site instead of Chicago.

August 2, 2012.

Upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion