Korean Cultural Center New York

2011
January ~ February
Tuesday, January 25, 7PM
KOREAN
TAKE OFF
(2009, 145 minutes)
CULTURAL SERVICE
NEW YORK
1997. Muju, Korea. In an effort to bring the 2010
Winter Olympics to Korea, the country has to demonstrate that Koreans enjoy the sports of the Winter
Olympics. One problem: no one knows squat about
ski jumping. No problem, they assemble a team,
train them on waterslides and sends them into competition. It’s a true story, and a lot like COOL RUNNING (the tale of the Jamaican bobsled team) but
it’s given a distinctly Korean flavor in this popular,
mainstream blockbuster that’s the flat-out funniest in
this series and that stars four major Korean stars:
Choi Jae-Hwan, Ha Jeong-Woo (the killer from THE
CHASER), rapper Kim Ji-Seok, and Kim Dong-Wook from the popular Korean soap
opera ‘Coffee Prince’.
Tuesday, February 8, 7PM
If second place is first place for losers, then let’s not
even get into what third place means. Popular actor Lee Bum-Soo plays real-life Olympic weightlifter,
Ji-Bong, who quits the sport after a gruesome powerlifting injury. The only job he can find is coaching
weightlifting at a small town school. Even worse, it’s
a girl’s school and if there’s one group of people on
this earth who do not want to bulk up and gain muscle mass, I would guess it’s Korean high school girls.
Complications ensue. Downbeat and gritty to the point of being almost nasty, LIFTING KING KONG displays people in all their awful greediness, but this commitment to
not flinching from the bad side of life makes the inevitable comeback and triumph of
the human spirit feel that much more touching, and that much more earned.
Tuesday, February 22 , 7PM
FOREVER THE MOMENT
(2008, 124 minutes)
Probably the world’s only movie about handball, if
there’s one film in this series that is going to break
your heart, it’s FOREVER THE MOMENT. Based
on the true story of Korea’s women’s handball team
competing at the 2004 Summer Olympics, it finds
a one-time player from the national team recruiting
some of her now-middle-aged former teammates
when she’s asked to step in to coach the new national team at the last minute. Directed by Lim
Soon-Rye, one of the few female directors in Korea,
it became a major word-of-mouth hit in 2008, and it
remains one of the greatest sports movies ever made, from any country.
On the cover :
Photo of Pansori Project ZA
For additional information, please visit www.koreanculture.org
LIFTING KING KONG
(aka THE BRONZE MEDALIST)
(2009, 120 minutes,
New York Premiere)
Januaryr
Korean showcases at 2011 APAP:
Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company
January 7 & 8, 7:30PM
Japan Society (333 East 47th Street, NYC)
The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism
proudly presents Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company in
association with Japan Society; co-organized by the
Korea Arts Management Service and Korean Cultural
Service New York.
Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company will showcase Bul-ssang,
a satiric take on Buddhist rituals fusing several forms of
Asian traditional dance – including Indian kathak, Korean Jindo drum dancing and Chinese martial arts – with
pop and street dance styles in the 14th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase:
Japan + East Asia.
Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company is one of the most preeminent Korean contemporary
dance companies which create experimental styles by combining Korean traditional
dance technique and modern dance language. Ms. Ahn is the grand prize-winner of
Les Rencontres Choreographiques de Seine-Saint-Denis and also registered as one
of the leading Korean dancers in the Oxford Dictionary of Dance.
Tickets: $23/ $20 (Japan Society members). To purchase tickets, call 212-715-1258
or visit www.japansociety.org
Korean showcases at 2011 APAP:
Pansori Project ZA
Monday, January 10, 6:30PM
The Martin E. Segal Theatre (365 5th Avenue, NYC)
Tuesday, January 11, 7PM
Gallery Korea of Korean Cultural Service NY
Pansori Project ZA was formed right after Pansori Brecht: Sacheon-Ga premiered in
2007. It consists of promising artists in Korea from various fields of art such as traditional Korean music, pop music, theatre and contemporary dance. Their endeavors
have resulted in creating a new style of “intercultural” theatre based on Pansori’s own
aesthetic inspirations.
The Martin E. Segal Theatre showcase is for APAP members only. To RSVP, contact
kams@gokams.or.kr. Admission for KCS NY showcase is open to public and free of
charge; RSVP required. To make a reservation, please contact the KCS NY at 212759-9550 or email us at info@koreanculture.org
Exhibition: Ho Sook Kang
January 12 - 28
Gallery Korea of Korean Culture Service NY
Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 12, 6 - 8 PM
Gallery Korea presents a special exhibition by
Ho Sook Kang, a Korean-born artist living and
working in Brooklyn. Having learned poetry, cal-
Tickets: CNYDF Opening Night-$30; all other performances are free of charge. To purchase tickets, contact SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or visit www.whitewavedance.com.
For more information: call at 718-855-8822 or email: info@whitewavedance.com
twice been invited as guest ensemble to the Nevada Encounters of New Music as
well as La Ciudad de las Ideas (Mexico) and the International Contemporary Music
Festival of Lima, Peru. A special highlight for the 2010-11 season is an 85th Birthday
Celebration for Pierre Boulez at Miller Theatre with Mr. Boulez in attendance.
This exhibition shows the richness of her works which is exploring the beauty and
volatility of the natural world. in this exhibition, her art can be seen as a movement
in silent nature. As a drop of water, for example, comes to the sea and dust falls on
the mountains, human beings also in the end exist as tiny specks of dust in nature.
Accordingly, she describes the endlessly changeable and circular condition of nature
by using dots in a general abstract pattern.
Exhibition: Joint Photo Show of Photographer Eun Joo Lee’s
“The Life and Art of Video Artist Nam June Paik” and Shinae
Choi’s “The Art World of Ballerina Sue Jin Kang”
“…the piece is a knockout. “ – New York Times on Rocana
February 9 - March 4
Gallery Korea of Korean Culture Service NY
Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 9, 6 - 8PM
Cheong-Bae:
Movement for Sound ONE
Korean Cultural Service New York presents the Joint
Photo Show of Photographer Eun Joo Lee’s “The Life
and Art of Video Artist Nam June Paik” and Shinae
Choi’s “The Art World of Ballerina Sue Jin Kang” that
toured Seoul and Tokyo in October of 2010.
Friday, January 21, 7PM
Gallery Korea of Korean Cultural Service NY
Cheong-Bae was established in 2001 and
has become a major traditional performing
arts troupe about to take Korean Yeon-hee
to the world. Yeon-hee is a Korean performing arts form traditionally regarded as the
combination of rituals, music, dance, and acrobatics.
Recreated for the enjoyment of the contemporary audience, Movement for Sound
ONE is a non-verbal performance based on the brilliant rhythms and beautiful performances found in Korean traditional and shaman music. The performance includes
Dae-Chwita gracing the ceremonial walk by the royal family with Korean bugle and
percussion and Binari wishing the happiness for god and people. Cheong-Bae will
also perform with New York jazz musicians improvising through the symphony of Korean traditional musical instruments and Western musical instruments.
From February 9th to March 4th, Korea’s leading photographer of performing arts Eun Joo Lee and her
daughter, another world-famed artist Shinae Choi, are
holding a photo show at our gallery space. The show
will exhibit photos of Nam June Paik, a Korean-born
world renowned video artist, during his later years by
Eun Joo Lee’s side and the photos of Ballerina Sue Jin Kang as by Shinae Choi’s
side.
* Book Launch & Author Signing
Kubota Shigeko will also be launching her new book ”My love, Nam June Paik (나의
사랑 백남준)”. Kubota Shigeko is the wife of Nam June Paik. The author will be available to sign copies of her book.
Future schedules for Cheong-bae include the concert at 2011 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas in March and 2011 Langollen International Music Festival in Wales, UK in
July.
Unsuk Chin Portrait Concert
Wednesday, February 16, 8PM
Bohemian National Hall
(321 East 73rd Street between 1st & 2nd Avenues, NYC)
Admission is free but RSVP is required. Please call 212-759-9550 or email us at
info@koreanculture.org
COOL NY 2011 DANCE FESTIVAL
January 26 - February 6, 2011
Opening Night: Wednesday January 26, 7PM
Thursdays, 7 - 8:30PM & 9 - 10:30PM
Fridays, 7 - 8:30PM & 9 - 10:30PM
Saturdays, 2 - 3:15PM (A Day for the Family),
7 - 8:30PM & 9 - 10:30PM
Sundays, 4-5:30PM & 6-7:30PM
John Ryan Theater (25 Jay Street, Brooklyn)
February
Pansori Brecht: Sacheon-Ga is inspired by Bertolt
Brecht’s play A Good Woman of Szechuan. It is innovative because from the perspective of traditional Korean
music, exotic rhythms and melodies have been added
with more than 13 instruments. The script writer and
composer, Jaram Lee received much acclaim from professional theatre experts in Europe and drew the “Best
Actress Award” at the International Theater Festival ‘Kontakt’ in Poland this year.
ligraphy, and Korean landscape painting at a young age, Kang’s work naturally draws
upon such ancient traditions. Kang’s absorption in the natural world is rooted in the
age-old belief that one may find solace or renewal through contemplation of landscape.
WHITE WAVE will be hosting and producing the
COOL NY 2011 DANCE FESTIVAL (CNYDF),
celebrating the company’s annual winter dance extravaganza of cutting-edge choreography. CNYDF features both young luminaries and
well-known ensembles, bringing together a wide spectrum of talents from all across
the United States and beyond into the New York City spotlight.
Photo by Yichun Wu
This year’s CNYDF includes performances by the stunning WHITE WAVE Young
Soon Kim Dance Company as well as Hyonok Kim Dance Art from Daegu, Korea.
Young Soon Kim’s So Long for Now (2010), is a collaboration with the composers
Sam Crawford, Zeb Gould & Allen Won. Deeply invested in the meticulous craft of the
body’s limitless capacity for expression, So Long for Now achieves both the dynamic &
exhilarating forces and sculptural beauty of human nature. Hyonok Kim’s piece Night
Song was inspired by the calligraphic thrust, abstract curved line, and Chi power of the
renowned painter Jeong Jum Shik.
Photo by Eric Richmond
Korean Cultural Service NY in association with the Bohemian National Hall presents the first United States
Portrait concert dedicated to the world-renowned Korean composer, Unsuk Chin. Performed by the virtuosic Talea Ensemble, the event features a retrospective
of Chin’s works ranging from her delicate pieces for
solo piano to her aggressive ensemble works utilizing
acoustic and electronic sound. Unsuk Chin will make
a rare New York appearance for the event and also join
for an in-concert interview about her musical development and works.
Born in Seoul, Unsuk Chin moved to Germany in 1985 to study with Gyorgy Ligeti. Ms.
Chin won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2004 and Arnold Schoenberg prize in
2005. Her works have been performed worldwide by major orchestras and ensembles
such as the Bavarian State Opera, Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern and
Kronos Quartet. She has been Composer-in-residence with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of its Contemporary Music Series since 2006.
The Talea Ensemble has given many important premieres of new works by composers
including Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Jason Eckardt, Pierluigi Billone, Stefano Gervasoni, Marco Stroppa, and Fausto Romitelli. The ensemble has been seen on stages
across North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Talea was recently the guest
ensemble for the 18-day Spectrum XXI Festival tour in Paris and London and has
“...this is a score of enormous beauty, rhetorical force and structural ingenuity.”
– San Francisco Chronicle on Violin Concerto
“The Talea musicians moved through Mr. Boulez’s music with astonishing fluidity and
warmth.” – New York Times
Tickets are $15/ $10 (students). To purchase tickets, contact SmartTix at 212-8684444 or visit www.smarttix.com. For more information, call 212-759-9550 or visit
www.koreanculture.org
KOREAN MOVIE NIGHT
from January 11, 2011 – February 22, 2011
courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service
Every other Tuesday, 7PM
Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from
the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)
Price: Free.
All seating is first-come, first served. Doors open at 6:30PM.
Sports Films!
Everyone loves a sports movie – underdogs facing impossible odds,
no resources, no hope and yet somehow they pull victory from defeat
at the last possible moment. Korea understands the underdog in an
almost spiritual way and as a result the past three years have seen a
string of sports movies become major box office hits in Korea. Full of
drama, the sports movie has practically replaced the romantic comedy
as Korea’s genre of choice these days, and over the next eight weeks
we’ll be showing you some of the best.
Tuesday, January 11 , 7PM
A BAREFOOT DREAM
(2010, 119 minutes)
Korea’s entry for the Oscars (where it hopes to win
“Best Foreign Language Film”) this movie tells the
true story of Kim Won-Kang, a former player for
Korea’s national soccer team who hit the skids after he got too old for the game. Traveling Southeast
Asia, he lurches from one get-rich-quick scheme to
another finally landing in war-torn East Timor. He
scrapes by renting cleats to kids playing soccer in a
local park but slowly he gets sucked into their lives
and winds up becoming their coach. Director Kim
Tae-Kyun (VOLCANO HIGH) knows action, and he shoots his soccer games fast
and hard, while keeping the melodrama quotient low so that the film never becomes
sentimental. A scrappy burst of soccer adrenaline, A BAREFOOT DREAM is one of
2010’s most sure-fire crowdpleasers.