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Korea Herald
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Koo Jeong-a illuminates the invisible
A overview of Koo's recent work runs through Jan. 4 at LUMA Arles in southern France ARLES, France — At first, 'Seven Stars,' an installation of 10 paintings by Koo Jeong-a, also known as Koo Jeong A, on view at LUMA Arles in southern France, appears to be a set of abstract paintings. But in a single moment, the space turns into a cosmic world with stars appearing to glow in the dark — like the stars in the sky that are invisible in daylight, but always present. Only 10 people at a time are allowed into the maze-like space at Koo's new solo exhibition. When the light fades out, people freeze — unsure of what is to unfold. Then they soon fall into a meditative state, gazing at the glowing stars before them. When the light comes back on, visitors move again, like players in a game of freeze tag. 'It is a very different cognitive and sensory experience shifting between light and dark — you feel like you are in different worlds,' said Eimear Martin, independent curator at LUMA Arles. 'The silent partner in this work is light. They (paintings) gather energy in light to re-emit.' The 10 paintings from the series were first shown to the public in 2020 at PKM Gallery in Seoul. The works have evolved at LUMA Arles as the curatorial team and the artist incorporated architectural elements — a curtain has been installed behind the works that are concave or convex in shape, like the harmony of yin and yang. 'It is about creating a new space for the work. If the work travels elsewhere, the experience from here remains and that leads to something different. I think that is how the work continues to evolve,' Koo said during an interview with The Korea Herald on July 5 at Drum Cafe at LUMA Arles. Koo — who describes herself as 'living and working everywhere' — incorporates intangible elements or unseen forces, such as light, gravity, magnetic fields and scent into her works in a poetic way. 'Because I move around a lot, I just take my body and my mind — I have spent 30 to 40 years making work, letting it go and moving on, which has been years and years of practice,' Koo said. Scent knows no boundaries — the levitating figure 'Kangse SpSt,' shown at the Venice Biennale's Korean Pavilion in 2024, gives off a scent of the combined olfactory memories of people from the two Koreas — countries split by a single line. The figure, leaping upward as if defying gravity, welcomes visitors at the entrance to the arts center's signature building, The Tower. The East Gallery at The Tower — infused with fluorescent pink, again taking people to an unusual different space — shows Koo's 222 whimsical drawings, created on a regular basis, that offer a glimpse into the artist's mind. Some drawings show moments like eating noodles alone, lying in a bed lost in thought and scrubbing a body with a scrub glove, a common scene at public bathhouses in Korea. "When I draw, I go into a room. But if things don't progress in that room, I take a few sheets of paper — enough for maybe three days — and head somewhere else,' she said. 'When there's no creative energy, no momentum, there's nothing you can do. In those moments, I have to change the air somehow.' Some of Koo's works are quirky with a sense of subtle humor and playfulness — something that can also be felt in the way she speaks. For instance, a snowman pierced with 14 acupuncture needles, shown alongside the drawing series, humorously evokes the absurd. 'The snow mass is in the shape of the figure 'eight,' but also in the shape of the symbol of infinity. All these numbers (in Koo's art) have a very particular private significance,' Martin said. The snow mass was created during a residency at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado in 2007, according to LUMA Arles. During the interview, Koo's 'OooOoO,' painted with fluorescent pigment that illuminates the structure at night, at the public terrace could be seen from the Drum cafe in the building. The skate park is a permanent installation at LUMA Arles, offering people free access. Koo's glowing skate park was first shown in 2012, titled 'Otro,' as part of a landscape project at Vassiviere Island in France. The project aimed to revitalize the area for communal use, she said. 'It (creating art) is how I exist in the world. it is a way of living for me,' she said. 'It is a means of how I communicate with people.' The looping, continuous forms of wooden sculptures, reminiscent of Mobius strips, invite people to sit on them, perhaps to take a break between works at the exhibition. On the surface of the fluid architecture designed by Frank Gehry, are Koo's site-specific rock sculptures '[Ever] [Vast],' created in 2025 inspired by the soaring rock clusters found in the nearby Alpilles Mountains. Next year, Koo will have a solo exhibition at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, where the artist hinted that the exhibition will be shown in a way that has not been presented before. An artist with over 30 years of career, Koo candidly said her practice was shaped by continuous trial and error. 'As an artist, you have to be tough. A maestro? An artist is nothing like that," Koo said. 'The failures are many, but it is those small successes that give you the strength to keep failing. "When I was younger, even the smallest mistakes would scare me — but the difference now is that I know that I will have to take those risks and jump anyway. When you're trained, you don't become fearless, but you learn how to move through fear," she said. Marking the largest presentation of Koo's works in France to date, the exhibition 'Koo Jeong A: Land of Ousss [Kangse]' at LUMA Arles brings together the artist's works dating back from 2007 to the present. The exhibition opened on July 5 and runs through Jan. 4, 2026.
The Star
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Video of unidentified creature in Seoul's Han River goes viral
The video titled 'A Real Monster Emerges at the Han River in Seoul' was posted July 11 by fishing-themed YouTube channel Jungdam Story. - Jungdam Story YouTube channel via The Korea Herald/ANN SEOUL: A video showing what appears to be an unidentified creature in the Han River has gone viral, according to local media reports on July 30. The video titled 'A Real Monster Emerges at the Han River in Seoul' was posted July 11 by fishing-themed YouTube channel Jungdam Story. It shows the YouTuber fishing at night near a parking lot by the National Assembly in Yeouido, when he spotted something large and moving in the water. At first, he thought it was a big fish. Upon closer observation, he appeared alarmed by what he described as a black, thick and long creature approaching him. 'What is that? I'm scared. It's moving toward me,' he said in the video, before abandoning his fishing spot. He said the creature remained in the same area for about 20 minutes, moving consistently. He estimated it to be six to 10m long and thicker than a human body. 'It looked like there were two of them,' he added. 'I've been fishing for decades, but I've never seen anything like this before.' The video has sparked thousands of comments online. Some speculated that the creature could be a group of otters, an alligator or even a python. In 2022, a similar popular video showed an unidentified object of comparable size in the Han River, which was later identified as a buoy. - The Korea Herald/ANN
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
South Korea's population stagnates despite number of foreign residents topping 2 million
The South Korean national population has now decreased for four consecutive years since 2021. - Photo: AFP SEOUL: South Korea's population showed almost no growth in 2024, as an increase in foreign residents was offset by a continued decline in the number of Korean nationals, according to government data released on Tuesday (July 29). The data also highlighted the country's aging population, with nearly one in five South Koreans now aged 65 or older. In its annual census data, Statistics Korea reported that the total population reached 51.8 million as of Nov 1, 2024. This was an increase of just 31,000 from the previous year, or 0.1 per cent. The population had previously declined for two straight years in 2021 and 2022, before rebounding in 2023. However, the growth in 2024 slowed from the previous year's 0.2 per cent. The slowdown came as the number of South Korean nationals fell by 77,000, or 0.2 per cent, while the foreign population increased by 108,000, or 5.6 per cent. The Korean national population has now decreased for four consecutive years since 2021. Out of the total population, 49.76 million were Korean nationals, making up 96.1 per cent. Foreigners accounted for 2.04 million, or 3.9 per cent, marking the first time the number of foreign residents surpassed 2 million. The foreign population had declined in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but began rising again in 2022. The recent increase is partly the result of an expanded employment permit system and efforts to attract international students. Among foreign residents, Korean-Chinese made up the largest group at 538,000, or 26.3 per cent. Vietnamese residents saw the largest increase from the previous year, rising by 38,000, followed by Myanmar with 12,000 and Nepal with 10,000. When looking into the data by age groups, the overall working-age population, defined as those aged 15 to 64, fell by 283,000 to 36.26 million. The number of children aged 0 to 14 also dropped by 199,000 to 5.42 million. In contrast, the population aged 65 and older rose by 513,000 to 10.12 million, passing the 10 million mark for the first time. This resulted in proportion of seniors to increase, rising from 18.6 per cent to 19.5 per cent. - The Korea Herald/ANN
Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Health
- Korea Herald
How Koreans keep kids' heads fashionably round
In Korea, when a baby sleeps soundly, whether lying flat or with their head turned to one side, parents don't just admire the peaceful sight. They have a task at hand: gently repositioning the baby's head from side to side during sleep. It's a small but deliberate effort to prevent flat head syndrome and encourage a well-rounded head shape. While flat head syndrome is a real condition caused by constant pressure on the back or side of a baby's head, South Korean parents often have additional concerns. They believe the shape of the head forms the foundation of the face and that a flat head can interfere with the development of the baby's facial features. Since a baby's skull is still soft and developing, many Korean parents see infancy as a crucial window to shape a round, gently protruding back of the head, commonly called "jjanggu head," believing it will lead to a smaller, more sculpted face later in life. 'Jjanggu,' although best known as the Korean name for the popular Japanese animated character Shin-chan, is also a Korean word defined in dictionaries as a head shape characterized by a prominent forehead or occipital area. To prevent flat head, many parents make a habit of regularly alternating their baby's sleeping position from one side to the other. Some position their newborns to sleep on their sides or even on their stomachs, to avoid putting pressure on the back of the baby's head. There are even side-sleeping pillows on the market designed for newborns to lie on their side and wrap their little arms around the cushion. But many pediatricians in Korea and other countries strongly warn against putting babies to sleep on their stomachs or sides, as it has been directly linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. There have been numerous cases of infants dying while sleeping face-down. Just last year, a baby at a daycare center in Daegu died during a nap after being placed in a prone position following lunch. Some parents, unwilling to choose between safety and aesthetics, turn to head-shaping pillows featuring a dip in the middle. They are advertised as softly cradling the baby's head and preventing flattening. However, a local pediatrician surnamed Song says that those pillows are a product of Korea's beauty-obsessed parenting culture, calling them a form of "misleading marketing." "In most cases, a baby's head shape naturally corrects itself with growth. Sleeping face-down can block a baby's airway or interfere with body temperature regulation, so it requires special caution," he said. Next time you see a 'jjanggu' pillow online while shopping for a baby shower gift in Korea, remember that it's not about the anime character but about "K-beauty" starting in infancy. Instagram에서 이 게시물 보기 The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드(@thekoreaherald)님의 공유 게시물
The Star
3 days ago
- The Star
Woman stabbed in hospital carpark in S. Korea, attacker caught by civilians
SEOUL: A woman in her 20s was severely injured in a stabbing attack in South Korea's Ulsan city on Monday (July 28), after which the attacker tried to escape by car but was thwarted by the collective effort of people at the scene. The suspect, in his 30s, is currently under investigation by the Ulsan Bukbu Police Station for the attack, which took place at a hospital carpark at around 3.38pm (0638 GMT) on July 28. The victim sustained severe injuries and had yet to regain consciousness as of July 29 morning. A group of people at the scene stopped the suspect by blocking his vehicle as he tried to escape. Some then used a fire extinguisher to break the windows and overpower him. He was arrested by police officers who arrived shortly after the attack. The police are investigating the motive for the brutal attack. They are also reviewing whether to officially commend those who aided the arrest. - The Korea Herald/ANN
