IN THE 1930S, a savvy developer embarked on a real-estate venture in Samcheong, a neighborhood in the heart of Seoul that was once home to a six-hundred-year-old village. Using modern materials for an urban update to the traditional Korean building style, the company created the Bukchon Hanok Village, a tony residential area whose narrow winding streets are now firmly on the tourist map.On Monday of Seoul Art Week, Various Small Fires hosted a reception in one of Bukchon’s hanoks, whose basement had been retooled as a viewing room for a suite of painted prints by Kyungmi Shin. Those who snuck
When we think about the meaning of colonialism from the perspective of Korea, the first thing that comes to mind is the Japanese colonial era (1910-45), which ended with Japan s defeat in World War II and the Korean Peninsula s liberation. But what if we reconsider the meaning of colonialism as a broader, ongoing phenomenon, as a majoritarian culture that works to dominate, exploit and extract resources from diverse, minor, local cultures?