KOREA

August 2025 menu_m menu_x

Patchwork of Elsewhere

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The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. is hosting the exhibition “Patchwork of Elsewhere” on the second floor of its gallery through Aug. 22.

This exhibition explores the meaning of “home” and “dwelling” in a world of constant movement and fragmentation, examining the sensibilities of those living as outsiders. In an age where physical space alone can no longer define a home, the idea of home extends beyond a place of residence—it becomes a state of mind, a space layered with memories and emotions. Through diverse artistic languages, the exhibition reflects on shifting notions of home, offering a platform for dialogue around migration, otherness and the possibilities of connection.

Artists Gina Bae, Timothy Hyunsoo Lee, Sookkyung Park and Yu-Ching Wang—each from different cultures, regions and backgrounds—present works that embody their personal experiences of being “the other.” Their pieces explore what it means to remember, to leave a trace, and to belong while navigating between the familiar and the unfamiliar.

The exhibition brings together a variety of media and formats: paintings that reinterpret symbolic imagery and imagined landscapes from minhwa (folk painting), digital works that reconstruct the terrain of the body and identity, paper sculptures inspired by the eaves of Korean Hanok (traditional houses) and documentary films capturing the presence and stories of migrants in urban settings.

Rather than focusing on permanence or possession, the artists express a sense of natural flow and interconnectedness. Visitors are invited to engage with fragmented narratives and layered landscapes, encountering others’ memories and experiences, while also adding their own.

The exhibition is free and open to the public without a reservation. It is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a lunch break closure from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

  • img1Timothy Hyunsoo Lee, Lotto (sweet child of mine), 2019
  • img1Yu-Ching Wang, Pigeonese, 2022

The Enduring Heart and Gaze of Yanagi Muneyoshi

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To mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, the Korean Cultural Center in Osaka is presenting a special exhibition titled “The Enduring Heart and Gaze of Yanagi Muneyoshi: Centering on the 1937 Jeolla-do Province Travelogue.” The exhibition is co-organized with the Japan Folk Crafts Museum.

This exhibition retraces the journey of Yanagi Muneyoshi, a renowned Japanese philosopher and art critic, as he explored Korean craftsmanship. Yanagi celebrated the simple, honest beauty of handcrafted objects used in daily life. He held a deep admiration for traditional Korean art and craft from the Joseon era.

In 1937, Yanagi traveled through Korea’s Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do provinces alongside Japanese potters Kawai Kanjiro and Hamada Shoji, seeking not only the crafts themselves but also the lives and hands behind them. A decade later, in 1947, he published “Crafts of the Joseon Dynasty That Continue Even Today,” a book based on this experience.

The exhibition retraces Yanagi’s journey into Korean craft, displaying Korean folk crafts from the 1930s housed in the Japan Folk Crafts Museum. Also featured are works by Kawai Kanjiro and Hamada Shoji, who accompanied him on the trip. Visitors will also find Yanagi’s original manuscripts, related photographs and documentation from the 1970s that traces the legacy of their fieldwork in Korea.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a special international symposium featuring Korean and Japanese scholars will be held, along with a guest lecture by photographer Fujimoto Takumi, offering fresh perspectives on how Yanagi and his contemporaries experienced Korean traditional crafts—and how that beauty still resonates today.

The exhibition runs from Aug. 22 to Sept. 26 at the first-floor Gallery of the Korean Cultural Center Osaka. It is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Sundays, Mondays and national holidays. Admission is free.

  • img1© National Intangible Heritage Center.
  • img1© National Intangible Heritage Center.
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