Architectural design is becoming increasingly important as issues related to the environment and densely populated areas grow, according to Martha Thorne, executive director of Pritzker Architecture Prize, and Korean architect Park Jin-hee.Speaking at a session titled “What Now, How Now and Who Now” on the second day of the Herald Design Forum 2018 at Dongdaemun Design Center on Saturday, Thorne talked about the changes and challenges that have been brought upon the architects, as well as the ma

Bartomeu Mari, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, says areas of fine arts will crossover into the areas of design and architecture. During his lecture at the second day of Herald Design Forum 2018, held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Saturday, Mari said design had expanded its boundaries and broken the monopoly that fine arts had occupied for a long time. cap - Bartomeu Mari, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, speaks a

Chairs are much more than just chairs, according to Italian furniture designer Martino Gamper.“I think chairs tell a lot about us, how we live and how we make things,” said Gamper in his lecture titled “Not Just a Chair” on Friday at Herald Design Forum. He suggested that there is more to the chairs that we normally sit on every day. cap - Italian designer Martino Gamper gives a lecture titled “Not Just a Chair” at Herald Design Forum 2018 held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on Friday. (Par

Herald Design Forum 2018 kicked off Friday at Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Distinguished speakers, design experts and government officials are among those participating in Asia’s leading design festival, which runs through Saturday. Jungwook Hong, chairman of Herald Corp., delivers an opening address for Herald Design Forum 2018, which kicked off at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on Friday. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)“The forum, which started in 2011 with our belief that design can change the

Herald Design Forum 2018 kicks off at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on Friday for a two-day run under the theme “Designing Future.” The eighth edition of Asia’s leading design forum, organized by Herald Corp., features 15 internationally renowned speakers sharing their unique perspectives and inspirations. The annual design festival begins with an opening address by Herald Corp. Chairman Jungwook Hong.Following the chairman’s opening address is a keynote speech by Princess Dana Firas of Jorda

German producer Achim Freyer’s latest production of “Das Rheingold,” part of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle,” was unveiled to the media in Seoul, offering yet another interpretation of the epic music drama. ”The “Ring Cycle” is a “Gesamtkunstwerk,” in which music, drama, language, light, stage design, costumes and drawings all come into play, Freyer said Wednesday at a press conference held after a showcase performance at the Namsan Creative Center.  German opera director Achim Freyer (right) and Esther L

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided not to renew the term of Bartomeu Mari, the director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.Museum officials on Wednesday said they had received official word from the ministry on Tuesday.  Bartomeu Mari, the director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. (MMCA)The officials said the Culture Ministry had cited calls from within the domestic art world for the museum to focus more on Korean art wh

Design will continue to expand its boundaries, says Junji Tanigawa, a Japanese designer known as “Space Composer.”“There will probably be changes in the concept of design. It will expand into many fields and will all be considered as design. Newsfeeds and shared awareness will be structured at a level different from today’s,” Tanigawa said in an email interview with The Korea Herald and The Herald Business. Junji Tanigawa (Courtesy of the speaker)“I create many different types of communication p

Park Jin-hee, a recent winner of the Iakov Chernikhov International Prize, is an architect based in Seoul and New York widely recognized for her “micro-housing” projects. For the upcoming Herald Design Forum 2018, Park will join Martha Thorne, executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, to talk about the changing role of architects, as well as the new possibilities of architecture. Park will also share details of her past projects.Architect Park Jin-hee (Courtesy of Park Jin-hee)Micro

Violinist Chung Kyung-wha and pianist Cho Seong-jin will hold a duo concert at the Seoul Arts Center on Wednesday, part of a nationwide tour that started Sept. 1.The tour marks the first time in six years that the two classical music virtuosos have performed together. The last time, in 2012, Cho was a high school senior. Violinist Chung Kyung-wha and pianist Cho Seong-jin speak during a press conference at Seoul Arts Center on Monday. (Yonhap)“I remember it was in Jinju around six years ago, whe

One of the 2018 Gwangju Biennale’s Pavilion projects, “Today Will Happen” has reinvented a historical site -- the Gwangju Civic Center. The Gwangju Civic Center, completed in 1971, was used as a venue for cultural events. During the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980, the center served as citizen militias’ headquarters. The space has since remained largely unused, even after a renovation in 2014; only its office space was recently in use.  Young Korean twin brothers perform as part of a wo

The 12th edition of the Gwangju Biennale kicked off Friday, with 165 artists from 43 countries participating.A curatorial collective of 11 independent curators put together this year’s biennale. “The most important point was the process, the ways in which artists build up the biennale. The curators have tried to have conversations with each other as much as they could and also to make the exhibition relatable to the city and the local people here,” said Kim Sun-jung, Gwangju Biennale Foundation

Artist Jung Eun-young was announced the winner of the Korea Artist Prize 2018 on Wednesday evening. The competition is organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. Jung was one of four finalists for the prize. The others were Gu Min-ja, Okin Collective and Jung Jae-ho.The artist won the prize for her exploration of “Yeoseong Gukgeuk,” an all-female theater genre that was once popular in the 1950s but is now mostly forgotten.  Artist Jung Eun-young, the winner of the Ko

A few weeks ahead of the Herald Design Forum 2018, Martha Thorne, director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, shared her thoughts on the future of cities, as well as the growing role of architecture. “When we think about a livable city today, we are signaling a shift in the emphasis of the city,” Thorne said in an email interview with The Korea Herald and The Herald Business.  Martha Thorne, director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (Courtesy of the speaker)The emphasis of the city is now shi

For Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum in London, design is a way to understand the world. Among the design luminaries to speak at the Herald Design Forum 2018, to be held Sept. 14-15 in Seoul, Sudjic is noted for his writings about design and architecture that aim to reach the broader public. “Its too important to leave it only to the specialist,” he said in an email interview with The Korea Herald and The Herald Business, ahead of the forum. Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Gwacheon branch on Thursday opened an exhibition featuring Kim Chung-up, a first-generation modern architect in Korea.Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the architect’s death, “Kim Chung-up Dialogue” highlights the architectural legacy of Kim, who is widely known, though perhaps not sufficiently studied.“Though his name and some of his works are widely known, the ways in which we understood him have been quite superficial. There has not bee

Jheon Soo-cheon, the first Korean to win a prize at the Venice Biennale, died Monday from pre-existing medical conditions. Jheon had had five additional operations since his first operation for cerebral hemorrhage in December 2016, according to his family members.Born in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, in 1947, Jheon earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Wako University in Tokyo. In 1986, he received a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York and studied oil painti

Rising pianist Cho Seong-jin and conductor Chung Myung-whun will mark the 120th anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon with a concert on Dec. 6 at Seoul Arts Center.“Since when I was a child, I liked listening to CDs, and about 40 percent were by Deutsche Grammophon. I believe it is because the label has worked with many great artists over many years. I am really grateful to work with the label that I have grown up with,” pianist Cho said during a press conference Monday at the Plaza hotel in Seoul.

Nearing the end of his three-year tenure as the director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Bartomeu Mari is still thinking of ways to improve the nation’s public museum.“I hope I learned to adapt to the Korean cultural specificities in a respectful way,” Mari said during an interview held at his office last Monday. “I was asked to come here to make major transformations and improvements and make this museum one of the best in the world. Institutions, we know, are resi

The eighth edition of the Herald Design Forum next month will be dedicated to sharing ideas about how to design not just a better but a sustainable future. Under the theme of “Designing Future,” 15 internationally renowned speakers will share their experiences, discussing the latest changes in their respective fields and how they are preparing for the next wave of changes to come. Herald Design Forum 2018 will take place Sept. 14-15 at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza.The upcoming forum will start of