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Victoria and Albert Museum with 170 years of history to host 'Hallyu! The Korean Wave'

연합뉴스 / 2022-09-22 15:19:36

▲This photo taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum shows, 'Hallyu! The Korean Wave.' (Yonhap)

▲This photo taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum shows, a gift shop of 'Hallyu! The Korean Wave.' (Yonhap)

▲This photo taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum shows, 'Hallyu! The Korean Wave.' (Yonhap)

SEOUL September 22 (Yonhap) -- Victoria and Albert Museum in United Kingdom which is known to incorporate 170 years of UK’s history will be hosting a Hallyu exhibition which withholds K-pop, K-drama, and overall history of Hallyu.

K-pop superstar PSY’s Gangnam Style will echo throughout the exhibition, from a portrait image of Yu Gwan-sun to K-pop idol Light Sticks the exhibition will showcase 100 years worth of South Korean history.

One of the greatest art, design, and performance museum, Victoria and Albert Museum’s “Hallyu! The Korean Wave” will officially open on September 24, opened up their exhibition on September 21exclusively for the global press.

Exhibition which was rather big used Hallyu as a medium to shine light on the cultural aspect of South Korean society.

Instead of simply showcasing objects “Hallyu! The Korean Wave” connects the present with the past, using video technology and various participatory contents which would take more than a day for a British person without any background knowledge of Hallyu.

As soon as visitors step into the exhibition of “Hallyu! The Korean Wave” which will be held in the 39th exhibition hall of the Victoria and Albert Museum in United Kingdom Psy’s “Gangnam Style” greets the audience. Some of Psy’s music videos were played on the walls of the exhibition.

The First section of the exhibition “From Rubble to Smart Phone” deals with the history of South Korea therefore it is very unfamiliar to people who are unaware of South Korean history.

From Japanese colonial period of Korea, the aftermath of Korean War, coupe in South Korea, Financial crisis in South Korea and more the first section of the exhibition shows the development of South Korea and how they have managed to transform into a culturally enriched nation starting in 2000s.

Portrait photo of Yu Gwan-sun, independence movement, a map indicating the separation of South and North Korea, photo of a cow plowing the field in front of a highly built apartment complex, radio from 1950s, Hyundai’s Pony and IONIQ, and more significant objects are exhibited through the museum.

Under the photo of the headquarter of Samsung detailed information such as CJ Entertainment which is currently focused on expanding their business into entertainment industry is a subsidiary of Samsung group, can be found around exhibited pieces.

Within the drama and Movie section of the exhibition is decorated to look like an old town of South Korea, also figures of “Squid Games” are placed to look like they are guarding the place.

In the corner of the drama and the movie section, there is a bathroom set from the South Korean movie, “Parasite” created by the production director Lee Ha-jun and there is a separate space where visitors can watch the movie “Old Boy.”

Screens placed throughout the exhibition plays South Korean dramas such as “Peppermint Candy,” “Reply 1988” and more, next to the screen Korean traditional clothes, silverwares, Samgang-Oryun which is about three bonds and five moral disciplines in human relations and more are showcased.

Continuing on, next to the screen which shows, Korean Webtoon they exhibited posters of Dramas based on South Korean webtoons.

Within the K-pop segment of the exhibition, not only K-pop music, fashion, dance, tricks, technological advancement are showcased but also it showed unique infusion between Korean traditional music with Pop, Korean traditional genre of music trot, and more.

Moreover, the K-pop segment shined the light on K-pop Idol’s Light sticks, Wreath and one of the biggest idol culture, fandom.

Throughout the exhibition there is a segment where the exhibition showcase the importance of K-pop super star BTS’ success in spreading Korean language through a book called “Learn Korean with BTS” also there are paintings of Sejong the Great, Terminations of the verb, Korean keyboard and more.

In front of the K-pop corner, music videos of H.O.T and Seo Taiji and Boys are on repeat, and albums of Cho Yong-pil, Kim Wan-sun, Sinawe and more are displayed for people to see. One of the reports watching the music video stated “Within that music video one of them is YG himself.” When the artists from the exhibition are active, it was very hard for them to think of a day where Hallyu became a global phenomenon.

Segment where one can learn the dance of PSY and BTS’ SUGA’s collaborative track “That That” was very popular on the day of preopening.

Within the last section of the exhibition, Korean traditional clothes Hanbok and clothes by Korean descendent designers, South Korean cosmetics and more were displayed.

According to one of the reporters visited the exclusive opening event of the exhibition stated “Although I am familiar with K-pop I did now know how deep and wide the Korean culture expanded and through this exhibition I learned it for the first time that there is a culture which started from such a rock bottom, yet managed to make such an unbelievable development in such short time.”

Continuing on, one of the reporter specifically deals with culture who is in their 70s stated “To be honest, I was not that interested in Korean culture, however my coworker fell in love with Korean drama since last year, that is why I tagged along to this exhibition, and when I got here I was very surprised.” adding “Clothes by South Korean fashion designers are fantastic.”

Continuing on with his comment reporter in his 70s stated “One of the biggest concerns museums have is the lack of young generations interest and admission, however, Hallyu exhibition will definitely draw a lot of younger generation to the museum.”

Exhibition “Hallyu! The Korean Wave” does not end at the scene of the exhibition itself. Within the gift shop hand fans with Korean traditional patters, clothes, bags, with “Hallyu” printed on and numerous Korean related gifts awaits visitors.

Starting with kimchi, soy sauce, seaweed, Korean books, novels and more are available at the gift shop of Victoria and Albert Museum.

Although it was an exclusive event for global press, clerk at the gift shop was restocking the green cell phone decorative ring because it was one of their most popular items.

Unique exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in United Kingdom attracted over 120 visitors during the exclusive opening days and The Guardian rated the Exhibition “Hallyu! The Korean Wave” five out of five.