The International Cultural Days at the State Hermitage Museum continue with the project Korea: Traditions and Modernity, acquainting St. Petersburg students with the history, art and life of South Korea in the 21st century.

On 10 -12 April in the Exhibition Hall of the Youth Centre there was a bright opening ceremony for an exhibition of graphic work and installations by the famous Korean artist Lee Bo Suk Russian Arirang – Hangul 2008, which was ended with a small concert.

Lee Bo Suk held an engaging master class for students. She talked about her creativity, underlining that her work had been influenced by such masters as Dali, Malevich and Kandinsky… The artist used elements of the Korean alphabet hangul in her works. Lee Bo Suk offered everybody present to try their hand at Korean calligraphy. The main purpose of the master class in the Youth Centre was to feel the letter as an artistic element, which could be used as the basis of a work of art. Lee Bo Suk talked about the origins and components of hangul, explaining the symbolism of colour in traditional Korean art. After this, students were given tables with the Russian and Korean alphabets. St. Petersburg youths took pleasure in writing their names in Korean with a brush on sheets of traditional Korean paper, and the Koreans present were taught to write Russian. The collective work by the students Lee Bo Suk took with her to Korea where she plans to include them in a large art project of her own.

As part of the project there were also included lectures by Associate Professor Rimma Kamilevna Tangalycheva of St. Petersburg State University on the Republic of Korea: History and Traditions and a film showing. Yon Han Pe, a journalist with the paper Dabai Koreya in St. Petersburg talked about the main features of Korean film in the 21st century. Afterwards, the audience had the opportunity to watch detective-mystical thriller Blood Rain (South Korea, 2005), winner of the Korean Grand Bell Awards. A lively discussion followed the end of the film.

The Korean Cultural Days and Lee Bo Suk’s project Russian Arirang – Hangul 2008 were organized by the Youth Centre of the State Hermitage Museum together with the organization committee of the St. Petersburg Korean Festival-2007 with the support of the General Consulate of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Tourism Organization and the editing board of the St. Petersburg Korean paper Dabai Koreya.

Autograph of students and the artist on traditional Korean paper

Name in Korean

At the master class at the Youth Centre

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