UW-Milwaukee Korea Day 2022
The annual Korea Day (한국의 날) celebration at UW-Milwaukee begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 in the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts. It’s free and includes a Korean cultural program with K-Pop dancing, Korean songs, art talk and a taekwondo demonstration. At 6 p.m. there will be an opportunity to see paper folding and Korean traditional games as shown in the Netflix series “Squid Game.” And best of all, there will be a chance to taste Korean food.
The celebration will culminate at 7:30 p.m. with the opening season concert of the UWM Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jun Kim and featuring violinist Kristin Lee, a recipient of the 2012 Avery Fisher Grant, and a top prize winner of the 2015 Naumberg Competition. The program will also include Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Elgar’s Dream Children and Dance of Polovtsian Maidens by Borodin.
Kyoung Ae Cho, UWM professor of art and president of the university’s Korean American Faculty & Staff Association, is the organizer of this year’s Korea Day. She graciously agreed to answer a few questions.
Korean Liberation Day, commemorating victory over Japan, when the United States and the Soviet Union liberated Korea from Japanese rule, is celebrated on August 15, 1945. Is there anything special about the October date?
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Korean American Association of Milwaukee organizes annual event for National Liberation Day of Korea (광복절) on/around Aug 15 in town. We have been having Korea Day event in October considering many aspects. ChuSeok (추석) is one of Korean’s big holidays, which is similar to Thanksgiving. Since it is based on the lunar calendar, it doesn’t fall on to the same date on Solar calendar every year, but it is a Fall season celebration, which usually falls in late September or October. Also, October 3 is National Foundation Day (개천절) and October 9 is Hangul Day (한글날), a day to commemorates the invention of Hangul, the Korean language. And since UWM’s Fall semester starts in September, early part of October seems a perfect time this Korea Day celebration event before it gets too cold. Considering all these, we have been having Korea Day event in early October.
Is there a particular flavor, for lack of a better word, of contemporary art in Korea or by Korean artists?
I am not sure how to answer this … I think when you compare traditional/older artwork, it is easier to distinguish western art vs Korean art, but for the contemporary art, just like other genre, the division is getting blurry since we are connected and easier to be informed about each other. I see the difference is rather by individual’s approaches these days.
I came to the U.S. to extend my education since I was told that my work was western style when I was in college. But as soon as I came to the U.S., I realized how Korean I and my works were. The words I heard often describing or responding to my works are: meditative, quiet, sensitive, attention to detail, and so on and I guess this could represent my Korean side?
Anyway, currently, I am having a solo show in James Watrous Gallery in Overture Center for the Arts, Madison till Nov 6. If you visit Madison, please check that out!
