Culture wave

The National Museum presented Hallyu! as the Korean wave of culture, from K-pop to Squid game and film and fashion and it was all those things but I was particularly taken by my lack of knowledge of Korean history for that's how the exhibition started.  I was visiting with a very international pair of guests with visits and lengthy explorations of South Korea and local Asia and it just exposed our common community unawareness of other places and peoples.  Not to the extent of mistaking Austria for Australia, as is joked of, but not too distant.  This was an exhibition from the V&A but not as extensive as that may suggest, and was essentially limited to this recent era of international cultural influence, but it was still both enjoyable and informative in those pop fields.  We've all heard the song Gangnam style and seen the sharp dance routines and wondered if BTS will succeed after military service and we've been horrified by the peninsular post-war if we've enjoyed our side of it.  There's much more to learn, but the costumes and styles were enjoyable and informative and sometimes less than they appear on film when seen up close (stage and film costumes can be thus).  It was a culture of youth that was presented and it was fun if mostly just that.

Hallyu! The Korean Wave was an exhibition from the Victoria and Albert Museum on display at the National Museum of Australia.

Blockie I

I know I'm being ridiculously lazy with few posts, but hey it's Christmas. In the meantime, just a short note and some pics of the two blockbuster exhibitions currently in Canberra.

First is the 100 objects show from the British Museum. A string of important works dating from the earliest days, the stoneage. I remembered some from the BM, not least that stone handaxe from the Olduvai Gorge, which is actually the oldest thing on display (1.2-1.4 million years old). And there were some distinct favourites, not least due to my historical interests: the bronze head of Augustus; the Lewis chessmen and the model of Chinese Liubo players; the pieces of eight; the Peruvian Moche pots and Benin plaques and Iraqi clay tablet and Chinese jade bi and bust of Sophocles and Arabian bronze hand and Hebrew astrolabe and Russian revolutionary plate. And others. It will never be like a visit to the real thing (the British Museum. That's just overwhelming although still not my favourite museum: NYC's Met wins that for me). But this small sampling was a great pleasure and a worthy waste of a few hours. (cont.)

A History of the world in 100 objects : From the British Museum is at the National Museum of Australia.