‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ will be featured in London’s V&A museum to celebrate Korea’s popular culture with some 200 items to be put on display
London V&A museum is celebrating the international domination of South Korea’s pop culture by opening the landmark exhibition ‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ on Saturday, September 24.
The exhibition will be the first to feature the dynamic pop culture of South Korea which will be split into different sections such as K-pop and its fans, television drama and cinema, fashion and beauty.
“This exhibition is actually celebrating the vibrant and colorful popular culture from South Korea from its inception to its place on the global stage,” according to curator Rosalie Kim at a preview on Wednesday, September 21.
“‘Hallyu’ actually means Korean wave and it refers to this meteoric rise of popular culture from South Korea that has taken the world by storm in the past few decades.”
Hallyu! The Korean Wave also showcases the makings of the actual K-wave which rose into prominence in the late 1990s through cinema, drama, music and fandoms, and underlines its cultural impact on the beauty and fashion industries.
The exhibition will display around 200 objects across four thematic sections with highlights including an immersive re-creation of Parasite’s bathroom set, and a variety of iconic costumes and props seen in K-drama, film and music – including from hit Netflix series Squid Game, and outfits worn by different generations of K-pop idols, from PSY, Aespa and a large sculpture of rapper G-Dragon.
Artworks from famous Korean artists will also be featured including pieces by Nam June Paik, Ham Kyungah and Gwon Osang and around 20 high fashion looks by Tchai Kim, Miss Sohee and Minju Kim among others.
Early samples of advertising and brandings that first put Korea in the spotlight, including an original poster from the Seoul Olympics, and the first Korean branded cosmetic from the 1910s will be included in the collection.
The exhibit will be open to visitors this Saturday and will run until June.
Tags: #Korean, #kpop, #museum, #Hallyu