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March Issue
Here it is, folks. The March issue is now available online (click the cover below) and in print all over Daegu. Visit our locations page to see where you can pick up a hard copy for yourself.
A Taste Of Things To Come
You’re only a couple of days away from having a brand new [b]racket magazine in your hands! Can’t hardly wait? Then give yourself a sneak peek of one of March’s featured artists.
Two of Choi Yoon Kyeong’s meticulously constructed installation pieces are currently on display in Beomeo Art Street. While we will feature photographs of Choi Yoon’s work in our March issue, you owe it to yourself to see the impressive installations in person. Hop off the train at Beomeo on the green line, head towards exit 8, and check out Space 2.
In other [b]racket artist news, our current Gallery [t.] artist Aoife Casey has been spotlighted at culturemmag.com (the visual news partner of The Korea Times). Take a look at the large selection of photos from The Natural Beauty Project Seoul 2013, Aoife’s most talked about work in Korea.
The collection features black and white portraits of Korean women who have had no plastic surgery to date. Aoife brings up issues surrounding beauty ideals in Korean culture with this body of work while also celebrating the unique natural beauty of each individual subject.
Along with making [b]racket each month, we’ve been working hard on a little something behind the scenes and are looking forward to unveiling it very soon. So keep your eyes peeled on facebook for [b]racket news!
– Lisa Highfill
Art Fix: What You Didn’t Know You Were Missing
Did you know there’s an art gallery inside Youngsan Station on the green subway line? If so, I’d like to congratulate you on being a pretty observant person. Even though Metro Gallery is a reasonably large space inside the station, it’s very easy to pass by if you’re not looking for it. Maybe that’s because when you’re there you know that Homeplus is so close by and the only thing you’ve got on your mind is food? Don’t worry, no one’s judging.
Now that you know about it, go check it out! Metro Gallery is currently exhibiting paintings from various artists. Future events at Metro Gallery include an exhibition of interactive light art which will begin on April 1st and run until the end of August.
Metro Gallery isn’t Daegu’s only subway station gallery with art always on display. We’ve previously blogged about the many underground gallery spaces at Beomeo Art Street which is also located on the green line, just inside Beomeo station.
While these spaces could be nice for a quick stop between where you are and where you need to be, they’re well worth a trip of their very own.
To get to Metro Gallery: Get off the train at the Youngsan subway stop, walk upstairs towards the exits and follow the signs for Metro Gallery. The posted hours of operation are 11AM-8PM.
Have you discovered more Daegu subway galleries that others may be missing? If so, let us know in the comments so we can check them out!
-Lisa Highfill
This Weekend: Fully Booked
This weekend is shaping up to be a memorable one for art and music lovers in Daegu.
This Saturday, February 15th, come out to Gallery [t.] where we will be holding a reception to spotlight Irish photographer and November 2013 [b]racket artist Aoife Casey. Selections from Aoife’s collection The Natural Beauty Project Seoul 2013, as well as other recent works from the artist (see above) will be on display and available for purchase from February 15th to May 8th.
This will be Aoife’s first time in Daegu, and we couldn’t be happier to have her! Come give her a warm welcome and start your Saturday night right at Gallery [t.] with some coffee, art, and conversation.
Sunday will bring you downtown again, this time to Social Market where Japanese ambient artists Hakobune and Haruhisa Tanaka will be stopping by for the Daegu leg of their Korean tour. Check out the facebook event to read more about their individual musical styles. Tickets are 20,000 at the door and well worth the price.
Don’t remember how to get to Gallery [t.] or Social Market? Check out the maps below.
See you all out and about this weekend!
Gallery [t.] presents Aoife Casey
February 15th @ 7PM
Hakobune/Haruhisa Tanaka
February 16th @ 7PM
Social Market
-Lisa Highfill
An Emotional King Sejong: One of 52 Moments
Matt Ferguson’s art caught our attention back in 2012; so much so that we decided to make it our cover art for the very first issue of [b]racket. Since then, Matt has moved from Korea, but his collaboration with Moment Watches suggests that his time in the ROK made a lasting impression. His unique and simplistic watch design depicts King Sejong, the beloved Korean historical figure responsible for the creation of Hangul, with a tear running down his face.
Matt created this work to illustrate that while Korea’s hasty rise in industry and economic power have proven fruitful for the nation, it has come at a cost to the country’s traditional culture and values. He believes that King Sejong might be happy to see Korea as successful as it has become. However, he might also be saddened by what it took out of the Korean people and environment to get here. Matt’s work is a reminder of the line that Korea walks between their love of tradition, and their drive to be a leader in the modern global economy.
While it might be a somewhat serious message, it’s a seriously awesome-looking watch. Click here to check out the timepiece that serves as Week 12 for Moment Watches’ “Year of 52 Moments” campaign.
Sidenote: If you were planning on coming to Gallery [t.] this Saturday, Aoife Casey’s reception has been postponed until February 15th. So we’ll see you all NEXT weekend!
– Lisa Highfill
February Issue
Hey, our first issue of the year is out and it is a great one. WordPress won’t allow us to embed it any longer. But not to worry. You can click on the cover art below to view our latest issue.
This Weekend: Downstairs Bar At KMU
Downstairs feels like the bar in your friend’s basement–but not in a sad, moldy way. Let’s imagine that your friend has great taste and is also a skilled carpenter who handsomely remodeled the entire space with dark woods and installed the closest thing to a fireplace you’re going to find in Korea. Let’s also imagine that your friend has more than Hite and stale bar snacks to offer you. This friend is sounding more like a friend I want to have.
On any given night Downstairs could be packed with foreign teachers and Keimyoung University students, or a respite from the work week for a couple of regulars posted at the bar, chatting with the bartender, and inviting you to have a seat. The mood is relaxed and the place feels homier than any other bar I’ve been to in Daegu. NFL flags hang from the ceiling, but Downstairs is only a sports bar if there is a crowd large enough who want it to be. It’s the place that will play the song you want to hear. It’s the bar that mixes you that one cocktail that you like and cannot for the life of you get any other bartender in Daegu to make because it’s not on the menu.
This weekend, take a break from downtown and head to Keimyung on Deagu’s west side. Follow the blue light down the stairs from the street and a stack of [b]racket magazines will greet you at the door. Pick one up, order a drink, and feel good about supporting an awesome business that supports the [b]racket mag you love.
Downstairs is open Tuesday thru Sunday from whenever you get off work until whenever things get quiet. That tends to usually be 7PM-3AM.
Directions:
If you are walking from Keimyung University’s East Gate, cross the street and head west (away from campus). Walk half a block and take a right at the NH bank on the corner. Take your first left, and Downstairs will be the second stairway on your left.
– Lisa Highfill
Ever Wonder What [b]racket Sounds Like?
Seoul radio station TBS gave [b]racket some air time last week. Our multiple hat-wearing support team member Julian voiced the motivations, intentions and hopes for our magazine to the public. Take a listen to the radio spots below to hear the whole story of the origins of [b]racket, and why we treat treat the magazine as a “portable gallery” for all of our readers to enjoy. You can also learn a bit more about a few of Daegu’s smaller art gems such as The Pollack bookstore and Gallery [t.]
As Julian mentions in the following clips, we’ve “published 14 issues, held art shows for artists at Keimyung University, found support from Daegu Gyeoungbuk Design Center (DGDC), and started a gallery space” all in just a little over a year. Not bad for a little Daegu art mag, huh?
All of this cannot be mentioned without a huge, echoing THANK YOU to everyone who has picked up an issue of [b]racket, attended our shows at Keimyung University’s Black Gallery or Gallery [t.], contributed their art or writing or time, or advertised with us. There are no self-made men (or magazines), and we know that without all of you art lovers we wouldn’t have come nearly this far.
– Lisa Highfill
Come For The Cartoons, Stay For The Art
With the exception of the terribly misogynistic pop hit, I love blurred lines. When two or more definitively different groups start to merge and subsequently confuse people, it makes me feel all warm on the inside. It’s exciting to see ideas that were previously mutually exclusive come together to create something new, especially in the world of art.
In the past, comics and animation have been seen as entertainment for children rather than “legitimate” forms of high art to be appreciated and explored. But why can’t animation and comics as mediums or subject matter be considered fine art if there is a meaning and message behind it all? Animation and comics, often childlike in their honesty and enthusiasm, have proven to be very useful tools of social critique.
The Animamix Biennale at Daegu Art Museum is currently exhibiting artwork that allows viewers to enjoy the youthfulness and unpredictability of comic and animation art. Many of the pieces in the biennale mix what some would consider the polar opposites of “high” and “low” art. For example, Jeong Soyoun’s realistic oil paintings of fluffy clouds and sunsets serve as backdrops for cultural cartoon icons. Jeong’s paintings surprised me at first; I couldn’t seem to quickly classify them as one type of art or another. The lines were blurred. I was a little confused. And it all made me supremely happy.
Other works featured at the Animamix Biennale include a comically disheveled and oversized Pooh Bear, a meditative Mickey Mouse, and a “bilateral theater” made out of plastic storage crates on which you can lounge and enjoy an animated film that might teach you more about the meaning of life than you thought pencil drawings set to music ever could.
The Animamix Biennale runs until February 2nd. Let your childlike attraction to cartoons draw you in and your critical grown up side think it all over.
How to get there:
Subway: Daegu Grand Park Station on subway line #2 at Exit No.5
A shuttle bus that runs every 30 minutes can take you from the subway station to the museum for free. Or you can say, “Eff this, it is way too cold to wait for a shuttle,” and take a cab from the station.
The 604 and 403 busses also stop at the museum.
– Lisa Highfill
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