Gwangju Happenings

From Tuesday the 7th of September to Thursday the 9th of September, the Asia Culture Forum will be held in Gwangju. Citizens and international residents in Gwangju are encouraged to participate in the forum which will discuss ‘New Asia’ and how Asian countries have changed as more and more international come to these countries. To take part you just need to go to the Kimdaejung Convention Center on September 8th and 9th and talk to the staff about registering.

The GIC gallery will also hold a special exhibition for the Asia Culture Forum on Saturday the 4th of September. An exhibition showing the works of professional and amatuer artists will be shown at the Kimdaejung Convention Center on September 8th.

Directions: You can get bus no. 38, 64, 518, 1 or 1000 to the Kimdaejung Convention Center.

Munhung Art Street, Gwangju

I have posted quite a number of articles about the various arty and cultural things going on in Gwangju. I can see why Gwangju is known as the city of culture, with it’s numerous art museums, the Biennale and different music events that take place. A new street of arts is to be added to this list, providing people with more places to see and enjoy art in the city.

Woonlim-dong is close to Mudeung mountain and there will be five art gallaries on the ‘street’. These are Gookyoon Art Gallery, Mudeung Hyundai Art Gallery, Woojaegil Art Gallery, Woonlimjae Fan Museum and Uijae Art Gallery.

Gookyoon Art Gallery
This is a privately run gallery showing work by Hyo Gook-joong and Wor Yoon-young. The gallery has lots of paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, crafts and engravings as well as frequent exhibitions.

• Address: Sotae-dong 722-70, Dong-gu, Gwangju
• Opening times: 10-18:00 (Closed every Monday)
• Entrance fee: 2,000 won

Mudeung Hyundai Art Gallery
This was established by a western-painting artist, Jeong Song-gyoo. This gallery holds many exhibitions.

• Address: Woonlim-dong 331-6, Dong-gu, Gwangju
• Opening times: 10-18:00 (closed every Monday)
• Entrance fee: 2,000 won

Woojaegil Art Gallery
This is owned by the artist Woojaegil and you can see this artist’s work here. Education programmes and workshops have also taken place here.

• Address: Woonlim-dong 647, Dong-gu, Gwangju
• Opening times: 10-18:00 (Closed every Monday)
• Entrance fee: 2,000 won

Woonlimjae Fan Museum
Over 700 fans can be seen in this museum, from the east and west. Visitors can also see hanok (traditional Korean house), gardens and can take part in a tea ceremony known as dado.

• Address: Woonlim-dong 455, Dong-gu, Gwangju
• Opening times: 10-18:00 (Closed every Monday)
• Entrance fee: 5,000 won

Uijae Art Gallery
This art gallery was established to commemorate the painter Heo Baek-ryeon (1891-1977), better known by his pen-name Uijae. You can see many of his beautiful landscape, flower and bird paintings here. You can also drink green tea from Mudeung mountain here.

• Address: Woonlim-dong 85-1, Dong-gu, Gwangju
• Opening times: 10-18:00 (Closed every Monday)
• Entrance fee: 2,000 won

Directions: Buses 9, 35, 50, 51, 54 and 76 go here.

Sunday October 24th this year will see a Formula One Grand Prix being hosted just south of Gwangju in Yeongam. Korea is one of 19 countries that have been chosen to host the Formula One World Championship. The state-of-the-art circuit is due to open on the 5th of September 2010. It will have seating for 130,000 spectators and part of the track will pass along the harbour front. None of this comes cheap with the least expensive ticket being 118,800 won and the best seats costing around 940,500 won. To reserve tickets go through one of the following websites; Korean GP, Interpark and ticketlink.

F1 timetable:

• Friday 22nd October 2010 – Practice 1 (10:00-11:30) and Practice 2 (14:00-15:30)
• Saturday 23rd October 2010 – Practice 3 (11:00-12:00) and Qualifying (14:00 onwards)
• Sunday 24th October 2010 – Race (15:00 onwards)

The plan is for hundreds of shuttle buses to be running to the track.

Mudeung Mountain

No matter where you are or which direction you look in Gwangju you can see mountains. For this reason, it is easy to see why hiking is such a popular pastime here and in much of South Korea. There are hundreds of shops in Gwangju selling outdoor clothes and accessories to cater for the masses that like to be kitted out in professional gear when going for their walk. Jimmy and I must have looked very unprepared turning up for our hike up Mudeung mountain in our normal clothes and a 10,000 won backpack.

Mudeung mountain, one of the biggest mountains in the Jeolla province, is to the south east of the city. It is 1,187 metres to the tallest peak, Cheonwang-bong, which is one of the “Jeungsang Three” (rock peaks found at the top of the mountain). The views of the mountain change depending on the season. Go in fall to see the autumn leaves of Gyubongam, winter to see the beauty of the snow and ice on the mountain or spring for the cherry blossom.

There aren’t many steep climbs going up the mountain (except the beginning of the trails), making it ideal for most people to climb. Don’t be fooled, however. It is still a good 4 to 5 hour hike to the top. There are over a dozen trails to take. Two good starting points are Wonhyosa Temple, halfway up the mountain and Jeungsimsa Temple, near the bottom of the mountain.

Take the 1187 (appopriately named) bus to Wonhyosa Temple. The bus trip itself offers some good views.

Buses 9, 35, 50, 51, 54, and 76 go to Jeungsimsa Temple. Get off at the last stop the bus goes to. You will see a car park and some hiking shops (of course).

I’ve mentioned libraries in Gwangju that have English books available. So what about buying English novels and other books here?

Unfortunately there isn’t a great deal of choice. Below is a list of bookstores that do stock English books.

Chungjang Bookstore (충장서림) This stocks some classics and bestsellers from a few months ago.
It is located downtown, next to Starbucks. Open from 9:30am-10pm daily.

Yeongpoong Bookstore (영풍문고) This also sells classics and fairly recent bestsellers, as well as books which have recently been made into films.
This is in the Gwangju Bus Terminal (U-square). Buses 1, 9, 16, 25, 26, 30, 36, 38, 47, 48, 64, 65, 69, 89, 151, 518, 1187 go here. Open from 10am-10pm daily.

I have not been to the following bookstores but have read that they have English books.

Goryeo Bookstore (고려문고)
Located in Singa-dong, Gwangsan-gu. Get the bus 9, 29, 40, 92, 94 to Singa Umi Apt. (신가우미아파트). Open from 9am-10:30pm daily.

Kidari English Shop (키다리영어샵)
Located in Ssangchon-dong, Seo-gu (Near Honam University Ssangchon Campus). Buses 16, 19, 39, 69 go to Uncheon-yeok (운천역) bus stop. Open from 9am-8pm daily.

Sejong Bookstore (세종문고)
Located in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu. Get buses 20, 193 to Cheomdan Uri Eunhaeng (첨단우리은행) bus stop. Open from 9:30am-11pm daily.

Top Foreign Language Company (탑 외국어사)
Located in Dae.ui-dong, Dong-gu (Near GIC). Get the following buses to Munhwajeondang-yeok (문화전당역) bus stop; 7, 9, 36, 45, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 61, 74, 80, 95, 98, 150, 151, 152, 518, 1187. Open from 9am-9pm daily.

A great way to meet others in Gwangju is to join the Gwangju Book Club. They have weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 7:30pm. They meet at the YMCA, downtown Gwangju and go to a different coffee shop in the area each week. For more information see the Gwangju Book Club facebook group.

If you don’t want to buy foreign books here in Gwangju there are a number of libraries listed below where you can borrow foreign language books.

• GIC - It costs 10,000 won to join the GIC for 6 months. You can then borrow books from the GIC library. They have various genres of novels and DVDs to choose from. It is open from 10am-5pm (Mon-Sat). To contact them visit the GIC website or call (062)226-2733.
• Chonnam National University - Only available for teachers, professors and students taking classes at the language education centre, so not everyone is able to borrow books. However, anyone is allowed to enter the library and read books there. English novels are on the second floor. This library is open 9am-8pm (Mon-Fri) & 9am-6pm(Sat). For more information see here or call (062)530-3571.
• Gwangju Municipal Libraries - with just one library card you can use three libraries in the area; Mudeung Library in Buk-gu, Sajik Library in Nam-gu and Sansu Library in Dong-gu. To join you must visit one of the libraries and show a valid ID card, a copy of your proof of employment and a company ID card (if you have one). The opening hours are 9am-10pm. Mudeung Library is closed on first and third Mondays and Sansu and Sajik libraries are closed on the second and fifth Mondays. For more information see the city libraries website (it’s in Korean) or call Mudeung library (062)613-7753.

Happy reading.

wHOOL

This Friday sees the beginning of the Gwangju World Music Festival. Starting at 7pm there is a free concert at Geumnam-ro Park, Gwangju. Opening the concert are the new Korean/expat rock band Deserts and fusion jazz group Starade. Following these two will be wHOOL, a Korean contemporary rock band who use traditional instruments, at 8:30pm and at 9:20pm Soul Steady Rockers will be on stage with their reggae style of music. Finally, the Dutch trumpet player, Maite Hontele (see previous post) and her band will close the show at 10:30pm with jazz and Latin music. For more information about the new group Deserts see the Gwangju Blog.

Geumnam-ro Park is located just up the street from Migliore, downtown Gwangju. It is next to Geumnam-ro 4ga subway station.

Maite Hontele

This Friday, 27th of August 2010, Maite Hontele will be playing in Gwangju. Maite is a Dutch trumpet player with a passion for latin music. This show is part of the Gwangju World Music Festival which is running from the 27th of August to the 29th of August. She will be playing downtown Gwangju in the Geumnam-ro Park from 10:30pm until 11:30pm. For more information on Maite Hontele visit her website.

A sister event to the Gwangju Biennale, Art Gwangju, is a new international art fair that will take place at the Kimdaejung Convention Centre. The art fair will show works of contemporary art and design. There will be a variety of events taking place including exhibitions and talks featuring artists, collectors, critics and dealers.

Directions: You can get bus no. 38, 64, 518, 1 or 1000.