Tag Archives: Seoul

Cities, Travel, Views

Travel: 7 Great ‘City Walks’

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Zadar: A Loop Through History

An ancient cylindrical building of pale stone is surrounded by other ancient buildings, among them a very old, slender, five-story stone building with a tall, steep roof. A wall of stones extends halfway across this scene. Above, the blue sky is cloudless.

A nearly two-mile walk circumnavigating Zadar’s Old Town is a journey across a timeline that spans nearly every stage of Croatian history. And it’s a long history, dating back to the 9th century B.C., when the Liburnians first settled this peninsular spit of land on Croatia’s spectacular Dalmatian coast.

Dozens of people sit on the shallow, wide, pale stone steps that start at a plaza and go right into the lapping sea. In the background are trees and a vista of red-roofed, pale stone buildings of several stories.

Start your stroll on the northwest corner of the peninsula at the Morske Orgulje, or Sea Organ: a set of 35 pipes spread under a 230-foot section of the city’s seaside promenade, known as the Riva. Awarded the 2006 European Prize for Urban Public Space, the Morske Orgulje plays beautifully discordant melodies as the Adriatic laps the stone and pushes air through the pipes beneath — converting the walkway into an invisible, ethereal orchestra.

Marrakesh: A Spider Web of Passageways

A group of women in long, colorful, traditional Moroccan robes and head coverings, congregate in a plaza with a surface of geometrically arranged pale brown tiles. There are covered market stalls in the background, more people and various buildings.

The wail of snake charmers’ horns will lead you to your departure point: Jemaa El Fna. This carnivalesque, open-air market in the medina — the ancient neighborhood where Marrakesh was born — brims with juice stands, restaurants and souvenir shops, to say nothing of musicians and performers.

The double doors of two busy storefronts in an old orange-brown stucco building have been thrown open to shoppers. One displays posters of barely clothed, muscular men. The other is packed with shelves stacked with containers of colorful candy; bags of yellow, pink, black and white soccer balls in a big plastic bag; stacks of plastic bottles of water; and various snacks tended to by a young man wearing a circular cap, tan jeans and a yellow-and-white-striped T-shirt.

Before you embark on this meandering 2.2-mile walk, you should have water and sunscreen (summer temperatures can pass 100 degrees Fahrenheit in this Moroccan city); outfits that cover most of your skin (doubly useful in Islamic societies, which discourage revealing clothes); and a willingness to lose your bearings. Nearly twice the size of Central Park, the medina enfolds a vast spider web of passageways that seem designed to disorient outsiders.

Seoul: Following the Fortress Wall

People walk along two adjacent paths, divided by a long patch of lush grass in the daytime. Bordering the path on the right is a low fortress wall. Over the wall, houses can be seen in the distance below.

To walk along the Seoul City Wall is to walk in the footsteps of scholars of bygone centuries, trace scars of war and take in the modern behemoth of a city built around it all. Its history stretches back to 1396, to when present-day Seoul first became the capital of what was then a kingdom called Joseon.

Inwangsan, a mountain in central Seoul, offers sweeping downtown views.

Then, the wall encircled an area that’s but a small fraction of today’s sprawling city, incorporating the slopes of the four mountains that afforded natural fortification. Like Seoul itself, the wall has been destroyed and rebuilt several times — and after restorations in recent decades, it’s become a popular urban walk.

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Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, Museums, Reviews, Stories

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

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On 29 June, Frieze announced the details of the first edition of its art fair in Seoul, South Korea. So for this last episode of the current season, we’re exploring the art scene and market in the Korean capital.

Ben Luke talks to the art historian and curator Jiyoon Lee about contemporary art in Seoul and beyond, and the origins of the current art scene in 1990s globalisation. The Art Newspaper’s associate editor, Kabir Jhala, speaks to two gallerists—Joorhee Kwon, deputy director at the Kukje Gallery and Emma Son, senior director at Lehmann Maupin, about the growing market and collector base, and the effect Frieze may have on the existing scene.

And this episode’s Work of the Week is Dahye Jeong’s A Time of Sincerity, a basket made with horsehair that this week won the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. Kabir talks to the creative director at the fashion brand Loewe, Jonathan Anderson, about Jeong’s piece.

Frieze Seoul, COEX, Seoul, 2-5 September.

The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 11 September-19 February 2023.

The 2022 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, Seoul Museum of Craft Art, until 31 July.

Architecture, Buildings, Design, Travel, Videos

Design: The ‘ST/Songeun Building’ In Seoul, Korea

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ST international and songeun art & cultural foundation unveil the result of a collaboration with herzog & de meuron. the group announces details of its new ST / songeun building which will celebrate its opening on september 30th with inaugural exhibitions, the first curated by the swiss architecture firm. expressed as a minimalistic concrete monolith, the gallery stands as herzog & de meuron’s first realized project in korea and will establish a significant landmark in seoul.

Cities, Travel, Videos, Views

Timelapse Views: Seoul – South Korea (4K Video)

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Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a huge metropolis where modern skyscrapers, high-tech subways and pop culture meet Buddhist temples, palaces and street markets. Notable attractions include futuristic Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a convention hall with curving architecture and a rooftop park; Gyeongbokgung Palace, which once had more than 7,000 rooms; and Jogyesa Temple, site of ancient locust and pine trees. 

Travel, Videos

Aerial Travel: ‘Seoul – South Korea’ (Video)

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Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a huge metropolis where modern skyscrapers, high-tech subways and pop culture meet Buddhist temples, palaces and street markets. Notable attractions include futuristic Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a convention hall with curving architecture and a rooftop park; Gyeongbokgung Palace, which once had more than 7,000 rooms; and Jogyesa Temple, site of ancient locust and pine trees. 

South Korea, an East Asian nation on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, shares one of the world’s most heavily militarized borders with North Korea. It’s equally known for its green, hilly countryside dotted with cherry trees and centuries-old Buddhist temples, plus its coastal fishing villages, sub-tropical islands and high-tech cities such as Seoul, the capital.