November 2025
The Korean Cultural Center in South Africa is presenting a special exhibition titled “K-pop Meets Korean Traditional Music” through Nov. 28, 2025. This event highlights the unique connection between the global K-pop phenomenon and Korea’s traditional music, offering visitors an opportunity to experience the roots of Korean culture and art in a familiar and engaging way.
The exhibition features a variety of Korean traditional instruments and costumes that appeared in music videos by renowned K-pop artists such as BLACKPINK and BTS, alongside vibrant video materials that bring these connections vividly to life.
The exhibition is organized into three distinct sections, each highlighting a different dimension of Korea’s traditional music. Visitors begin with the refined musical practices once cherished by the aristocratic circles, move through the grandeur and ritualistic beauty of royal court performances, and conclude with the vibrant rhythms and communal energy of folk music and dance.
A digital installation titled the “Gugak (Korean traditional music) Sound Box” also allows visitors to experience the charm of Korean traditional music through interactive sound content, offering a unique and engaging exhibition experience.
The opening ceremony, held on Sept. 26, welcomed over 100 attendees. The event featured a special performance blending K-pop and gugak , followed by a guided tour led by a curator from the National Gugak Center.
Jiyeol YOU, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in South Africa, stated, “Through this exhibition, we aim to introduce the traditional musical elements and beauty embedded within K-pop and to share the artistic heritage that continues to shape Korean culture.”
The exhibition is open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and is closed on weekends and public holidays. Admission is free.
The Korean Cultural Center in Italy is hosting the exhibition “Aqua Paradise” through Nov. 28, 2025. Originally curated by the National Asian Culture Center in 2022, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on humanity’s evolving relationship with water.
In ancient times, humans regarded water as an emotional manifestation of divine forces and experienced a sense of the sublime in the face of its overwhelming power. With the advent of industrial civilization, however, water was reduced to a controllable resource, a shift that has contributed to climate disasters and ecological collapse. “Aqua Paradise” seeks to revive the aesthetic and emotional perception of water, encouraging visitors to reconnect with it and suggesting that only through this renewed reverence can humanity restore a sense of coexistence with life.
The works on display treat water, nature and essence not as isolated subjects but as part of a larger relational and experiential context. For this European tour, the exhibition features four works: Hyewon Kwon’s “Liquid Vision,” BOO Jihyun’s “Where is it going” and eco orot’s “Oceans Tears” and “Plastic Mandala.” Through media art, installations and video, the exhibition offers visitors a unique aesthetic experience, allowing them to explore water from philosophical, ecological and artistic perspectives.
On Oct. 8, the exhibition hosted a “Coral and Coral Knitting” workshop, part of the opening celebrations. Participants learned about the ocean and coral ecosystems through a short seminar by Shin Suyeon, Director of the Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center, followed by a hands-on coral knitting session with artist Jung Eunhye, founder of eco orot, creating a memorable and engaging experience.
Aqua Paradise is open to the public at the Korean Cultural Center in Italy. No prior reservation is required, and admission is free. The Center is open Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with last entry at 5:30 p.m.
