The Day I Ate My Way through Jeonju

March 14, 2013
Field Trips, Taste
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On the day I ate my way through Jeonju, chosen in 2012 as a Creative City for Gastronomy as part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, I went past a store with teddy bears…

A teddy bear on a bench. Of course.

A teddy bear on a bench. Of course.

…the Gyeonggijeon Portrait Shrine with King Taejo’s portrait…

Image via Wikipiedia, since we weren't allowed to take photos of the actual portrait

Image via Wikipiedia, since we weren’t allowed to take photos of the actual portrait

…which made me wonder if his headpiece is the reason behind this Korean hat trend…

Devil hat. Or turkey hat, depending on how you look at it.

Devil hat. Or turkey hat, depending on how you look at it.

…and finally, oh finally, I made it to my bowl of Jeonju bibimbap.

Why, hello there, beautiful.

Why, hello there, beautiful.

Delish.

Blue Sky, Tall Tower

March 12, 2013
Field Trips, Korea, Martial Arts
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A clear sky at N Seoul Tower

A clear sky at N Seoul Tower

It was a beautiful clear Sunday at N Seoul Tower, whose observatory is the highest spot in Seoul. Amidst the locks of love, lovebird chairs, and kitschy space-themed elevators, what I really enjoyed was the warriors at the base, wielding swords at a demonstration I happened to come across.

Old meets new. Again!

Old meets new. Again!

But yes, the view was great, too!

Seoul!

Seoul!

Art and Science at the Museum that Gave me a Toothache

March 11, 2013
Art, Exhibitions, Field Trips, Korea, Science, Sight, Technology, Toys
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At the Teddy Bear Museum in N Seoul Tower, one can discover the history of Korea in the most adorable and saccharine way possible. Hundreds of teddy bears, with most being mechanical, are dressed and arranged to form scenes from Korea’s old and modern history. Bears in royal court! Bears at war! Bears playing polo! Bears doing breakdance! Bears going on a date! Bears getting married! Bears! Bears! Bears!

Some of my favorite scenes involve the arts and the sciences. Here’s one during with scientists during the reign of King Sejong.

scientists during King Sejong's reign

scientists during King Sejong’s reign

Here’s a scene that made me smile. Look on the lower right:

Someone's not doing what he's supposed to. Can you guess who?

Someone’s not doing what he’s supposed to. Can you guess who?

I love this little errant artist bear that could.

This bear made me laugh.

This bear made me laugh.

I also love this scene where the first light bulb was installed in Gyeongbukgung, which I visited last month:

The first electric light in Korea!

The first electric light in Korea!

Sweet, amusing, and way more entertaining than your usual history museum.

Art and the Senses with the High School Docent Program of the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Korea

March 3, 2013
Art, Drawing, Korea, Sight, Speaking, Workshops
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(Seoul)—Last Saturday, a group of high school students from the docent program of the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Korea made their way over to the Changdong Art Studio for a talk and workshop with me and fellow artist-in-residence, Karolina Bregula.

Ms. Sung-hee Cho of the NMCA Korea's Department of Education & Residency Program

Ms. Sung-hee Cho of the NMCA Korea’s Department of Education & Residency Program

After I made the students go on a scavenger hunt in my studio, we had homemade kimbap and tteokbokki for lunch. Then, I facilitated short workshops on drawing what they see in clouds, assigning colors to memories, and a blind smell test to dig through their memories.

There are few days when I think having a group of teenagers go through my room is a good idea. This was one of them. Such bright young ladies!

There are few days when I think having a group of teenagers go through my room is a good idea. This was one of them. Such bright young ladies!

Drawing cloud interpretations

Drawing cloud interpretations

A wall of clouds!

A wall of clouds!

Connecting color to memory

Connecting color and memory

A smell test

A smell test

For the color workshop, I thought the work of this student who matched color with pop culture was spot on:

Colors as pop culture references

Colors as pop culture references

I also loved this color palette of memories by another student:

Color and memories of places

Color and memories of places

Oh, and some used The Hug Vest as well.

The Hug Vest lives!

The Hug Vest lives!

Post-workshop cleanup wearing an apron. Ms. Cho and her assistant spent an entire day making tteokbokki for all of us. And it was great!

Post-workshop cleanup wearing an apron. Ms. Cho and her assistant spent hours making tteokbokki for all of us. And it was great!

All in all, a lovely and inspiring day with such intelligent women, who will soon be off to university.

With thanks to Ms. Sung-hee Cho of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, and the staff of the National Art Studio of Korea, Changdong. Also huge thanks to Ashlee Seo Hyung Lee, who translated for me during the day.  

TEDxNewHaven Talks Now Online

March 3, 2013
Speaking
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My talks from TEDxNewHaven last year are up online. A big thank you again to Sunnie and Mario and the rest of their team!

TEDxNewHaven, April 2012, The Art and Science of Happiness

1. Start a Hugging Revolution

2. The Sky as a Canvas for Creativity

3. The Memory of Smell

4. Happiness and the Senses

Blog posts about the production process
* Sense kit production process here
* My thoughts on the event here

Past and future talks will be archived on the Talks page from the menu.

Hyundai among Hanok

March 3, 2013
Field Trips, Korea
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During a post-bibimbap walk in Jeonju, a three-hour bus ride south of Seoul, I came across the perfect symbol of my impression of Korea in the past two months:

The Hyundai logo co-existing among traditional hanok, or Korean houses.

The Hyundai logo among traditional Korean houses

The Hyundai logo among traditional Korean houses

Peek-a-Boo Dinosaurs and Funny Bicycles

March 1, 2013
Creative Learning, Field Trips, Korea, Science, Technology
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Alas, science museums in Korea have proven disappointingly bland (in a word, meh), although perhaps I had such high expectations. Designing for interactivity in a conservative Confucian society poses some challenges, perhaps one that can be easily seen by someone from the outside. But there are pockets of joyful wonder in the sometimes poorly lit rooms that reeked of overuse of audio-visual media and text. My favorite parts of the Seoul National Science Museum are in the second floor. Specifically, rainbow-colored hands wave hello at the wax station where you can cast your own hands for 8,000 won:

Rainbow hands

Rainbow hands

It’s awesome to see Marie Curie flashed on a screen. After being here for just a few weeks, seeing visible recognition for any female with strong, intellectual, and independent roles in such a rigid Confucian system as Korea’s make me do cartwheels inside (and sometimes, outside).

Marie Curie!

Marie Curie!

In the middle of a set of dinosaur eggs, one in the middle turned out to be mechanical and opened up to reveal a yawning dinosaur:

Hello, world.

Hello, world.

And in the enormous Gwacheon National Science Museum, my favorite parts were on the outside, such as the Funny Bicycling Center:

funny bikes

funny bikes

There are bikes with odd parts, bikes built for two, and bikes you can ride sideways:

riding a bike sideways

riding a bike sideways

This would have been a perfect bike in graduate school.

This would have been a perfect bike in graduate school.

The Narae-Seobuk (“the bell of hope”) is a traditional Korean bell made out of 3,080 speakers—quite a beautiful symbol of art, science, and tradition:

Narae-Seobuk. The Bell of Hope.

Narae-Seobuk. The Bell of Hope.

Changgyeonggung: Tales from the Silent Palace

February 22, 2013
Exploring, Field Trips, Korea, Time
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(Seoul)—Changgyeonggung, the palace to the east of yet another royal abode with a similar-sounding name (Changdeokgung), seems to be the least popular one among all the Korean palaces I’ve seen. On this cold winter’s day, the few people I encountered were mostly locals. However, this is one of my favorite palaces because of all the fascinating stories it harbors behind its silent walls.

Changgyeonggung

Changgyeonggung

The First Female Royal Physician

Hwangyeongjeon may look like most of the pavilions I’ve seen, but its story of being a “feminist pavilion” deserves to be told. Dae Jang Geum was the only female royal physician to attend to the king, delivering Queen Janggyeong’s baby and curing Queen Dowager’s Jasun of her illness. Her skills won the confidence of the king, who appointed her the top royal physician, a move that traditional Confucian ministers objected to. Dae Janggeum was the most trusted physician of the king, and attended to him until his death. Her story is the subject of an eponymous Korean historical TV series.

Hwangyeongjeon

Hwangyeongjeon

The Puppet Curse

At the site of Tongmyeongjeon, the queen’s bed chamber, is a scandal that trumps all tabloid stories. King Sukjong had an affair with a maid named Jang Ok-jeong, who gave birth to their son, Prince Gyun. While trying to make Gyun as the crown prince, King Sukjong removed those who opposed this move and deposed Queen Inhyeon, installing Jang as the queen. Followers of Queen Inhyeon restored her to power, demoting Jang as consort. Jang cursed Queen Inhyeon by burying a puppet of the queen together with dead animals near Tongmyeongjeon. Upon discovery, Jang was forced to commit suicide at 43 years old by ingesting poison. Nearby is a garden with a round well and a square pond.

Surprise, surprise, this year her story will make it as a TV series, which itself is based on a chick-lit novel.

Tongmyeongjeon

Tongmyeongjeon

The Playboy Mansion

Yeongchunheon and Jipbokheon are believed to be residences for concubines. Seeing that these buildings are now empty and seems to be a place where these old guys hang out to gossip made me laugh.

I’m positive there are Korean TV series on something like this.

The playboy mansion

The playboy mansion

The playboy mansion

The playboy mansion

The King’s Placenta

This is the site of King Seongjong’s taesil and taesilbi (placenta chamber monument). According to the Korean age system, a baby is one year old at the moment of birth because life is considered to begin at conception. The placenta is stored in a porcelain jar a few days after being born. The jaris sealed several times and enshired in a stone chamber after a few months. I’ve seen other placenta jars in the National Palace Museum of Korea.

King Seongjong's placenta chamber monument

King Seongjong’s placenta chamber monument

The Glass House

A year before Japan formally annexed Korea, Changgyeonggung was turned into a botanical garden and a zoo, demoting a palace into a public park. Daeonsil, the glass house, was built as Korea’s first Victorian-style greenhouse. The zoo was removed in 1983, but the glass house exists and contains a many indigenous plants.

Daeonsil, the glass house

Daeonsil, the glass house

Lessons learned: Beware the quiet ones, for they hold the juiciest stories. And the more scandalous or noteworthy it is, the better the chances of making it big on TV posthumously, centuries later.

Sources
(1) Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea (2011). Changgyeonggung. Pamphlet.
(2) Discovering Korea blog

Thomas Edison and the King of Korea

February 21, 2013
Exploring, Field Trips, Korea, Science
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My favorite part of Gyeongbukgung, the main palace of the Joseon dynasty of Korea, is a lovely pavilion named Hyangwonjeong and its surrounding pond.

Hyangwonjeong pavilion. Isn't she lovely?

Hyangwonjeong pavilion. Isn’t she lovely?

It is usually more known for the ghastly assassination of Queen Myeongseong by the Japanese government. But in Choi Joon-sik’s book, Soul in Seoul (2005), I came across another interesting (and less gruesome) fact: This pond is the place where an electric light was turned on for the first time in Korea in March 1887. Mr. Choi writes:

“The Joseon government sent off an official letter to the American bulb inventor Thomas Edison in 1883, asking him to set up the lighting system within the palace. Four years later in 1887, the first light bulb was switched on at this pond, which was two years before the Forbidden City in China was brightened with electricity. One of the reasons why light bulbs were installed here so early is because King Gojong, with his kingdom on the verge of collapse, was very afraid of potential threats from his rivals. He was particularly scared of nights, so he seemed to have wanted his residence to be brightened up with lights at night. The reason why the power generator was set up around the pond was because it needed water to produce electricity. There are many other interesting stories involving the nation’s first power generation: for example, it is said that people couldn’t sleep because of loud noise coming from the generator or that the fish living in the pond went belly up due to hot water flowing from the generator.”