On 10 June 2023, I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) exhibition Hallyu The Korean wave, the exhibition closes on the 25 June 2023. As a fan of K-drama and K-pop, I was intrigued at what this exhibition would include. I was surprised at how large the exhibition was and filled into several gallery spaces. The V&A states that “Hallyu! The Korean Wave showcases the colourful and dynamic popular culture of South Korea, exploring the makings of the Korean Wave and its global impact on the creative industries of cinema, drama, music, fandom, beauty and fashion.” The exhibition mainly focuses on South Korea with some elements exploring the North and South relations and how North Korea is presented in South Korean film and television.
The exhibition is support by the Republic of South Korea Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism and Genesis, and is the first major exhibition held by the V&A that explores Korean culture and history since 1961. This exhibition has seven gallery spaces dedicated to the different aspects of Korean culture; this includes history, film and television, music, fashion and beauty. Each gallery displayed costumes, posters, photographs and sound to help immerse the visitor in Korean culture.
Lights, Camera, Review!
As the opened I was welcomed with several screens playing the famous ‘Gangnam Style’ by South Korean singer, songwriter and producer PSY. Immediately, the music and bright colours set my expectations as high for the rest of the exhibition. The bold colours and words that read ‘the Korean wave’ alerts the visitor to the vibrancy of Korean popular culture. In order to understand how Korea has become the society it is today with their technology, demanding pace and hard-working musicians, the visitor needs to firstly understand the past. The gallery starts with ‘From rubble to smartphone’ that explores South Korea’s dramatic rise from a war-torn country of the late 1950s to a frontrunner of technology and cosmetics in a transformation called ‘compressed modernity’. South Korean culture is a harmonious blend of modernity and old-age traditions that underpins the country’s core values.
The exhibition highlighted the changes Korea underwent after periods of war, some of their history I was already aware of such as the country’s involvement in the Cold War and the North and South divide on the 38th parallel after 1953. I learnt from the exhibition about the cultural assimilation in 1938 where Japan introduced the Naisen Ittai policy that encouraged Japan and Korea as one body and not separate. This policy was designed to uphold Japanese colonial rule and use Koreans as soldiers and labourers in the Second World War. Korean language, history books and names were changed to Japanese approved. This assimilation attempted to replace Korean heritage and culture with Japanese ideals, language and history. This part of Korea’s history was shocking especially as South Korea’s values, work ethic, history and traditions are at the centre of popular culture in contemporary society. Furthermore, the exhibition explored South Korea’s popular culture from the rise of k-dramas and webtoons that promotes the country’s values and ideals that incorporate traditions with modernity.
A highlight of the exhibition were the costumes from popular k-pop and films such as Squid Games and history inspired pieces. The inclusion of these pieces helped illustrate the diversity within South Korea’s film and music scene. I have watched several k-dramas some of my favourites include Suspicious Partner (2017), Weightlifting fairy Kim Book Too (2016) and Strong girl Bong-Soon (2017), so it was interesting to understand how film and television has transformed over time as well as including Korean heritage, values and traditions within modern storylines.I was also intrigued to learn how these shows have become popular internationally throughout the west. It was very fascinating to understand how North Korea is presented within the film and television of South Korea and how their growing relations is incorporated into these programmes, such as Crash landing on you (2019). Moreover, the music costumes featured a complication of music videos that highlighted k-pop’s signature intense and high-energy choreography that intensified the atmosphere in the gallery. I also enjoyed learning about the fashion and beauty industry in South Korea and how this has influenced western ideas of skin care. In particular, the progression of the traditional dress of the Hanbok to modern iterations used in high-fashion, music and film was fascinating. This emphasises how traditions can still be valued and incorporated in a fast-paced and progressive world.
Final thoughts
The exhibition was informative and spread across several galleries that explored Korea’s transformative and diverse history of popular culture through a thematic approach. This approach allowed something for everyone and the variety of costumes, props and historical artefacts was a perfect blend of popular culture and heritage where the visitor could learn about the culture and history in an interactive way. I did feel that the space was not used in the best way. Several galleries had many displays pressed against the walls and a lot of empty space in the middle of the room – maybe the use of interactive screens would have been useful to fill these spaces. In my opinion, the text panels for objects on display were a little small and once one visitor was viewing the panel, no one else can see anything. I think having two text panels on either side of the cabinet in a 360 degree approach would solve this issue. Similarly, I thought some areas such as the replica of the bathroom from the film Parasite was not clearly labelled and if a visitor didn’t see the panel that was hidden away, they would be slightly confused. The exhibition had some elements of interactive spaces, such as learning dances from popular music videos, but this interaction was not carried out throughout the exhibition. Overall, Hallyu! The Korean wave was informative, compelling and brought South Korea’s vibrant and fast-paced popular culture to life that built on my existing knowledge and also taught me a lot about popular culture and Korean history. I would also highly recommend visiting the museum’s cafe after the exhibition to reflect on the exhibition while enjoying a slice of cake in their beautiful sitting area. Personally, the carrot cake was superb!
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