Gwangju International Center

SPEAKERS: Lisa Crone and guest Heo JiseongCO-WRITER:​ Hong Eun GyungGIC TALK DATE: May 21, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Become an Animal Rights Activist! For today’s GIC Talk, we were honored to have Lisa Crone and Heo Jiseong with us to talk about how to “Become an Animal Rights Activist”. Lisa Crone, an activist for animal rights, is now in charge of an animal shelter located in Gwangju. She introduced us to GACHI – Gwangju’s first non profit animal welfare organization. First of all, Lisa Crone showed the GIC Talk audience members pictures of diverse dogs and told the story of how she started to engaged herself with that work. Lisa and her friends not only volunteered for the shelter, but adopted personally the dogs and cats that were sick and disabled. She explained how to protect and maintain the animals' health. She promoted not buying a pet but adopting one and advocated new laws that carry real punishment to the owners and enforcement of the law. She added that we need to reduce the number of existing dog farms and illegal breeding. She requested honestly that everybody needs to be educated. For children, they need to be taught about how to respect animals as emotional beings and consider dogs and cats as a member of their family. For adults, they are advised to stop eating dog meat, to accept mixed- breed dogs and to avoid negligence and abandonment of dogs. Finally she stressed again the importance of adoption rather than shopping. Thank you Lisa Crone for sharing your opinion and experience about pets’ rights and showing us your love for animals. I believe that through today’s speech, the audience will have a better understanding of animal’s right.  

The 1st Gwangju Tour with Global Friends Review  by Nayan Chandra Das  In the world, there are 7.4 Billion people. In the journey of life, we meet many people. Everyone has their own story to tell. I am a story collector. I always look for the opportunities to gather stories.   Here is the recent one:  I believe the best way to know a country is to know their culture and history. To be honest, I came South Korea last September (2015) without knowing language and any idea of culture and history. Before coming here I was in the USA for my MS study. So I had a stereotypical idea how a foreign country could be to me. But I am totally wrong and I am happy about it. South Korea is surprising me in every step. It’s been nine months I am in Gwangju. Every time I get a chance I go for travelling different parts of South Korea But I didn’t have the opportunity to discover the Kwangju which is the 6th largest city of South Korea and known for delicious cuisine and democratic uprising. At last GIC gave me an opportunity to be a part of unforgettable journey to explore the beauty, culture and history of Gwangju.  For me the journey started on Friday (May 13) evening through the orientation. I thought orientation would be as usual boring and I would sit behind of everyone and sleepJ. So I and Uzzal (another Bangladeshi guy) sat on the corner.  But as usual surprise. There was quick and short power point presentation about GIC and the tour. Around 30 students were in a room and half of them were international. But no one talking to the unknown. Everyone is in their comfort zone. This situation last for few minutes as the tour leaders and volunteers did fantastic job making groups of Korean and international students and assigned them some funny tasks and games. What could b the better way than funny games to bring closer some strangers to get to know each other? We had lots of fun during the whole orientation program and those people who seems stranger to me two hours ago became very good friends. We all were looking forward to the tour.   Tour stared at 9 am on Saturday (May 21) from GIC. Every group has their own name. The name of our group was “Travelers”. Our first destination was Yangnim History and Cultural Village. Again there was team work. It’s not just going to see a place and come back. It was all about exploring by ourselves as a team.    We were able to visit some beautiful places and came to know about the history little bit. I was surprised by the penguin village. The village was great example positivity and encouragement. It teaches us how we can make beautiful things from ashes. The whole village is an art museum.   Our 2nd destination was Chungjangsa (Shrine of General Kim Deok-ryeong).  It’s located inside Mudeung Mt National Park. There we came to know about a tragic story of a hero. At the time period of the Joseon dynasty, Deok-ryeong Kim led the loyal army in the war against the Japanese. After the victory, instead of reward, he was falsely accused as a traitor and received a dead sentence at the age of 29. The place is surrounded by mountains and very peaceful. We showed our respect to the hero. Then headed for lunch.   Lunch was delicious Korean pork BBQ. I loved it. After lunch there was free time for one hr. There was a forest near the place we had lunch. So some extra curious or adventurous people like me went for a walk into the forest. It was very quiet and peaceful place. There was a creek coming down from the mountain. One can hear the sound of the water. It was very soothing. We were in the forest for one hour. There I came to know some Korean and international friends from other groups.   Traditional Cultural Center was next destination. It is located in a very beautiful place. There we enjoyed the traditional performances. After the performance we went back to the GIC.    There we assigned again team work on the art street. It was different kind of experience to be a part of art street exhibition. Lots of interesting things to see on the art street. We were given some money to buy souvenir, so we did. After visiting Art Street, we went back to GIC. All groups presented and assigned tasks, pictures and videos. It was hilarious. The program ended for the day with dinner. But the result of the GIC tour was about to show up.    Everyone was very tired but no one wanted to leave the moment. That was what GIC tour did to us. Bonding of friendship grew among us. We decided to hang out in downtown area. We went to a bar to chill. Now there is no groups. We are all in one group. More enjoyable thing was getting to know people and having conversation and making fun of each other. It was all good and perfect. Just like a dream. I heard someone was saying, “I wish this moment never ends”. But life goes on. After a certain time, everyone was heading to their places with lots of beautiful moments with them.   2nd day tour started at 11 am on Sunday (May 22) from GIC. Not Many people showed up. We were around 12 people. Our destination May 18 cemetery, the most important place to know about the history of modern democratic Korea. After reaching there we had our lunch and watched a movie about May 18. The movie made most of us laughing and crying. We were all moved by the movie. The movie was funny at the beginning, then it showed what kind of brutality happened during the democratic uprising.    After the movie we went to visit the cemetery. We showed our respect by burning incense in front of the cemetery. We had a tour guide who explained some stories of the victims.  We also watched a documentary about May 18 at the exhibition room. It was emotional moment for us. It gives me a feeling that a country just doesn’t shine by itself. It needs a sacrifice of a generation. Modern Korean people should feel lucky that their previous generation sacrifice their life for them. Somehow I feel grateful to those people who died in the democratic uprising.  Because of their sacrifice, Korea has come to the present state and I was able to come to study to a reputed institute like GIST.   As it says “nothing is permanent. So live in the moment”, our wonderful journey came to an end when we returned to GIC. Sometimes I feel saying thank you to someone is just unfair they deserve more. Now I am feeling that to just saying thank you to GIC for arranging such a wonderful unforgettable program. Specially the girl Jeongmin Lee who was behind the program to make it perfect. Constantly keeping contact with all the participants was not an easy task. Her friendly behavior, dedication and effort was something no one can miss it. With a group of dedicated volunteers she did very good job.  If the purpose of the program was connecting people and introduction of Gwangju, then I would like to say GIC was very successful. Through this program I came to know a lot about Gwangju and I found some truly good hearted people. As a foreign student, it’s mean a lot to me. Now we have our own kakao group of travelers as well as tour participants group where we are staying connected and looking for opportunities to meet. At last I wanted to give big thanks to GIC, Jeongmin Lee, all the volunteers, participants and everyone related to the tour. Thank you so much for giving me wonderful, unforgettable experiences. Stay in touch. See you somewhere someday. Keep the good work going…………………………  J

GIC Library Book Review Foolish Filial  Folk Tales From Korea (The Man Who Wanted to Bury His Son)Author: Jeong InseopGIC Library Genre: Korea3 out of 5 starsReviewer: CHAO Sou Ian Under the influence of Confucianism, Korean and Chinese people attach much importance to being filial (효도 - 孝道). The social rules require to treat one’s parents well and to respect them. This is how this story starts. A man's mother shared her food with her grandson, and the man was afraid that his mother will not be able to suffice her appetite due to his son. So he decided to bury his son for his mother’s sake. Fortunately, while digging the hole, the man found a bowl sent by the Mountain God, who was moved by his filial piety. This bowl from the Mountain God overflew immediately with whatever was put inside (even food and pennies). The family lived happy again together.In the Chinese traditional book entitiled “24 Stories of Filial Piety”, similar stories can be found. However, even if the character still receive the prize from God because of the touching filial piety. the man gets the gold from the God Himself, not from a bowl. When considering the story, do you think that the man, who was going to burry his son alive in order to save his mother from starvation, is a good thing? In folk tales about filial piety, in order to show how much people love and take care of their parents, the stories are usually utterly bizarre. Another example taken from a folk tale is a 70-year-old man who, in order to amuse his parents, was dressing and acting like a little child to make his parents happy ever after. For filial piety, people could do everything!Surely we need to be grateful for our parents as they devoted a lot to us, but it doesn't mean to be foolish and giving up on everything. Treating our parents well, doesn't mean a total obedience to their control. We should show our love to them in a proper and simple way.When parents try to teach their children filial piety, it is better to educate them through action. Parents should explain the folk tales in their own way to their children, not just describe the stories. 

SPEAKER: Michelle WongCO-WRITER:​ DettyaGIC TALK DATE: May 21, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Introduction to Asia Art Archive Michelle Wong is a researcher at Asia Art Archive. Based in Hong Kong, she drives the Archive’s research projects in the city, including the recently launched Hong Kong Art History Research Pilot Project, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Prior to joining AAA, she received her education in music and philosophy at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA and in art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom. Her research interests include mapping, magazines, and the intersections of sound, space, and technology. Michelle works at Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and in this GIC Talk she introduce about Asia Art Archive and some research projects she is spearheading about Hong Kong art history. Michelle started her talk with lively energy and explained about the research around contemporary art in Asia. She said people usually ask questions to her about “How do you design Asia?”, and she has a pretty interesting answer about it. She said that, for us Asia is liquid, it not bounded by national borders and it actually is an idea about how things are all inter-connected to one another. During her GIC Talk, she presented us a picture of the library in the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, which is open for public six days a week. She is also part of the research team of some project in the Asia Art Archive. She has been running projects in collaboration with museums as well as individuals to create material and research of art history. By working with that institutions and individuals, they were able to identify the key materials that are important in the contemporary art history. These projects are all inter-connected to one another, and the way to look at them is to see them as tools to help them understand what materials they have in the Archive, how they can point out the materials they don’t have and help identify new materials, as well as to find out what they can enable by making these materials available. The project Michelle introduced in her GIC Talk is called Hong Kong Art History Research Pilot Project. It is a collaboration between Asia Art Archive and Hong Kong Museum of Art, which was Hong Kong’s first collecting institution, founded in 1962. This project is an endeavor to develop a shared platform that makes available materials that can facilitate research. What this project looks at is Hong Kong’s art ecology in the 1960s and 1970s and follows several lines of inquiry. For this Pilot Project, they carried out five interviews. Michelle briefly went through the interviews, two of them being an interview of Liu Kuo-sung, a Taiwanese abstract painter who moved to Hong Kong in 1973 to take up a teaching post, and of Sandra Walters, an American who moved to Hong Kong in 1973. Michelle Wong is passionate about her job, Hong Kong and also contemporary art history of Asia . She wants to give her best in every project, involving the community and introducing the Asia Art Archive to as many people as possible.

SPEAKER: Tommy StøckelCO-WRITER:​ Vivian LuoGIC TALK DATE: May 14, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Selected Sculptural Projects We were honored to have Tommy Støckel with us for today's GIC Talk. Tommy Støckel, an artist from Denmark whose studio is now located in Berlin came to the GIC to discuss about sculptural art. Today, he showed us a lot of his sculptural works and shared his interpretations about art. First of all, Tommy Støckel presented pictures of his sculptural works, then he introduced the inspiration, the meaning, and the working process of these works. He mentioned that he would like to go to different places in order to access the source for creative inspiration, as he doesn't have any difficulty to adapt to a totally new environment. He said that, as a artist, he should try something new and interesting to attract people and use his own way to explain his works. He highlighted that the more challenges to his artistic creation, the better. He also introduced his own book, Studio Font. Each letter, and key punctuation marks, are allocated an object, which makes 36 different objects in total. These objects were sourced from Støckel’s studio. The 36 objects are presented as chapters in the book, with each one accompanied by a text explaining its origin. Thank you Tommy Støckel for sharing with us some of your great art works. I believed that through today’s GIC Talk, the audience will have a better understanding of sculptural arts.

SPEAKER: Jen LeeCO-WRITER:​ NOH HojinGIC TALK DATE: April 30, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: From Pixels to Paper: A Webcomic Artist's Journey  Reading Webcomics is very popular and attractive to Internet users especially in Korea. Today’s GIC Talk speaker, Jen Lee, an award-winning comic artist, presented her journey as a webcomic Artist and explained how to draw webcomics, by showing her progress comics and sharing with us the thought process that you need to go through when creating comics.  Jen Lee considers herself as a workaholic. She works as a freelance artist, a food blogger, a radio guest and animator and many more. So, I believe that her different experiences can be seen through her Webcomic storyline. She explained the truth behind the glamorous image of being a comic artist, and all the hard work and struggles that go along with life in general. Jen Lee shared her adventures, and helped us learn from the successes and failures that she had experienced along the way. The major factor that helped her go through the different difficulties of her life was the support she received from others, both friends and family. Each person who helped her were key factors in creating the Webcomics and having it be published on time. Even though she was highly tempted to do all the work by herself, she needed this support from others.  Finally, Jen Lee detailed the process she went through to realize her dream of printing the first book of her “Dear Korea” comics. After her funny and honest presentation, copies of the “Dear Korea Volume One” book were available for purchase and signing by the author. I was so impressed by her Talk that I decide to buy a copy of her book and have it signed.Thank you again Jen Lee for your great GIC Talk!

SPEAKER: Annie Lai Kuen WANCO-WRITER:​ DettyaGIC TALK DATE: April 23, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Reading BOOK Narrating TIME - Six work by Annie WAN  Ms. Annie Wan is an international media artist who was born in Hong Kong, Her work examines the relationship between the material and the immaterial and also between herself and her surroundings. For example, she uses ceramics to represent the passage of time and how that affects books. Ms. Annie Wan concern is not with inspecting material civilization nor about formal replication, rather it is with change the dynamics of transformation and the transience of time. The ceramic works, as a tangible form and record, embody the subtle changes of life. Ms. Annie Wan who devoted herself to art making and to researching a conceptual approach to molding began her presentation by explaining about the reason why in the title of this presentation “BOOK” and “TIME” was written in capital letters because the main topic of her artworks that she explained about is mainly related with both of this things. She also pointed out that some of her artworks. In her Trilogy of a Book, Ms. Annie Wan makes clay replicas of books in three different ‘states’. Fragile Book represents a banned book in China, which cannot be opened and has lost its content, but still appears in a bookshop when it is impressed with a barcode. Organic Book references what writer Carlos Ruiz Zafrón called the “soul” of a book, which embodies the soul of the writer and all its readers; in Ms. Annie Wan work, grass grows in the book, as evidence of this soul as life. Fossil Book was created by coating an entire book and its pages with clay and firing it. The paper was burnt during firing, leaving only the ceramic ‘fossil’. In Infinitive Horizon/Ruin, different types of clay are used to replicate 180 discarded books. Ms. Annie Wan paints wet clay over the pages and fills in the gaps within the book. After the firing process, the papers disintegrate while the clay fillings are left behind. Some of these ceramic books are toasted to whiteness, while others are over-burnt and charred. Some look like eroded debris cemented to form strata of sedimentary rocks, while others are chipped, scarred, and sparsely covered with grass. Wan lays out these books in an orderly composition that sets a tone of desolation. Ms. Annie Wan gesture of painting wet clay over the pages is an imitated act of reading between the lines, flipping through the pages, and reflecting upon the message. The work embodies the reading process, which involves preserving useful information and deleting the useless embracing the birth of new ideas and the crumbling of old concepts. It becomes, then, the ruins of these books, which were discarded due to their obsolescence. Yet, they still withstand the test of time in this ceramic form of remembrance. Ms. Annie Wan continued with explaining about her ceramic book:  Time Regained, six black ceramic books made from six volumes of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, Phenomenon of Times  Ms. Annie Wan explores our relationship to time through history books, objects that are receptacles of the sequential narratives through which humanity constructs its existence in linear time. With a gestural regularity reminiscent of the act of reading, the artist brushed every page of the nine-volume History of India by 19th century Indian civil servant and historian Romesh C Dutt (published in 1906) with clay. She then fired the clay-coated books till all the paper burned off, leaving just the ceramic shell. Wan thus erases all traces of an oft-recited account of the past even as she records its demise in scorched earth. According to the artist, the past, present and future reveal simultaneously in these sculptures. By interrogating our linear relationship to time through them, she is reflecting on the “lightness or nothingness of time”.  Colourful Hong Kong Colourful Hong Kong is created by Ms. Annie Wan within the umbrella movement, she said that she grew up in Hong Kong when it was a British colony. After Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, cultural and political changes have been taking places through these years. Life and value change. In 2014, During the “Umbrella Movement”, Ms. Annie Wan came across two books, “彩色香港1940s-60s” & “彩色香港1970s-80s” (Colourful Hong Kong 1940s-60s & 1970s-80s) in bookstore, which were collections of historical colour photographs of Hong Kong. Confronting these photographs, she was overwhelmed and full of nostalgia, she said that she missed Hong Kong at that time.  The Road We Travelled 72 pieces  Ms. Annie Wan explained if this work was made from 72 travel and entertainment magazines in Hong Kong, which were transformed into fragile ceramic books in different spectrums. From what was learned from these, Ms. Annie Wan is passionate about Hong Kong and its history. She wants her art to be democratic, involving the community, rather than for the market; to be for the many rather than for the few. It is art that stems from social engagement and from ideas about finding a more sustainable way to live.

SPEAKER: John F. GreenmanCO-WRITER:​ KIM JiseongGIC TALK DATE: April 23, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: Finding Korea in a Small American City For today’s GIC Talk, Professor and Carter Chair in Journalism emeritus John F. Greenman introduced the audience to the Korean historical facts that were found in America.  He first explained how the Korean immigrants who arrived during the 17th century in the United States lived on this new land. He showed the numerous resources he found in his U.S. city Columbus, Georgia, that are linked to Korea such as Korean churches and Korean companies. It was very interesting when he explained how ‘KIA’ is hiring lots of Americans as well as other countries’ labor workers. Professor John Greenman came to Korea in order to better understand the Korean population of his city back at home. He already put a foot in Korea a few times, but it was solely to change flights at the airport. April this year was actually his first time travelling around Korea, so he presented the numerous places and people he needed to visit during this time.  In the second part of his Talk, he introduced the audience to his first impressions of Korea. He was really surprised by the success of the brand of ham ‘SPAM’ here in Korea, and explained how special the feeling called ‘Han’ was to him. He didn't know anything like ‘Han’ before and it seems like this feeling only exist for the Koreans. He told the audience that he understands it like a rage, grief and shame, but that he could not find a word able to explain this feeling in English. Maybe the Scottish will understand the meaning of this word, as they were in a similar environment with Korea. Finally, as an answer to the question from the audience, Professor John Greenman explained how children from ‘immigrants’ parents and ‘born’ parents are different. Usually, immigrant parents want their children to know about their traditions and language, so they try to teach them. But the children don’t seem to like it because they think that they are ‘Americans’ and not ‘Koreans’. So it may confuse their identities. Listening Professor John Greenman's GIC Talk, I learned a lot about Korean’s life in America. Even though they just look like us, and are born in Korea, they have different experiences and memories.  Thank you John F. Greenman for this amazing talk and for reminding us that they are Koreans after all. I feel proud of it.

SPEAKER: Fernando Garcia-DoryCO-WRITER:​ Hojin NohGIC TALK DATE: April 16, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: INLAND Today, the GIC was glad to host two GIC Talk speakers. The second GIC Talk was presented by Fernando Garcia-Dory, who introduced INLAND, which refers to a para-institution that ultimately opens a space for artistic practice in relation to specific territories and collective work. Fernando explained how he is engaged in examining the role of territories, geopolitics, culture and identity in the relationship between the city and the countryside. The aim of the INLAND project is to introduce the possibility of contemporary art practice in relation to the rural, and how that context might modify the way art happens and circulates. Today's GIC Talk speaker showed us what he worked on to identify the role of city and the countryside territories. His work was very interesting and we could understand how worthwhile it was for him to do this work, referred as both art and occupation.One of the most impressive part of his presentation was when he introduced the new project he is engaged in and the reason why he came to Gwangju, as part of the Gwangju Biennale 2016: The INLAND project at Ilgok-dong, Gwang-ju. He said that it was an area that was used as a cultivating place but which was left unused as the owner of the land became older. So, the organization he is engaged in right now is operating this project.  Fernando, as an artist, will make a draft for positioning buildings and facilities in the project. Finally, in the Q&A portion of his GIC Talk, he mentioned that we are surrounded by artificial artifacts. So he suggested that everyone of us should see the world as an artist and not just as a spectator.

 SPEAKERS: Katie WilliamsCO-WRITERS:​ VivianGIC TALK DATE: April 16, 2016GIC TALK TITLE: dōTERRA Essential OilsFor today’s GIC talk, we are honored to have Katie Williams with us to talk about Essential oils. Katie Williams, dōTERRA Wellness advocate, has been working for dōTERRA for more than a year. Today, she shared her experience and professional knowledge about the Essential oils in great details. First, Katie pointed out that dōTERRA essential oils are not panacea, they cannot prevent, treat or cure any disease, but play an assistant role to help our body work better.  Then, she explained what the essential oils are. Essential oils are steam distilled or cold expressed from natural aromatic compounds found in plants like peppermint leaf, and the features of it are highly concentrated and powerful.  Next, she explained why she chose dōTERRA and not any other brand. The first reason is its pureness — 100% natural, no artificial ingredients, fragrances, or fillers. The second reason is its safety — this brand of essential oils is free of pesticides and other chemicals. She also talked about the different ways we can use essential oils, such as a natural air freshener, to enhance our cooking and baking experience, for a toxin-free beauty & self care, etc.  Futhermore, she presented three ways to use Essential oils-Aromatically, Topically and Internally.  Lastly, Katie passed around several bottles of essential oils for everyone to try, such as Lavender, Lemon, and Melaleuca. She introduced where these essential oils are from, what are their functions and also the right way to use them. She highlighted the fact that every body works and reacts differently to the oils, so “we should try different types of oils to know which one suits us.”  Thank you Katie for sharing and letting us know more about the power of Essential oils. You didn't only introduced the products, but also introduced a new and healthy lifestyle.