An art installation lit up the memories of Korean refugees on London’s River Thames on Thursday, in a project that artist Kang Ik-joong said he hoped could spark the reunification of North and South Korea.
The Floating Dreams lantern stands three storys high on the Thames, between two of the British capital’s most famous sites — St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern art gallery.
Appearing like an oversized Rubik’s Cube and illuminated from within, the installation is made up of 500 drawings by those who fled their homes during the Korean War in the 1950s.
Photo: AFP
“I grew up in [South] Korea, but I always thought: When can the two Koreas be reunited? As an artist what do I have to do? Why do we have to live separately?” Kang said.
The artist, who has lived in New York since the 1980s, said he hoped the bright light emanating from the installation would contribute to the reunification of North and South Korea.
‘BIG FIRE’
“It has to be solved right now, now is the time... Even a big fire can be started from tiny sparks,” he said.
“This is a tiny spark in the Thames, because the Thames in London connects to everywhere,” Kang added.
Kang created the Floating Dreams piece by transferring the drawings by the refugees, now in their 80s and 90s, onto Korean rice paper.
He returned to his native South Korea for the project and, with the help of the Red Cross, Buddhist monks and Catholic priests, encouraged participants to draw their memories of home.
MANY TEARS
“I wait and I wait and they start talking about their home town; that is the time when they draw,” he said, adding that many of the participants cried during the process.
“It’s like bumping into yourself in the drawing. Thinking about your past, your memory of the past, then you just cry,” Kang said.
Towns, mountains and rivers all feature, while many people have drawn maps so their relatives can trace their origins if it becomes possible to return home.
The art work will be lit up nightly until Sept. 30 as part of the Totally Thames program of cultural events.
Kang said he hoped people walking along the river would take notice of the work and learn about the refugees’ stories.
“I hope this installation can be a small vaccine, can be spread out and cure our sadness, our scar, some day,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of