The Grammy Museum will soon launch its first full-floor K-pop exhibit as part of its ongoing initiative to explore the music, culture, technology, fandom and business behind Korean pop music.
The museum partnered with Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS and countless other international acts, and its archivists, to provide attendees with an in-depth look at the company’s roster and the ways in which they’ve evolved the K-pop landscape.
“Hybe: We Believe in Music, A Grammy Museum Exhibit” runs from Aug. 2 to Sept. 15 at the museum in downtown Los Angeles.
Photo: AP
The artifacts in the 4,000-square-foot exhibit have never been displayed before in a museum — with the exception of a few BTS wardrobe and costume items. The pieces represent 78 K-pop stars, known as idols, and include outfits worn in well-known concept photos and music videos like BTS’s Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment), SEVENTEEN’s Maestro, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Sugar Rush Ride and the Gen Z K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM’s Easy.
Hybe’s junior groups, known as rookie teams, will also be represented: BOYNEXTDOOR, TWS, &TEAM, ILLIT and more.
Three books from Big Hit Entertainment founder Hitman Bang’s personal collection are included: Korean-language copies of Hermann Hesse’s Demian: The Story of Boyhood, which inspired BTS’ 2016 album, Wings; Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving, which informed their Love Yourself series; and Jung’s Map of the Soul by Murray Stein, which lead to their Map of the Soul series. Big Hit Entertainment became Hybe in 2021.
“This is going to be one of the largest exhibits the museum’s ever curated,” Grammy Museum President and CEO Michael Sticka told The Associated Press. “They’ll take over the entire third floor of the museum.”
BIG IMPACT
He says the exhibit celebrates the major music company’s role in K-pop. “Hybe in particular, their impact on really the world of music is indisputable,” he says.
“The goal from the beginning was to shine a light on the innovation of the company, like in the technology arena, in the music business beyond the world of K-pop,” Grammy Museum curator Kelsey Goelz says.
Beyond the artifacts, the exhibit promises interactive experiences, such as a “random dance play” in the museum’s rotunda, where attendees can sing and dance to music from Hybe acts, and a Photoism booth, where they can pose for photos alongside their favorite acts. “We’re even going to have a little fan area where fans can express what K-pop means to them, how they came about it and, like, leave their mark on the exhibit,” Goelz says. “This is the biggest and most in-depth K-pop exhibit we have ever done.”
INTERACTIVE
There is also a permanent “Mono to Immersive” interactive, where Grammy performances are remixed to demonstrate the evolution of recording technology, says Sticka. This time around, they’ve incorporated BTS’s 2022 Grammys performance of their hit “Butter,” which will allow attendees to watch the performance and experience what it would sound like to listen to it using 1920s technology and so on, up to the modern day.
Hybe COO Tae-Ho Kim says he hopes the exhibit will appeal to K-pop and Hybe superfans, those who are curious about the music and excited to learn more. He says his company aims to introduce Hybe to visitors, as well as showcase “the journey that we have taken in the global music industry and the global market.”
“I hope this exhibit will be a great chance for our rookie teams — the new teams, new artists — to be introduced to the American music fans,” he added. “This can be a very good momentum for their entrance into the American music market.”
On April 26, The Lancet published a letter from two doctors at Taichung-based China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) warning that “Taiwan’s Health Care System is on the Brink of Collapse.” The authors said that “Years of policy inaction and mismanagement of resources have led to the National Health Insurance system operating under unsustainable conditions.” The pushback was immediate. Errors in the paper were quickly identified and publicized, to discredit the authors (the hospital apologized). CNA reported that CMUH said the letter described Taiwan in 2021 as having 62 nurses per 10,000 people, when the correct number was 78 nurses per 10,000
As Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) — the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda — he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration. Trump had ordered the US Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that funds VOA and other groups promoting independent journalism overseas, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The decision suddenly halted programming in 49 languages to more than 425 million people. In Moscow, Margarita Simonyan, the hardline editor-in-chief of the
Six weeks before I embarked on a research mission in Kyoto, I was sitting alone at a bar counter in Melbourne. Next to me, a woman was bragging loudly to a friend: She, too, was heading to Kyoto, I quickly discerned. Except her trip was in four months. And she’d just pulled an all-nighter booking restaurant reservations. As I snooped on the conversation, I broke out in a sweat, panicking because I’d yet to secure a single table. Then I remembered: Eating well in Japan is absolutely not something to lose sleep over. It’s true that the best-known institutions book up faster
Though the total area of Penghu isn’t that large, exploring all of it — including its numerous outlying islands — could easily take a couple of weeks. The most remote township accessible by road from Magong City (馬公市) is Siyu (西嶼鄉), and this place alone deserves at least two days to fully appreciate. Whether it’s beaches, architecture, museums, snacks, sunrises or sunsets that attract you, Siyu has something for everyone. Though only 5km from Magong by sea, no ferry service currently exists and it must be reached by a long circuitous route around the main island of Penghu, with the
RSS