*This piece originally appears in the June issue of Seoul Magazine.  Please check it out for the official photos.  The ones that appear here are my personal shots from the shoot.*

At first glance Korea’s music scene doesn’t seem to be much more than cookie-cutter idol groups and sugary-sweet ballad crooners.  But beyond the over-exuberant k-pop smiles deep in Hongdae’s dusty basement bars, something raw and authentic is churning.  Seoul’s underground bands and artists flocked to the neighborhood years ago turning it into a creative haven.  They began laying the foundation for a movement that’s now evolved into more than just a valid and thriving indie music scene, but an entire counterculture.  Loose Union is a new project committed to letting everyone know just how awesome it really is.

It’s hard to describe exactly what Loose Union is but that just may be the best thing about them.  Adam Brennen (Canada), Danny Arens (US) and Ollie Walker (South Africa) are each active participants in Seoul’s creative community.  Brennen is the frontman for popular ex-pat band On Sparrow Hills, Arens plays in Used Cassettes and Walker is the founder of Aweh.tv, an online portfolio featuring creative work from around the globe.  Throughout their personal journey navigating Seoul’s artistic landscape, they noticed it was inhibited by a sense of impermanence.  People come out to shows and generate beautiful energy with the bands but when the night is over, everything disappears.  They came together with the common purpose of making sure the experience is not forgotten and the momentum continues.

And so Loose Union was born.  They characterize the initiative as a new media project designed to establish a permanent archive of the burgeoning scene.  Essentially, it’s a collective of people committed to documenting local artists and shows through video and sound.  Brennen explains “nobody is going to help make these records or help us other than by hosting these shows at their venues.  So if we don’t do it ourselves, that’s it.”

If their DIY ethos wasn’t inspirational enough, they are also helping bridge the gap that exists between ex-pat and Korean bands.  The boys have encountered an attitude amongst local musicians that often downplays Seoul with the belief that nothing going on here is worth anything.  Arens counters “sometimes it takes people from the outside to encourage you and tell you they think it’s worth it and I feel that’s something we can give…our support and encouraging people that what they are doing is legit.”  They’ve found the best way to connect with these musicians and break down the barriers is to create something with them so the majority of Loose Union’s content is dedicated to showcasing Korean bands. 

Right now Loose Union is capturing live performances offered as free downloads on their website (looseunion.com) and hosting events like their official launch party last month featuring local favorites JuckJuck Grunzie, Love X Stereo, On Sparrow Hills, Used Cassettes and Wagwak.  To establish something even more tangible, they have plans to morph into a record label to help Korean bands create recordings that capture the raw energy of their live shows rather than the over-produced k-pop or radio rock sound most local studios are slapping on them.  Ahrens explains “we’re really going to bringing a sound that you can’t get from bands around here.”  They also hinted of collaborating with the local skate scene to put on a small-scale festival.

Even with all the videos, concerts and records, perhaps the most lasting contribution Loose Union will make is helping build a community.  Brennen puts it best by saying, “Seoul is a lot cooler than everyone thinks it is” and a vibrant contingency of non-mainstream artists, performers, and designers is completely transforming the creative landscape.  Loose Union is joining the ranks of initiatives like Seoul Urban Art Project and VLUF that are broadening the scope of this alternative world and making sure it grows by making it accessible.

They boys are the official documentarians of the quickly growing VLUF parties, which are becoming the mecca of Seoul’s underground world.  VLUF is a Korean-run creative collective that brings together b-boys, skaters, independent fashion designers, punk bands, graffiti teams and a host of other artistic initiatives that are defining this emerging movement.  By joining forces with VLUF, Loose Union is helping eradicate the divide that has long existed between the Korean and foreign creative communities and making sure people pay attention to both.  Seoul has a vibrating pulse and these boys have got their fingers right on it. 

____ 

SUP

The essence of Loose Union is best captured at the Seoul Urban Art Project’s first site.  SUP is a contemporary art movement featuring a collective of fourteen local artists including two foreigners whose purpose is “real art in the real street.”  Their initial project turned a redevelopment zone in Buk Ahyeon-dong into a colorful collage with creative murals, graffiti works, stenciling and wheatpaste posters tucked into corners amidst decay and ruin.  All of SUP’s projects in these eviction zones are doomed for destruction but through video, sound and photography it becomes immortalized through digital life.  The project and its unique location is a lasting commentary on destruction and rebirth in a rapidly changing city. 

SUP also aims to turn the city of Seoul into an open gallery.  Their follow-up project was last month’s street attack in Itaewon that allows everyday passerbys to interact with their work with a greater sense of permanence – it will probably stay on those walls longer than the ones of Ahyeon-dong.  Visit SUP’s website for maps of all works and an impressive digital archive of the work thus completed.  (sup-project.com) 

___

I wish I had more opportunity to document the amazing work that SUP has done through the above piece in Seoul Magazine or interview them for an exclusive, but unfortunately, as the publication is partly funded through the Seoul city government, there was a conflict of interest due to the illegal nature of the work.  The photo shoot was the best we could do.  Regardless, it was a lot of fun with the great guys from Loose Union and Annie from Love X Stereo, who also happens to work for Seoul Magazine.

Here is a collection of personal shots while exploring their Ahyeon-dong site.

I highly recommend checking out SUP’s extensive digital library or their facebook and the impressive videos produced by their media artist team.  I had the privilege of attending their film festival last night in Hongdae at Quadro, a delightfully quaint subterranean creative space, which showcased the participating artists and well-produced work.

 I cannot boast enough about this project - Seoul really needs this.  

Directions:  Better explained by SUP than me - check out their detailed maps of the Ahyeon-dong and Itaewon works.

Swedish photographer/illustrator Ulika Kestere recently completed a photo project entitled The Girl With Seven Horses.  Beginning with the story:

” Once upon a time there was a girl who had 7 invisible horses. People thought she was crazy and that she in fact had 7 imaginary horses, but this was not the case. When autumn came the girl spent a whole day washing all her clothes. She hung them on a string in her garden to let the gentle autumn sun dry them. Out of nowhere, a terrible storm came and its fiercefull winds grabbed a hold of all her clothes and all seven horses (authors note: since they are invisible they obviously didn’t weigh much). The girl was devestated and spent all autumn looking for each horse spread around the country, wrapped in her clothes. “

She features photographs of clothing displayed in the shape of horses amidst beautiful Swedish landscapes.

via BOOOOOOOM.

Beautiful shots against Amsterdam scenery from photographer Ayumi Hase of Mamechiyo’s modern kimonos.

via trendtablet

Difficult to decide which is more striking - the interiors or the clothing showcased in this month’s Vogue spread from photographer Mario Testino in his self-designed home.    The clothes speak for themselves but as a traveller who has amassed hodge-podge of curiosities from across the globe, I am impressed with the ability to use such diverse items to create an interior showcasing quirkiness and story without sacrificing the elegance.

via Sketch42

Design duo Alexandra and Genevieve Smart are the creative minds behind the Australian label Ginger + Smart.  Their Autumn/Winter 2012 collection is entitled Curio and is just the treasure trove a name like that would suggest.  Pattern mix always catches my eye, but even more so when ethnically inspired like some of these garments with their Papau New Guinea injected flair.

This pairing of heavy, wintery fabrics and stripes against color blocked abstract is beautiful.  And I love the styling - want those shoes, wherever they came from.

via oyster

My “new year” starts in March when I return back to life in Seoul after beginning the year travelling thanks to the Korean education schedule.  I’m generally bombarded with a ridiculous amount of work, but also use the time to sort through the mess left behind and make some new goals.

One of those is to get back to .hoot. and blogging and sharing with the world the things I love and the beauty and interestingness that I pass through every day.  Nothing is better to start of this new mission that something I should have blogged back in October when it appeared - Holstee’s Lifecycle video.  I was struck by its power then and am energized by it now.

The Holstee Manifesto Lifecycle Video from Holstee.

Now to start writing my own manifesto…

For nearly two years and a half years I lived in Bulgaria as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  When I wanted to escape the village and slow town life of my small town, I headed into the capital Sofia.  One of my favorite places is the concrete jungle surrounding the NDK - National Culture Palace.  As far as public spaces in Bulgaria go, its one of the best to get a glimpse at youth culture and street life with pack of skateboarders, musicians and youth tribes just hanging about.

The best part of the area is the giant, crumbling communist sculpture that has been boarded up for who knows how long, and now provides an excellent palate for street artists to showcase their work, much of it beautifully politically charged.  I’ve sat on the benches outside of it a million times people watching, writing and taking in city life in an interesting pocket of Eastern Europe. 

On a trip back to Bulgaria this past September, one of the boards was down providing me an entry point into the base of the sculpture and I never previously imagines what was lying behind those graffiti walls.  A complete mess with splattering color and protestations against the Cyrillic Russian-written script unearthing an interesting juxtaposition of history and art, beauty and decay, freedom and oppression.  I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

It’s been really lovely to watch the rise and journey of Kina Grannis.  She and I went to college at USC together and I first met her playing an open mic at USC’s coffeehouse Ground Zero as part of my roomate’s songwriting club.  At a time when most of the industry was running around backwards trying to figure out how to mend the wound between the web and the traditional business model the industry was reluctant to let go of, she was embracing the web and building something that became a phenomenon.

YouTube was really the driver and most of her uploads were beautiful acoustic covers of some pretty big tunes.  The Kings of Leon cover of Use Somebody was always my favorite.  In 2007 she entered the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest via Myspace and a lot of my university friends lobbied behind her to help promote the Two Weeks For Kina site which traded videos for votes.  She won and the rest is history.

I appreciate that throughout her success, she never lost the DIY spirit and a keen sense of daring creativity.  This is no more obvious than in the recent masterpiece she created with In You Arms, a stop motion animation video made completely from jelly bean art.  It’s a gem.

This editorial of Korean actress Han Hyo Joo via kpopfashionblog is the playful part about Korean fashion I love.  Wish I saw more of these bright looks out on the streets, but let’s hope things like this inspire Korean girls to move past the olive drab military wear and all over black.  I feel like I’m in New York sometimes.

It’s been a long while…

Nothing better to jump back on the bandwagon than an owl piece!  The first is from Kelsey Brookes’ upcoming London exhibition at The Outsiders.  The rest are just stunning.