Art shows this week

Jaka Parker, originally from Indonesia, is a freelance photographer currently living in North Korea. He resides there with his family in Pyongyang where his second and third children were born. He also takes photos of the city as a @everydaydprk fellow. You can check out his instagram account at @jakaparker.    Note from the Editor: Due to our being restricted in terms of what we could ask and have Jaka, a non-native English speaker, clarify etc. the English editorial team at Time Out Seoul decided to leave the majority of spelling and grammar errors, awkward phrasings and vague references in this interview so as to maintain the integrity of Jaka’s words.

Dutch stamp dealer, William van der Bijl, visited North Korea 24 times starting in 1998 in his search for propaganda posters and stamps. Last year, these rare stamps and posters were exhibited at the Seoul Museum of Art as part of their “NK Project.” William explained: “I am interested in any kind of art. North Korean political art, as well as their stamps, are drawn in a simplistic way: A person does not need to know much about art in order to understand ‘the message’ in their drawings. All the people look always happy and [there’s] always a big smile on their faces.” On a trip to North Korea in 2013, he was arrested and imprisoned for two weeks. Since then, William has been unable to return to North Korea—leaving behind friends and his stamp trading post. “I was never able to speak to any of [my friends] and [it] makes me very sad. I have a great desire to go there and meet them again, but this will be impossible in the current situation.”

You might be thinking, “Why is there a museum for figures and figurines?” Well, many of us ‘normal’ people might be tempted to dismiss it as a place for the obsessed, but you might want to think again. Figure Museum W, located in Cheongdam-dong, is a place to either renew your love of or learn about a new potential hobby of collecting, building, and trading figure models. With a serious collection of models that range in price from the thousands to couple 100 million wons, it’s undoubtedly Seoul’s special mecca for dukhoos (people focused on a specific hobby or subject) of this sort. For those of us who consider ourselves ‘normal’, it will be an eye-opening experience in learning both the delicacies and grandiose of this art form. The 1000 or so models that are on display are all part of a private collection. The two co-owners of the museum are elementary school friends and have been avid collectors of figures and art toys for a while. They, along with two more friends, came together to create this special space within Seoul to display their belongings. Most well known animation characters from Korea, Japan and the US can be spotted here, all of which range in size. If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to stand next to Ironman and take a selfie, you’ll be able to do just that. Life-size figures include the Terminator (with the actual leather jacket Arnold Schwarzenegger wore), Ironman, Batman, Spiderman, the Hulk, and even the Joker. The most prized item, on the...