Land Architecture Land Urbanism In Seoul

There was a nice exhibition in a park in Seoul recently, a sort of sculpture, experience, environmental, kitchen sink thing of combining imaginative landscaping with cool sculptures. Go with it.

Setting up. Flowers go with everything.

Cool orbs and out of the box structures. The future is now and it's funky. And fun.

Looking a bit like those missile frozen pops. Definitely cool.

Big sculpture that made interesting sounds, made by a university from Italy. Big steel triangle. Pointy. 

Vine dome. A growing phenomenon.

Impressive Work At The Seoul Museum of Craft Art

Nothing like seeing crafts done at a high level to humble a person. There's plenty of humbling going on at the Seoul Museum of Craft Art. Wood carving, dishware and, of course, silk textile work. Consider one humbled.

One of the galleries. Wood and clay, beautifully manipulated.

Classically carved wooden furniture works. Early 20th century dishes. Department store available, swanky.

Enough of the under-card pieces, let's get to the headliners, silk textile works. Colorful robe. Yes, please.

Oh, boy. Seriously? Flowers, plants and birds? Behold the humble bojagi, a "wrapping cloth." It could have been a glorified rag. It's not.

Oh, it certainly isn't a simple swatch of fabric for hauling laundry.

Re-creating Sewoon Market At The Seoul Museum Of History

One of Seoul's first mixed-use complexes is Sewoon market. Shops at street level, apartments above. Everybody is a community, everybody wins. Sewoon is a metaphor for a neighborhood's initial growth, slow decline, brink of being razed and then saved by urban preservationists. History in the ever evolving making.

At the museum, there's a nice diorama of the complex, filled with small slices of what life was/is like at Sewoon.

At home, relaxing to a big stereo. And a big vase.

Small, mom and pop shops. The appliance and lighting stores.

Getting groovy. School girls hanging at the record shop.

You need a portable heater? They have heaters! Nap time.

A few beers at the social club.

Discovering The Past At The Seoul Museum Of History

Old and new, recent and ancient, whatever defines South Korea can be found at the local history museum.

Go handmade wooden boat with linen sails or go home.

A special exhibition marking 70 years of cooperation with the USA. Soft power to keep the bonds strong. 1970s apartment kitchen. Asian kitsch.

A random greatest hits of post-war economic progress. Electronics, toys, some liquors, and pop music.

Re-creating a grimy noodle shop. Which, thankfully, can still be found around the city. Endangered?

A display of books about Korea from around the world. Enlightening, curious and maybe offensive.

Seeing Rural Life at Seoul's Agricultural Museum, Part Two

Continuing a meander through the Agricultural Museum in Seoul, now a look at life beyond the fields.

The big feast. Something for everyone, even ancient vegans.

Domestic life, complete with a cute, little domesticated animal out front. The kitchen, women's work.

Out of the kitchen and running a seafood stall.

Milk in the stable and kimchi ready to go in the ground.

A jumak. Basically, a Holiday Inn. Stop on your travels, have some noodles, a drink, stay the night.

Seeing Rural Life at Seoul's Agricultural Museum, Part One

Seoul has a nifty museum dedicated to all things grown. Most of the exhibits are dioramas that illustrate long ago farming life, techniques. Plow that field, sow that wheat. Let's get hoeing.

A diorama reaching way back to the early period of first clearing land. "Fire is so cool, let's burn some plants!"

Villages develop and dogs stick around. Women, doing the real work.

Fences go up, someone has to do the night watch.

Dirty work, iron ore smelting. Back breaking work.

Blessing the growing season. A Joseon king holding a seonnongje ceremony. Get your lucky oxen going.

Diorama Details At The California Academy Of Sciences

There's an impressive group of African animal dioramas at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences. Lions, a gorilla, some regal creatures with hooves. Labels are good.

And so are details. Like a gorilla's arm.

How about a steenbok being dwarfed by a sexy king protea? Or a couple of African wild dogs? Woof!

Cheetah kill.

Profile of a sable antelope. And a rump sliver. Bongo leg in bamboo.

Olive baboons, grooving.

Pack Ratting At The Beaty Biodiversity Museum In Vancouver

The Beaty is cool, a repository of old school specimens. Think classic animal taxidermy, scary things in vials, fossils. A real playground of throwback scientific research and collecting.

Speaking of collecting, they have a little display, comparing, contrasting, and fooling the viewer. Two collections, one group from a human hoarder and the other group found inside walls of a house, put there by rats. Who collects what?

Spoiler alert, you can't tell the difference! No matter, everyone/thing are good collectors.