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Dingy Basements: Human and Environmental Factors of Korea’s Live Music Venues

LECTURER: Jon Dunbar
DATE: Tuesday. September 28, 2021. 7:30PM (Seoul)
Venue: Online Zoom

Summary:
For a city of almost 10 million, Seoul’s live music community is nowhere near as large and healthy as it could be, leaving a surplus of talented bands unable to reach enough paying audiences. Many of the structural and systemic problems of the scene can be observed in the configuration and operations of the live music venues which serve as the primary marketplace interface connecting performers with consumers. Especially as the COVID-19 pandemic insists on prolonging, threatening the safety and sustainability of live music, many in the scene have taken a good hard look at the problems it faces and possible solutions to fix it.

This talk will look at live music venues in Korea using historical data, human factors analysis, case studies, and alcohol-hazed memories. It will examine seemingly frivolous issues people don’t want to think about when they’re having a good time, such as fire safety, hygiene, integration troubles with the surrounding community and gentrification, zoning and legal issues, and sustainability. It will explore why Seoul’s live music scene has been forced underground — literally, into dingy basement venues.

Bio:
Jon Dunbar has been part of the Korean punk scene since December 2003, documenting everything with photography and writing. In 2005 he started the punk zine Broke in Korea which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2020. He is the author of “Hongdae Fire,” a fiction novel about a disaster that strikes at a concert near Hongik University and nearly wipes out Korean live music. He is general editor of RAS Korea’s journal Transactions, and a copy editor at The Korea Times.

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Zoom Meeting Link:
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Meeting ID: 813 7247 4774
Passcode: 914931
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