GYOPO Diasporic Refractions: Symposium

GYOPO Diasporic Refractions: Installations, Symposium, and Performances

June 7, 2025
2–5 PM PST
Walt Disney Concert Hall, BP Hall
151 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Diasporic identity is one that is inherently multiple; at its core is a recognition of difference. GYOPO resists essentialized notions of Korean identity and culture by refracting them through the lens of diaspora and intersectionality. On the occasion of Seoul Festival, GYOPO and LA Phil Insight present a week of video installations at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, a symposium, and an afternoon of performance.

Grounding GYOPO Diasporic Refractions are two works by Seoul-based artists: A Performing by Flash, Afterimage, Velocity, and Noise (2019), an audio-visual installation by siren eun young jung in BP Hall and 커터3 CutterIII (2023), a video installation by Heecheon Kim in the Grand Avenue Lobby. The weekend of programming begins with a symposium co-curated by musician and artist Sasami Ashworth on resistance and creative practice, featuring artist yuniya edi kwon, designer Mindy Seu, singer-songwriter NoSo, and performances by yuniya edi kwon and NoSo.

GYOPO Diasporic Refractions closes with an interactive pre-concert performance showcase, co-curated by artist and GYOPO volunteer Hannah Joo, which includes Ari Osterweis, Sharon Chohi Kim, Hwa Records, and Young Sun Han—all diasporic Korean artists who ignite resistance from the spaces between memory and manifestation, and navigate the nuanced terrains of cultural memory, generational healing, and community building. Audiences are invited to absorb a blend of vocalization, movement, ritual, and procession, culminating in an embodied coalescence of themes in the Walt Disney Concert Hall Blue Ribbon Garden.

Symposium

Co-curated by musician and artist Sasami, GYOPO Diasporic Refractions: Symposium brings into conversation musicians, scholars, and performers who draw upon their chosen crafts and Korean heritage to examine, deconstruct, and alter systems of oppression. To reinvent, survive, and resist has been an intrinsic part of the Korean experience. Artist presentations and a round table discussion will engage different perspectives on being part of the Korean diaspora—of sitting on the fault-line of eastern and western history and consciousness while deeply entrenched in the rituals, principles, and histories of violence in both the eastern and western worlds. This symposium is part of GYOPO Diasporic Refractions, which explores Korean diasporic experience through various interdisciplinary arts.

HOW TO ATTEND: The symposium is free with RSVP. Sign up to attend here.

HOW TO GET TO WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012.

Parking is available directly beneath Walt Disney Concert Hall. Enter on Second Street or Lower Grand Avenue. Please visit the LA Phil Website for costs and hours of operations.

Walt Disney Concert Hall is also accessible by subway: Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hall station (Blue, Expo, and Silver Lines) or the Civic Center/Grand Park Metro station (Red and Purple Lines)

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen.