A poetry workshop inspired by BTS' 'Fake Love', led by curator Amrita Dhallu and poet Mandy Merzaban, exploring themes of fake love in society.
John Hansard Gallery is hosting a poetry workshop on Saturday 5 September, taking its title and starting point from Fake Love, the hit track by BTS. The session is led by curator Amrita Dhallu and poet Mandy Merzaban, and it kicks off with a short tour of the exhibition Fake Love & Institutional Longing (BTS), which Dhallu curated.
If you know the song, you know where it comes from. Fake Love was released on 18 May 2018 as the lead single from Love Yourself: Tear, written by 'Hitman' Bang, RM and Pdogg. It blends emo hip hop, rap-rock and electropop around a love that turns out to be fake and the loss of self-identity in a toxic relationship. It won Song of the Year and Best Pop Song at the 2019 Korean Music Awards and became the band's first top-ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The workshop takes that idea of 'fake love' and stretches it out. It looks at the different forms it takes within neoliberal society, from romantic love and dating to institutional mission statements and workplace etiquette. Everyone is asked to bring a text they might categorise as such — a pop song lyric, an email, a text message, a job rejection letter or a policy document — to use as raw material for writing poetry.
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It's free to take part, so you don't need to worry about the cost. The workshop starts at 14:00 at John Hansard Gallery, 142-144 Above Bar Street, Southampton, SO14 7DU.
