Qatar shows its collection of video art, cinema in Venice

VENICE, Italy -- Built in 1565, Palazzo Franchetti overlooking the Grand Canal, the main waterway of Venice, is a splendid piece of Gothic architecture, including a beautiful garden. The building has turned into a very different space to coincide with the 60th Venice Biennale from April to November for the exhibition, “Your Ghosts Are Mine: Expanded Cinemas, Amplified Voices,” which takes people to explore the Arab world, Africa and South Asia through film and video works by filmmake

June 25, 2024

Choi Goen wins 2024 Artist Award at Frieze Seoul

Korean installation artist Choi Goen has won the 2024 Artist Award and her work will be on display at the fair's venue at Coex in southern Seoul, Frieze Seoul announced Monday. The third edition of the global art fair is to be held from Sept. 4 to 7 at Coex, bringing together some 110 galleries from across the globe. The global art fair takes place in collaboration with the country’s homegrown international art fair, Kiaf Seoul. “The award enables an emerging or mid-career artis

June 24, 2024

Songzio returns to womenswear at Paris Fashion Week

South Korean avant-garde menswear brand Songzio unveiled a womenswear collection for the first time in 25 years at the Spring-Summer 2025 Paris Men’s Fashion Week. The collection revealed Friday was titled “Bright Star” in reference to the North Star, an enduring source of inspiration and a symbol of a hopeful future. Each creation was pieced together using asymmetric geometric shapes for vibrant and youthful exuberance, Songzio said. Such unfettered self-expression by youth, S

June 24, 2024

[What to see] Explore galleries in Yongsan

Yongsan-gu in central Seoul is a place for gallery hopping. Thaddaeus Ropac, Gallery Baton and Esther Schipper's current summer exhibitions are all worth a visit. Between touring the galleries, you can pop into the cafes and restaurants of the neighborhood to cool off. Andy Warhol at Thaddaeus Ropac Thaddaeus Ropac in Hannam-dong presents a selection of American artist Andy Warhol’s portraits of German avant-garde artist Joseph Beuys, revisiting the earliest meeting of the two artis

June 22, 2024

Curator showcases Indigenous perspectives

Words like “variety” and “innovative” will hopefully describe the afterthoughts on Korea’s first-ever exhibition on Native American arts, an associate curator at the Denver Art Museum who helped organize the show said. Dakota Hoska -- who holds dual citizenship from the US and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota -- said visitors to the exhibition “Cultures and Histories of Indigenous People in America” would be able to discover the talent t

June 21, 2024

Korea, US museums team up to promote Joseon

The National Palace Museum of Korea has joined forces with local and US museums to raise awareness of the Joseon era (1392-1910) in a three-year renewable deal focusing on joint exhibitions and research on the topic. The Joseon Dynasty Heritage Project involves the state-run NPMK, the Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum and Amorepacific Museum of Art, as well as two US museums, the Denver Art Museum and Cleveland Museum of Art. “The aim is to establish a cooperative relationship between the institutio

June 18, 2024

How Paik Nam-june's 'Transmission' was finally shown in Korea

Video art pioneer Paik Nam-june’s “Transmission” was shown for the first time in Korea last August, more than 20 years after its premiere at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City in 2002. The 8-meter-tall laser masterpiece was shown alongside "32 Cars for the 20th Century: Play Mozart’s Requiem Quietly," also by Paik, re-creating the 2002 Rockefeller exhibition in the backyard of the Paik Nam June Art Center from Aug. 31 to Dec. 3 last year. The exhibition, which o

June 17, 2024

Work of genius Joseon-era painter missing

A work of the 18th-century Joseon painter Sin Yun-bok has been reported missing and authorities are seeking tips, according to the Korea Heritage Service on Monday. The government agency responsible for protecting such works said the Hooam Mirae Institute, a private group that held the work, contacted the agency for help locating the missing work on June 10 after police turned down its complaint citing a lack of evidence. The Hooam Mirae Institute, which suspects an insider of the theft it belie

June 17, 2024

Seoul Auction puts up luxury residential apartment for art auction

For the first time in South Korea’s art auction market, the residency of an apartment in a luxury complex in southern Seoul will go under the hammer, as the apartment is considered to have “artistic value,” according to Seoul Auction on Thursday. The Korean art auctioneer will put up residency rights for one of 73 apartments in The Palace 73 in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The 385-square-meter studio’s interior design will be done by Meier Partners, the architectural firm founded b

June 13, 2024

[Media Art Now] Yaloo’s mythical spectacle accommodates transhuman species

At first glance, Yaloo’s work is none other than an immersive spectacle in a baroque style. You may feel this way when you encounter her projections mapped onto media facades at a department store or at an airport, but more so when it takes the form of an audiovisual and architectural installation that seems to be a large organism in its entirety. And soon after, you will realize that the very sensorial captivation of her work unveils a densely-knitted narrative of a fictional universe in

June 13, 2024

Landscape architect behind Seonyudo gets retrospective at MMCA

South Korea’s landscape architect Jung Young-sun is a pioneer -- she spent half a century exploring landscape practice since the 1970s, when the country's focus was still on rapid economic and industrial recovery from the Korean War. The debut retrospective exhibition by Korea's first female landscape architect at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea titled “Jung Youngsun: For All That Breathes On Earth” shows 60 projects through 500 archival mate

June 12, 2024

Gregor Hildebrandt's new works at Perrotin composed of musical elements

A free-standing colorful column on display outside the Perrotin Gallery in Seoul may appear to be a stack of shells, but it is a pile of vinyl records that serves as Berlin-based artist Gregor Hildebrandt's new work. The columns of painted vinyl records, which Hildebrandt has long used as a signature material, are stacked on top of each other as an homage to the great classic of modern sculpture, “Endless Column” by Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957). The colors he painted the reco

June 11, 2024

Qatar, Venice forge collaboration, resume direct flights

VENICE, Italy -- Qatar Museums and the municipality of Venice have agreed to strengthen collaboration in cultural and socioeconomic fields during the Venice Biennale 2024, where Qatar Museums unveiled its first major exhibition in the floating city. The protocol of cooperation between the two entities was announced Friday, coinciding with the 60th Venice Biennale that opened April 20 and runs through Nov. 24 under the theme of "Foreigners Everywhere." Qatar Museums, the country'

June 10, 2024

Once bunker, museum storage opens to public

It had been a bunker for 21 years beginning in 1962, then served as museum storage. It took another 22 years for the National Palace Museum of Korea to claim the 19-room storage space in the heart of Seoul in 2005. The underground facility beneath Gyeongbokgung, the main palace from the Joseon era (1392-1910), has in place highly sophisticated conservation technologies as well as strict protocols for entry, an NPMK official said during a media tour Wednesday, as reporters put on masks and covere

June 10, 2024

Kim Tschang-yeul's water droplets still resonate today

Korean art master Kim Tschang-yeul is known for paintings of water droplets, depicted so delicately and minutely that they seem real. His enthusiasm for painting water droplets began in 1971 and continued until his death in 2021 at the age of 91. The exhibition “Beyond Iridescence” at Gallery Hyundai in Seoul pays tribute to the artist in commemoration of the third anniversary of his death. The gallery had a long relationship with the artist starting from his early years. The exhibit

June 9, 2024

[Herald Interview] ‘Sincere commitment’ will pay off big: Songzio CEO

Never has Korean culture been in such limelight as today. From K-pop to K-drama and Korean food, aspects of Korean culture are winning over global audiences eager for something different. Fashion can ride the momentum, so long as designers focus not only on creativity and quality but also on “sincerely committing to fashion,” according to Jay Song, CEO and creative director of Songzio -- a South Korean fashion house known for its avant-garde menswear. “Sincerely committing to t

June 9, 2024

Blockbuster show at Hoam highlights Buddhist art from Asia

A special exhibition on Buddhist art in East Asia at the Hoam Museum of Art has attracted over 60,000 visitors since March, averaging over 1,000 a day in what could be one of the country’s biggest art shows this year. “Unsullied, Like a Lotus in Mud,” explores contributions women made to the religion and, as the title suggests, their struggles along the way with 92 pieces including Buddhist statues, paintings and scriptures. The gilt-bronze standing Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,

June 5, 2024

Frieze Seoul's 3rd edition to revive Seoul art scene

Frieze Seoul will return in September with its third edition, launching the inaugural Frieze Live to spotlight performance-based art and strengthen ties with the local art scene. Some 110 galleries from around the world will participate in the art fair, which runs Sept. 4-7 at Coex in southern Seoul. Dubbed “Frieze Week,” the week features late-night gallery openings, a variety of special exhibitions at local art institutions and on-site programs such as Frieze Film and Frieze Music.

June 4, 2024

Massimodecarlo's new Seoul Studio kicks off second presentation

Italian gallery Massimodecarlo started showing the work of two European artists in the presentation, “Carsten Holler, Peter Schuyff” at the newly opened Massimodecarlo Seoul Studio in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul last week. It marks the second presentation since the space opened in late March. Among the works at the showcase is German artist Holler’s “Giant Triple Mushroom,” a sculpture consisting of one half of a fly agaric mushroom, with the remaining two quarters r

May 27, 2024

Korea, Austria hold first joint art jewelry exhibition

A joint exhibition of 675 contemporary jewelry pieces, also known as art jewelry, by Korean and Austrian artists will run from Tuesday to July 28 at the Seoul Museum of Craft Art. “Beyond Adornment,” the first contemporary jewelry exhibition the two countries have held together from planning to hosting since 1892 when diplomatic ties were established, explores works of adornment by 54 Korean artists and 57 Austrian artists. Art jewelry gained recognition in the mid-20th century as an

May 27, 2024