Seoul Museum of Art –- an art museum operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government –- will focus on integration in operating its eight art entities scattered across Seoul, as it looks forward to expand to 10 by 2024 with the opening of three additional art entities. They are: Art Archives Seoul Museum of Art, Seo-Seoul Museum of Art and Seoul Museum of Photography. Art Archives Seoul Museum of Art will open in August in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. It will hold and manage the museum

Arts & Design Jan. 25, 2022

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea has started a test run for “The More, The Better,” the largest installation work by video art pioneer Paik Nam-june after it initiated a restoration project in 2019. The national museum has finished the overall restoration work and began the test run on Jan. 17, which will continue for six months. Comprising 1,003 picture tube monitors, the video tower was installed in 1988 at MMCA Gwacheon, becoming the world’s larg

Arts & Design Jan. 24, 2022

Tongyeong, a port city located in the southern coast of South Korea, will kick off its inaugural triennale -- an Italian word meaning “once every three years” -- in March, as an art festival that encompasses visual, media and craft art. The overarching theme will be “The Sea, The Seeds.” The port city in South Gyeongsang has been widely known as a home to many Korea’s established artists such as composer Yun I-sang, novelist Park Kyong-ni, poet Kim Choon-su and pa

Arts & Design Jan. 22, 2022

Russian avant-garde modern art started to flourish in the early 20th century with artists beginning to explore new abstract styles, rejecting conventional academic tradition in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917 that overthrew the Russian Empire. While the avant-garde artists -- most famously Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich -- are widely known today, many of them were oppressed in the 1930s after Stalin, who stigmatized their works, took power. Many artists fled to Europe a

Arts & Design Jan. 18, 2022

Incheon International Airport Corp. is getting one step closer to host a branch of a world renowned museum at the airport as it is set to launch a feasibility reseach about the project in February. The airport has pushed for the plan to accomodate a global museum at the largest airport in the country, such as Louvre Museum and Musee d’Orsay as early as 2024. After failing a bidding in September to commission the research, the airport put up the second tender in December, which was made t

Arts & Design Jan. 17, 2022

Light has been a popular subject in art explored throughout history, inspiring many artists particularly since the Age of Enlightenment started to dominate the world of ideas in the 17th century across Europe. Some significant works of art from the Tate in the UK that show how qualities of light have been interpreted across centuries have been brought together and on display in Seoul. The exhibition, titled “Light: Works From the Tate Collection” at the Buk Seoul Museum of Art in N

Culture Jan. 16, 2022

As digital art expands at a furious pace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse gaining huge popularity, Korean artists and artist groups have started to make efforts to secure visual artists’ rights. In November, some 20 artist associations and 100 artists formed a group to advocate for their rights, the Korea Visual Arts Copyright Association. It is Korea’s first association addressing concerns about the copyrights of visual artists. “Many artists in Korea have negl

Arts & Design Jan. 15, 2022

The competition ratio for K Auction’s public offering recorded 1408.33:1 during the two-day public offering session, raising more than 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion) in subscription deposit, according to IR Kudos on Thursday. South Korea’s second-largest auction house conducted a two-day public offering starting Wednesday, aiming to become the second auction house in the country to be traded on the junior Kosdaq exchange. The auction house is planning for a Kosdaq listing on Jan. 2

Arts & Design Jan. 13, 2022

Korean-born video art pioneer Paik Nam-june will be remembered at the Nam June Paik Art Center that is commemorating the 90th anniversary of the artist’s birth this year with a number of special projects throughout the year. The artist died Jan. 29, 2006, leaving a legacy that continues to influence media artists today. The museum, which the artist described as a “house where the spirit of Nam June Paik lives on,” will kick-start the yearlong celebration of Paik‘s legac

Arts & Design Jan. 12, 2022

ULSAN -- Located in southeastern South Korea, Ulsan is synonymous with the country‘s industrialization. The city is home to the world’s largest automobile plant and driving through the port of Ulsan, Hyundai cars preparing to be exported on ships are hard to miss. Some 307 kilometers from Seoul, the city has opened its first art museum in the eastern part of the city -- a museum that specializes in media art. Five inaugural exhibitions are currently running, including the main exh

Arts & Design Jan. 11, 2022

Hangang Parks across Seoul will turn into sculpture parks from February through 2024. Each exhibition will feature 35 sculptures, which will change for different exhibits across the 11 riverside parks. The project was organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in collaboration with K-Sculpture, an organization that aims to promote Korean sculptors. Two exhibitions will take place at different Hangang Parks running for two months at a time. Coinciding with Frieze Seoul -- the global art

Arts & Design Jan. 10, 2022

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea will expand international ties with overseas museums and commemorate video art pioneer Paik Nam-june’s legacy this year to coincide with the unveiling of “The More The Better,” the largest work by the artist, after a years-long restoration. The state museum, which has been invited to the dOCUMENTA Kassel 15, a global contemporary art exhibition in Kassel, Germany scheduled to kick off on June 18, will present “20

Arts & Design Jan. 10, 2022

After the first world war devastated Europe, killing millions of people, a number of artistic groups started to become suspicious of human reason, exploring the unconscious and dreams. As the pandemic continues its own devastation, and the response raises its own questions about human judgment, exhibitions that touch on the century-old cultural movement and its artists have been brought into Seoul. As an escape from the reality of war, artists started to turn their eyes to the unconscious tr

Arts & Design Jan. 8, 2022

Kim Kun-hee, wife of the main opposition People Power Party’s presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl, is accused of falsifying her work experience at Alternative Space Loop, a nonprofit cultural center in Seoul, amid continued criticism over Kim’s exaggeration of her past career in applying for jobs at colleges. Loop was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization to share contemporary art and cultural experience with the public as well as promoting experimental artists who have b

Culture Jan. 5, 2022

As the art market grows exponentially in South Korea, the tension between primary and secondary players has heightened with galleries uniting to launch an auction event in late January, claiming the country‘s major auction houses have violated a “gentlemen’s agreement” struck in 2007. The Galleries Association of Korea announced Monday that it will hold an auction on Jan. 26 at the Westin Josun Seoul with an aim to protect the art market, particularly young artists. S

Arts & Design Jan. 4, 2022