Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
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Yayoi Kusama proves star power with painting sold at 5.45 billion won
Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama broke another auction record in South Korea, with her painting “Pumpkin” fetching 5.45 billion won ($4.58 million), the greatest sum of all works sold on the block in Korea this year. It is also the highest price paid for a Kusama painting in Korea. The 1.2-meter-tall painting, created in 1981, went under the hammer at the auction house’s winter sale with a starting price of 5.2 billion won. The winning bid of 5.45 billion won breaks
Nov. 25, 2021
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Lawmakers propose national art museums outside Seoul
A government plan to expand cultural facilities to regional areas is making headway, after the decision for the so-called “Lee Kun-hee donation hall” to be established in Seoul caused an uproar among regional cities and lawmakers. Several proposals to secure the budget to launch additional venues of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, across the country will be discussed this week by the National Assembly’s budget settlement committee, according to mult
Nov. 22, 2021
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Lehmann Maupin Seoul will move to Seoul’s rising art mecca early next year
Lehmann Maupin Seoul will expand its presence in Korea’s art scene moving its location to Hannam-dong in central Seoul in early spring 2022, joining the ranks of international galleries settling down in the fast-rising art mecca. The gallery’s newly renovated building will feature larger exhibition spaces that will span across two floors and an outdoor terrace to accommodate installation works and sculptures. The American gallery launched its first local branch in Samcheong-dong,
Nov. 21, 2021
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[Eye Plus] Reinterpretation of Deoksugung: Garden of Imagination
In the 15th century, it was the private residence of a grand prince. Then in the late 19th century, it became the imperial palace of the short-lived Korean Empire. During the Japanese colonial period that followed, it was reduced to a public park. This is the story of Deoksugung, now South Korea’s historical site No. 124 and one of the most serene places tucked in central Seoul. An artistic project is taking place here, under the title of “Deoksugung Project 2021: Garde
Nov. 20, 2021
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Craft Trend Fair 2021 showcases beauty of Korean craftsmanship
Korean craftsmanship, both traditional and contemporary, is on full display at the Craft Trend Fair 2021 at Coex in southern Seoul. The main exhibition “Every Shape, Every Color,” the highlight of the fair, presents a variety of craftworks by 71 Korean and overseas artists. Jung Ku-ho, a well-known fashion designer and artistic director, organized the fair that features 320 artists, galleries and institutes. Jung was the artistic director for the “Monochrome Monologue&rdquo
Nov. 19, 2021
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Auction houses introduce rare works to keep heated art market interested
Major Korean auction houses hope to continue the successful sales they have enjoyed this year in a market buoyed by the popularity of art as an outlet for investment. Two auctions will put up works worth more than 10 billion won ($8.5 million) at the upcoming events, featuring rare pieces. Seoul Auction will put “Pumpkin” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama on the bidding block Tuesday. The work from 1981 is a rare early work, according to the auction house. The starting price is set a
Nov. 17, 2021
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[Herald Interview] Charles B. Wang Center Director Jin Jin-young tells stories of Korean art to global audiences
Jin Jin-young, director of cultural programs at the Charles B. Wang Center in New York, increasingly feels the rising popularity of Korean culture stemming from pop music, films and dramas. And that interest is spreading to Korean art amid the fast-growing Korean art market, she notes. While there is a wealth of information about Korean pop culture, she found there are few reliable sources for global audiences looking for more information about Korean culture, history and art, whether they be
Nov. 14, 2021
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MMCA to finish cataloging Lee Kun-hee collection by 2022, transfer works to new hall
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, said Friday that it will hand over the bequest from the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee to the new hall that is scheduled to be built in 2027 in central Seoul. In the meantime, it is examining and cataloging the works. “We are undertaking thorough research on 1,488 artworks from the Lee Kun-hee collection, such as the names and materials of the works and year of creation. We will finish registering them next year and sha
Nov. 12, 2021
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Korean art master Park Seo-bo draws line at NFTs
South Korean art master Park Seo-bo confirmed that he would not allow his works to be produced as NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, stressing that digital art belongs to a new generation. Park made his stance known on social media Thursday amid growing attention to the digital art trend, saying people had asked him whether he was interested in tokenizing his works. Park’s paintings are highly popular in the market, and some of his 1.3-meter-by-1.6-meter works have sold for more than 400 mil
Nov. 12, 2021
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[Newsmaker] ‘Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall’ in Songhyeon-dong to house all bequeathed works
Nearly all of the artworks bequeathed by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will be housed together at the “Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall,” which is to open in Songhyeon-dong, Seoul, in 2027. The announcement was made during a ceremony Wednesday to seal the agreement between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Seoul Metropolitan Government on building the new institution in Songhyeong-dong after considering two candidate sites in Seoul. Confusion about the i
Nov. 10, 2021
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[Exclusive] Kansong Art Museum may open temporarily next year
Kansong Art Museum is mulling opening the museum temporarily next year before the renovation of Bohwagak, the museum building, gets underway. The museum has been closed for seven years. The country’s first private museum, Bohwagak, as it was initially named, was founded in 1938 by Jeon Hyung-pil, a wealthy collector of Korean cultural artifacts during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule to prevent the national treasures from being removed from the country. The name of the museum was c
Nov. 9, 2021
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Ho-Am Art Museum returns with traditional metal works, fall foliage
The Ho-Am Art Museum in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, has returned with the new exhibition “Metallurgy: Great Wisdom” and its formal garden, Hee Won, in its full autumnal glory. The museum run by the Samsung Foundation of Culture was founded in 1982 to house traditional Korean art collected by Lee Byung-chull, founder of Samsung Group. Named for Lee’s pseudonym, Hoam, the museum boasts a garden by Korea’s first-generation landscape architect Jung Young-sun inspired by tr
Nov. 8, 2021
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[Herald Interview] Dominique Perrault calls on architects to be conductors
French architect Donique Perrault has been advocating for more important roles for architects over the past several years. As the general director of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021, he brought together 190 architects and artists from across the world under the theme of the “Crossroads, Building the Resilient City.” “In my opinion, many people consider architects less important today, while they demand engineers, landscape experts and environmentalists
Nov. 3, 2021
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Painter-poet Choi Wook-kyung invites us to her art ‘wonderland’
Korean abstract artist Choi Wook-kyung pioneered an abstract art of her own from the 1960s to the 1980s when female artists did not receive much attention in Korea. Traveling back and forth between Korea and the US, Choi established her own painting style without being involved in any of the art movements of the times. Born in 1940, Choi studied painting at Seoul National University and went to the US in 1963 in pursuit of expanding her art world. The exhibition “Wook-kyung Cho
Nov. 1, 2021
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Biggest-ever Daegu Art Fair to kick off next week
Korean art collectors are turning their eyes to Daegu, a two-hour KTX trip from Seoul, for the upcoming Daegu Art Fair 2021 as local art fairs continue to ride the unexpected wave of popularity in the art market. Daegu Art Fair 2021, considered the third major art fair in the country along with KIAF Seoul and Art Busan, kicks off on Nov. 4 at Exco. Galleries Association of Daegu, who has hosted the fair since 2008, is jointly organizing this year’s edition with the Galleries Association
Oct. 30, 2021
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Gwangju art fair explores metaverse exhibition for first time
The Gwangju International Art Fair 2021 opened Thursday featuring artists based in the city, including a metaverse exhibition, to help them promote artworks virtually and in person amid growing public interest in art. With 70 galleries from home and abroad taking part, the city’s major art fair will run until Sunday at the Kimdaejung Convention Center, showcasing works from 535 artists. With growing attention to the art market, the annual art fair is presenting special booths to intro
Oct. 30, 2021
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Media art-centric Ulsan Museum of Art to open in January
Ulsan Museum of Art will open early next year as the first major art museum in the eighth-largest city in South Korea. The museum will specialize in digital media art, encompassing the fast-evolving digital art genre. The museum, which is now in the final stage of construction, will open on Jan. 6 with five inaugural exhibitions. They include an exhibition of the museum’s permanent collection and the thematic exhibition “Post Nature.” Seventy artists from 14 countries will b
Oct. 27, 2021
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Gallery Hyundai’s Patrick Lee to step down, take on new role at Frieze Seoul
Patrick Lee, executive director of Gallery Hyundai in Seoul, will step down from his post and direct the art fair Frieze Seoul starting in November, according to the gallery. Frieze Seoul will be held in early September 2022 at Coex in southern Seoul, alongside KIAF Seoul, South Korea’s largest international art fair. As director of Frieze Seoul, Lee will take charge of organizing the event. Seoul is the first Asian city to host a Frieze art fair. Lee, who previously led One and J. Ga
Oct. 27, 2021
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How Italy’s culture of art patronage continues shown in Seoul
Renaissance art flourished in 14th-century Florence on the back of powerful patrons, and art patronage by businesses continues to play a pivotal role in Italian art. The exhibition “We Love Art. Vision and Creativity Made in Italy” organized by the Italian Institute of Culture and the Embassy of Italy in Seoul on Wednesday, aims to show how businesses’ art patronage functions today. The exhibition of eight works by emerging Italian artists supported by the country’s cor
Oct. 25, 2021
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British artist Julian Opie’s animal sculptures, Incheon-inspired work unveiled at Kukje Gallery
British artist Julian Opie is presenting his third solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery in Seoul, after two solo exhibitions in the country in 2017 and 2018. Inspired by familiar subjects from everyday life, Opie presents 31 works that span the gallery’s K2 and K3 exhibition halls, as well as its garden. The artist became well known in South Korea after he made a strong presence in Seoul in 2011 with his light-emitting diode art piece “Crowd,” displayed via Seoul Square’s l
Oct. 24, 2021