Kansong Art Museum sells national treasure to Heritage DAO

A national treasure that failed to find a new owner after the Kangsong Art Museum put it up for auction in January has been bought by a cryptocurrency-based decentralized autonomous organization. Heritage DAO purchased National Treasure No.73, Portable Shrine of Gilt-Bronze Buddha Triad, and permanently entrusted the Buddhist relic to the museum for physical exhibitions, the museum announced Wednesday. “We were surprised by the offer to buy the national treasure from the cryptocurrency-

March 16, 2022

[International Galleries in Seoul] Koenig Seoul hopes to grow with emerging Korean collectors

The following is part of a series that explores international galleries that have opened a location in Seoul, as a new art hub in Asia. --Ed. A visit to the rooftop garden is a must when you are at Koenig Seoul, a German gallery which opened in Seoul last year. Sculptures by artists represented by the gallery greet the visitors, offering a place for respite surrounded by art. Koenig Seoul, located at the MCM Haus building in the posh neighborhood of Cheongdam-dong, is the Berlin-based gallery&

March 15, 2022

Video artist Choi Chan-sook wins Korea Artist Prize 2021

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea has named video artist Choi Chan-sook as the winner of the Korea Artist Prize 2021 among the four finalists who showcased their works at the museum. The national museum shows commissioned works by four finalists of the annual award, which aims to support young and promising Korean artists. The newly commissioned works by the four artists -– Choi Chan-sook, Kim Sang-jin, Bang Jeong-a and Oh Min -- are on display at the exhibition &l

March 15, 2022

Seoul Fashion Week to make YouTube fashion vertical debut

The upcoming 2022 fall-winter Seoul Fashion Week, Korea’s largest fashion event, will be introduced through YouTube’s official fashion and beauty channel for the first time, according to the show’s organizer, the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday. The channel has shed light on four fashion weeks -- Paris, Milan, New York and London -- uploading related content for viewers around the world. Seoul Fashion Week will become the first Asian fashion week to be introduced throu

March 14, 2022

Leading contemporary architect Kimm Jong-soung‘s archival book published by MMCA

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea has published an archival book on Korea’s renowned architect Kimm Jong-soung based on archives of the architect’s career that Kimm donated to the museum in 2014. The 86-year-old Kimm is a leading contemporary architect based in Seoul who has designed a diverse portfolio of buildings in South Korea, including the Weightlifting Gymnasium for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Ajou University Hospital, S

March 13, 2022

Galleries Art Fair 2022 to be the largest ever

The recent art fever is likely to continue at the upcoming Galleries Art Fair 2022, the first major art fair of the year, with the largest number of galleries participating at a new venue in Seoul. The five-day art fair will kick off Wednesday at Seoul Trade Exhibition and Convention in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. This is a change of venue for the annual fair which has been taking place at COEX in Seoul. Some 143 galleries will participate in this year’s art fair, continuing the momentu

March 11, 2022

Beauty and fashion brands launch products to celebrate White Day

As White Day approaches, beauty and fashion brands are rushing to roll out new products to help men mark the occasion. In Korea, March 14 is White Day, when men usually give candy or gifts to women as a way to thank them for the gifts they received on Valentine’s Day. Italian neoclassical brand Metrocity has launched a crossbody bag to commemorate White Day. The miniature sized bag is described as one that suits young women’s free lifestyle. The square-shaped bag with a catena ch

March 9, 2022

Lee Kun-hee collection exhibition at MMCA extended to April

The exhibition “MMCA Lee Kun-hee Collection: Masterpieces of Korean Art” showing artworks donated by late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee will extend its run for another month to April 13. The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea opened the exhibition on July 21, 2021, presenting some 50 artworks selected from the 23,000 artworks donated by the Lee family last year. The masterpieces by Korea’s modern and contemporary artists have been seen by more than 80,000

March 7, 2022

Young generation takes big part in new type of art investment

Four out of 10 investors who buy small shares of iconic artworks through online platforms in South Korea are young generations, a local auction house said Monday. Among customers who have purchased a share of a single piece of art worth at least 10 million won ($8,100) at a time, 40 percent were in their 20s and 30s, according to Sotwo, an online art investment platform run by Seoul Auction Blue. Sotwo allows individuals to buy shares of specific artworks from 1,000 won and lets them gain procee

March 7, 2022

Architect Lee Jeong-hoon’s rooftop installation at museum wins MMCA Gwacheon Project 2022

Architect Lee Jeong-hoon has won the MMCA Gwacheon Project 2022 for his proposal to create a large-scale architectural installation on the rooftop of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. MMCA Gwacheon Project, an annual contest inaugurated in 2021, is organized by the national art museum to revitalize the Gwacheon venue’s outdoor space. Lee’s proposal to create an open-air canopy composed of a number of pipes, which aims to embo

March 6, 2022

MMCA kicks off open call for collaborative art project for young artists

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea has announced an open call for Project Hashtag 2022, a collaborative art project that aims to discover talented artists and offer an opportunity to exhibit their works. The annual project was initiated in 2019 in partnership with Hyundai Motor to promote interdisciplinary collaboration among artists, writers, researchers and producers from different fields. The project is open to any group of more than two people who are willing to expl

March 4, 2022

Spectacular journey to Alessandro Michele’s world of imagery at ‘Gucci Garden Archetypes’

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Italian fashion brand Gucci’s founding last year, the fashion house has recreated its creative vision and legacy through “Gucci Garden Archetypes,” an immersive and multi-sensory space curated by its creative director Alessandro Michele. Starting with its first showcase in Florence, the traveling exhibition has landed in Seoul, its sixth stop. As mentioned in Michele’s description of the exhibition, the immersive multimedia worl

March 3, 2022

Photographs evoke nostalgia for travel

If you feel like traveling abroad, but have to wait a few more months for the pandemic to subside, a couple of photography exhibitions in town might help you quench your thirst for going abroad. The show “Accidentally Wes Anderson” at Groundseasaw Seongsu in Seoul is a photography exhibition created in collaboration with a global travel community named “Accidentally Wes Anderson,” founded in 2017. Some 300 photographs taken around the world take visitors to all parts

March 1, 2022

Lee Sook-kyung aims to bring Gwangju Biennale to transnational realm next year

Lee Sook-kyung, artistic director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale, will bring a transnational perspective to South Korea’s largest biennale, while maintaining the spirit of Gwangju, a city where the legacy of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising is indelibly etched. Appointed in December as the artistic director for next year’s Gwangju Biennale, Lee is a senior curator of international art at the Tate Modern. “I will reconstruct the ‘spirit of Gwangju’ through a contemporary

Feb. 28, 2022

Lee Jung-jae chosen as global ambassador for Fall-Winter Seoul Fashion Week

Actor Lee Jung-jae has been chosen as the global ambassador for the 2022 Fall-Winter Seoul Fashion Week, according to the show’s organizer, the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Lee will represent two local brands, Eenk and Caruso, and appear in a promotional YouTube video that is slated to be released Friday. The 2022 F/W Seoul Fashion Week will be held March 18-23 in an online-offline hybrid format. It will mark the first time in three years the fashion show will take place offline amid

Feb. 28, 2022

Exhibition showcases how pandemic has reshaped mobility

The exhibition “To you: Move Toward Where You Are” at Arko Art Center in Seoul touches on how the pandemic has influenced the concept of mobility as the yearslong pandemic continues to reduce physical mobility in our daily lives. A total of eight emerging artists and collectives have joined the exhibition; half of those artists are in their 20s or early 30s. Most of the works were newly commissioned for the exhibition with an aim to offer more opportunities to talented young artis

Feb. 28, 2022

Korean-Finnish artist duo Nana & Felix tells lesser-known sides of Seoul

Korean-Finnish artist duo Nana & Felix have picked up photographs of families, someone’s childhood or Christianity quotes kept in a frame from urban detritus. Once considered cherished memories, they were left behind for some reason, probably when people move out of cities. The artists found nearly 200 frames over the past several years in South Korea. At the center of the exhibition hall at Posco Art Museum in Seoul is the photography installation “Camera, Cigarette, Whiskey,

Feb. 26, 2022

Youn Bum-mo reappointed as director of MMCA

Youn Bum-mo, former director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, has been appointed to carry on at his post at the MMCA, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Friday. Youn’s second three-year term starts Friday and runs until 2025, according to the announcement. With an attempt to promote Korean arts in the global scene, Youn has been working with various domestic and global projects. During his previous term, the director published “K

Feb. 25, 2022

[From the Scene] Latest in home furnishings, decorations at Seoul Living Design Fair

With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, life for many has come to a standstill. As people spend more time at home, a growing number of them have turned their eyes to home furnishings and decorations. When South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases hit an all-time high of 171,452 on Wednesday, hundreds visited the Seoul Living Design Fair, the country’s largest annual exhibition for interior and household-related brands, which kicked off its five-day run on the same day at Coex in southern

Feb. 24, 2022

Busan Biennale to open in early September with theme of port city's history

Busan Biennale 2022 will kick off Sept. 3 across Busan with the theme of “We, on the Rising Wave,” exploring the history of the port city located at the southeastern tip of the country. The 65-day biennale will be led by artistic director Kim Hae-ju, a former deputy director of Art Songe Center, who participated in Busan Biennale 2006. The biennale will look into how the country’s second largest city has evolved, according to the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee on Wednesd

Feb. 23, 2022