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....

The exhibition runs through April 24 at Arko Art Center in Jongno-gu, northern Seoul. Established in 1979, the museum is run by Arts Council Korea. Reservations can be made at https://vo.la/LGuo1. By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)

Upon entering a dark room, on the wall hangs a neon installation of the South Korean flag’s taeguk symbol with the words “5000 years of History.” The installation is accompanied by a recording from one of Seoul’s city tour buses. The installation work was inspired when Nybergh’s father rode on a tour bus in Jongno-gu in central Seoul and was “furious” when he found out there was little informati...

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 var...

The other highlight at the fair is the Designers’ Choice section, where designers Kim Hye-jin and Jong Kim are holding exhibitions titled “Walden 2022” and “Con-sol-ation,” respectively, suggesting the industry‘s key trends for this year. Statistics Korea predicted the country’s home furnishing industry to grow to 18 trillion won ($15 billion) by next year. Including home interior and remodeling...

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...

Painter Toh Yun-hee’s Seoul exhibition is celebration of color

The MMCA Hyundai Motor Series, inaugurated in 2014, is sponsored by Hyundai Motor as a project supporting established Korean artists. Selected artists are commissioned to create new works that are then shown at an exhibition at the state museum. Choe is the ninth artist chosen for the MMCA Hyundai Motor Series. Former winners include the artistic duo Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho, Yang Hae-gue...

The organizing committee of international art fair Kiaf Seoul has appointed Koo Ja-yeol, also known as Christopher Koo, as its new chairman. He succeeds Bahk Byong-won, who has led the committee since 2013. Koo, who is also chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, will oversee the direction of the committee and take charge of public activities, including building relationships with...

Among the multicolored “Conjunction” series that he newly showcased is “Conjunction 21-38,” which he completed last year during the pandemic. He used the bae-ap-beop technique, but he integrated blue and white hues to add colorful features. Unlike his early “Conjunction” series where he mainly used dark monochrome colors reminiscent of Korean traditional roof tiles, or giwa, white porcelain or ch...

As an artist whose work encompasses performative elements and textiles, Hong considers “collaboration” as an important notion in her art. However, for Hong, collaboration goes beyond people’s participation in her work. “Collaboration is not about simply joining in to work together. I always think about the process of how my work could change by working with performers and master craftsmen,” she ...

“I have considered communication as very important issue in art. Even little kids can do Body Scape paintings as long as they know the method. I have seen paintings outside of paintings. So I wanted to give it a try. To me, art is not about how technically and sophisticatedly things are created,” Lee said during the press conference. The platform will be an Ethereum-based system, but will adopt ...

Jeong, an installation artist, has explored and questioned the relationship between the human body and robotics or artificial intelligence. Having studied drama and music, she is also a choreographer and combines body movements with performative machines in her exhibitions. Born in 1980, she is the recipient of the 16th Hermes Foundation Missulsang in 2016. The world’s biggest art exhibition wil...

“Kim Swoo-guen began contemporary architecture in Korea. It was a great thing to join his team upon graduating college in 1965,” Kim said. Along with his teacher, Kim took part in designing the Korean Pavilion at Expo 67 held in Montreal, Canada in 1967. The funds raised will go to the Seoul-based Project Management for International Cooporation, which helps vaccinate children in North Korea aga...

“There was a time when I was afraid to make judgments when painting, and rarely worked on painting. But I realized I needed flexibility as an artist,” Moon said. His painting method resembles the impasto technique – a technique first used during the 16th century Renaissance period, in which paint is applied on a surface in very thick layers, maximizing its texture and three-dimensional qualities...