Busan Biennale 2022 has unveiled the list of participating artists in the upcoming biennale scheduled for September, whose works embodying the turbulent history of the southern port city will be on display across the city. The 65-day biennale, under the theme of ”We, on the Rising Wave,“ will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Pier 1 of Busan Port, the island of Yeongdo and Choryang, a village set up by war refugees during the Korean War (1950-1953) and Koreans who r

Arts & Design July 18, 2022

Herald Artday, a subsidiary of Herald Corp., will host its 2022 Charity Auction on July 27 to help young ethnic Koreans residing overseas build their capacity and expand learning opportunities. Part of the profits generated from the auction will be donated to the Korean youth diaspora project. Some 135 artworks by 90 artists will be put up for the auction, which is scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. on July 27 at Summit Gallery in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. The opening reception for 2022 Chari

Arts & Design July 17, 2022

Long lines formed to see works by US sculptor Tom Sachs when the shows kicked off in late June at Art Sonje Center, Thaddaeus Ropac and Hybe Insight. Exhibitions of the same artist are running simultaneously at three different places across Seoul. Born in 1966, the New York-based artist’s sculptures present twists on contemporary society, culture, politics, and economy. A self-proclaimed guilty consumer living in an age of instant gratification, Sachs questions overconsumption and

Arts & Design July 13, 2022

Influential Korean video artist Paik Nam-june‘s largest video tower, “The More, The Better,” will start operating at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, in September following the completion of a test run last week. “We will most likely resume operation in September to coincide with the exhibition ’The More, The Better Archive,‘” an official from the national museum told The Korea Herald on Monday. The e

Arts & Design July 11, 2022

"Park Seo-bo: ‘Ecriture’" By Rosa Maria Falvo, Lee Jin-joo Rizzoli New York  Painter Park Seo-bo, one of the pioneers of Dansaekhwa, a contemporary art group that emerged in Korea in the 1960s, has emphasized three crucial elements in Dansaekhwa paintings – purposeless action, a repetition exercise in meditation and materiality evolved from the meditation. “Park Seo-bo: ‘Ecriture’” published last month by Rizzoli New York, explores P

Books July 11, 2022

An unprecedented number of galleries from around the world will come together in Seoul in early September for the inaugural Frieze Seoul, Kiaf Seoul and Kiaf Plus, the first joint opening of local and global art fairs in South Korea. Some 350 galleries will participate in Frieze Seoul, Kiaf Seoul and Kiaf Plus -- a satellite art fair of Kiaf Seoul which will feature newer galleries. As part of partnership between Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul, a single ticket will enable visitors to enter both

Arts & Design July 7, 2022

An ink wash painting shows rain coming down through a mostly black-and-white forest. Though a still image, 84-year-old painter Bang Ui-geol’s “Showers I,” seems to bring the misty scene to life, evoking the sounds of heavy raindrops hitting trees and a gurgling valley stream. Bang has devoted his whole life to ink wash paintings, known as “sumukhwa,” that are created with black ink and brush. The different concentrations of black ink create distances and a profoun

Arts & Design July 5, 2022

If you want to see new art this week, visit the galleries of Samcheong-dong, a cozy and renowned neighborhood in central Seoul next to the main palace Gyeongbokgung. New works by conceptual artist Olafur Eliasson, who plays with light and color, are on display at PKM Gallery. The gallery has a restaurant where one can grab some coffee or a meal before or after enjoying works. Right next to PKM Gallery is Barakat Contemporary, where the first solo exhibition by Berlin-based Nevin Aladag, who ha

Arts & Design July 3, 2022

Cultural curator Jung So-ik and art professor Park Kyong will curate South Korea‘s national pavilion at the upcoming 2023 Venice Biennale, Arts Council Korea announced Thursday. It is the first time for Korean Pavilion to have joint curation at the global art biennale. The 18th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from May 18 to Nov. 26 in Venice, Italy, bringing together some 150 exhibitors from 30 countries with the theme of “The Laboratory of the Future,” le

Arts & Design June 30, 2022

The inaugural Frieze Seoul will kick off in early September, bringing together some 110 galleries from 20 countries with special programs amid growing excitement about Seoul’s rise as an Asian art hub. Frieze Seoul is the first Frieze art fair to be held in Asia and the fifth to be launched by the global contemporary art platform. It will take place from Sept. 2 to 5 at Coex in Gangnam, southern Seoul, alongside KIAF, an art fair operated by the Galleries Association of Korea. Some 9

Arts & Design June 30, 2022

Art collector Kim Nam-joon, better known as RM from K-pop band BTS, hinted at opening a space to show his art collection in South Korea during an interview streamed on the Art Basel podcast. “This is my first time actually saying this. But seriously, I am planning to make a small space of my own private collection,” Kim said in an English-language interview on “Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast” released on Tuesday. He was responding to a question about whether the

Arts & Design June 30, 2022

A 3-meter-long folding screen shows a variety of books, fruits and other assorted items on bookshelves. The bright colors -- mainly blue, green and yellow -- are used to depict the items that symbolize prosperity. An old plum tree stretches across the panels of the folding screen. The 19th-century folding screen painting “Chaekgeorido with Plum Blossoms” is on display at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, as part of the exhibition

Arts & Design June 28, 2022

Kwon Chi-gyu delves into the concept of resilience with the belief that as humans, we all have the power to overcome, which is deeply embedded in ourselves. After the yearslong pandemic, people are incrementally returning to normal life, slowly overcoming the unprecedented challenge of a lifetime. Kwon has created sculptures inspired by nature -- more specifically nature in springtime, when the whole world seems to get its vitality back and earn new strength. The inspiration came naturally to

Arts & Design June 27, 2022

When Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, people here needed a way to relieve their grief, even in a sarcastic way. Although it is no longer widely performed, there was the genre of “manyo,” a popular form of folk music in the 1930s. Usually performed by musical troupes at the time, manyo songs generally had comic lyrics set to a melody that belied the sorrow and sarcasm underneath. Bujihwa Arts Company stages “Story Manyo,” a musical performance o

Performance June 26, 2022

The 1950-1953 Korean War claimed the lives of some 5 million people and left the Korean Peninsula split into two. Also known as “6.25 War” in South Korea to remember the date of the war’s outbreak, the Korean War remains an unforgettable pain in the nation’s history. Some 70 years have passed, and the devastating experience and vivid memories of survivors have become art by seven Korean artists at an exhibition titled “Confluence: The way of the Peace.” Taki

Arts & Design June 24, 2022