[Herald Interview] Two Korea’s Demilitarized Zone unfolds at Google Arts & Culture

Soon after regaining its sovereignty following 35 years of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was faced with yet another tragedy – a war between the two Koreas in 1950. The war, which broke out as North Korea invaded the South, came to a halt with the Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953. The cease-fire included a 238-kilometer-long military demarcation line with a 2-kilometer-wide buffer zone on each side along the entire length, known as the Demilitarized Zone. The DMZ remains intact,

Feb. 22, 2023

Barakat Contemporary to introduce leading artists at Art Dubai

Seoul-based gallery Barakat Contemporary will participate in Art Dubai 2023 next month, showing leading artists the gallery represents from home and abroad. The five-day event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which launches on March 1, will display works of art from more than 400 artists in 40 countries across four sections: Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba -- meaning "gateway" in Arabic -- and Digital. It is open to the public from March 3 to 5. Among the 72 galleries participating in the

Feb. 21, 2023

Chung Zu-young's 'meteorology' shows contemporary Korean landscape paintings

Gallery Hyundai presents a solo exhibition of Korean painter Chung Zu-young, unveiling the artist’s new painting series inspired by mountains and meteorology. The artist had long been enamored by mountains, but now turns her eye higher to the sky. “Last summer the weather changed dramatically, and it was extremely hot and rainy. I saw a big storm cloud, or maybe a pillar of clouds after it stop raining. It just seemed like a symbolic huge storm cloud with a unique form. I wanted to

Feb. 18, 2023

Art libraries for families, art lovers open in Seoul, Gwacheon

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and Buk-Seoul Museum of Art have reopened their art libraries after renovating and expanding their facilities to invite museum-goers to stay and enjoy the reading spaces. MMCA Gwachon in Gyeonggi Province has run its art library since 1986 with over 6,000 books and archival sources. Resuming its operation on Feb. 13, the museum’s library now holds some 52,800 books and documents on art, with the aim of growing as a library special

Feb. 17, 2023

K-pop singer Eric Nam to headline Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art’s centennial show

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art has announced South Korean singer-songwriter Eric Nam will take the stage as the headline performer at the museum’s centennial celebration in May. The museum was established in 1923 with an initial collection by its founder Charles Lang Freer, of which the collection has grown to some 46,000 artworks. The museum became the first fine art museum to be part of a Smithsonian institution in Washington, DC in 1923. In celebration of the museu

Feb. 17, 2023

Christie's, Seoul Auction bring together prominent Korean works in Seoul

Christie’s and Seoul Auction will put up prominent Korean works for auction, unveiling them to the public during the preview session in February at the auctioneers’ spaces in Seoul. The British auctioneer will present a white porcelain moon jar from the 18th century Joseon era, owned by a Japanese collector. The porcelain is expected to sell for between $1 million to $2 million. A moon jar is known as the representative type of porcelain from the Joseon era, made from two separate pi

Feb. 16, 2023

London's V&A Museum offers digital Paik Nam-june experience

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London will present “Meet again The More, The Better,” an interactive display that walks visitors through how Korea-born video art pioneer Paik Nam-June created the giant video tower “The More, The Better." The interactive display will be offered at a drop-in event held from Wednesday to Friday at the museum as well as on the official website of the museum. The interactive artwork “Meet again The More, The Better” was created

Feb. 15, 2023

Whistle gallery intrigues audiences with works that push boundaries

What is interesting about art is that a piece can be interpreted in a multitude of different ways that depend on the viewer. Whistle, an emerging gallery in Yongsan, Seoul, has opened the show “Approximation,” presenting three Korean female artists -- sculptor Hwang Sue-yon, painter Kim Ji-pyeong and painter Yang Ja-zoo -- whose works provoke interesting ideas. “As viewers, we have our own sense of interpreting artworks, which never perfectly aligns with the artist’s idea

Feb. 14, 2023

Korea Foundation helps introduce Korean contemporary artists to world

Korean contemporary art will be showcased at 10 overseas institutes in six countries, promoted by the Korea Foundation, including some in Europe and US that will present Korean contemporary art for the first time. The Guggenheim Museum in New York will shed light on South Korean experimental art from the 1960s to the 1970s in September in collaboration with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. Known as “silheom misul” in Korea, experimental art started to emer

Feb. 12, 2023

Genderless goes mainstream in luxury fashion sector

Singer-songwriter Harry Styles on Sunday wowed the audience of the 2023 Grammy Awards red carpet event when he appeared with his gender-fluid, rainbow harlequin-pattern jumpsuit adorned with Swarovski crystals. Gender fluid, genderless, agender, unisex -- these words have all been sweeping the fashion sector. South Korean fashion icons and TV stars, although not as daring as Styles, are gradually embracing this latest fashion concept as well, widely impacting the local retail scene. Actor Lee Ju

Feb. 8, 2023

Gwangju Biennale announces artists, commissioned works to be unveiled in April

The 14th Gwangju Biennale, scheduled to begin April 17 under the theme of "Soft and weak like water," will be joined by 79 artists from across the world. More than 40 works were commissioned for Asia's oldest contemporary art biennale. The 94-day biennale will take place at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall in Gwangju, the main exhibition space of the biennale, as well as at venues throughout the city including Gwangju National Museum, Horanggasy Artpolygon, Mugaksa and Artsp

Feb. 8, 2023

Avant-garde artist Lee Seung-taek gets spotlight in New York at 90

Canal Projects, a nonprofit contemporary art institution in New York, has opened the show “Seung-Taek Lee: Things Unstable" to celebrate the pioneering South Korean avant-garde artist. Lee has been a representative figure in Korean avant-garde art since the 1960s, contributing to the introduction of conceptual art to the local art scene decades ago. The Canal Projects show presents 17 works by Lee, focusing on the artist’s signature concepts of “non-material,” &ldquo

Feb. 7, 2023

Rivers flow freely between two Koreas at Pace Gallery

American artist Maya Lin wears many hats. She is an installation artist, sculptor, architect and sometimes an environmental activist. Visually beautiful, her works engage in dialogue and hold value in nature. Recent works by the globally acclaimed artist were unveiled at Pace Gallery in Seoul's “Nature Knows No Boundaries” exhibition, running through March 11, inviting viewers to reflect on the history of the Korean Peninsula as well as how climate change is eroding the globe. F

Feb. 6, 2023

Korea Foundation looks for print artists to join Chiang Mai residency program

Korea Foundation and the ASEAN Foundation are inviting five contemporary Korean artists to take part in the inaugural "Konnect ASEAN – Chiang Mai Print Residency for Korean artists," which will take place in northern Thailand's Chiang Mai. The monthlong program that will start in July is to provide access to print studios, public programs and other promotional activities for print artists while they work in the city. The residency program will promote collaboration and netwo

Feb. 4, 2023

German artist Anne Imhof delivers hope for youth at Coex K-Pop Square every night

South Korea’s landmark illuminated billboard in southern Seoul will present “Youth” by acclaimed German artist Anne Imhof every day at 8:23 p.m. throughout the month, inspiring young people to hold out hope despite frustrating situations. The presentation is scheduled to kick off at 8:23 p.m. on Friday at Coex K-Pop Square in Gangnam, Seoul, which is the largest light-emitting diode billboard in the country. The work will also be shown at 8:23 p.m. in Hong Kong, London, Berlin,

Feb. 3, 2023

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's dark humor unfolds at Leeum Museum of Art

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan -- one of the most controversial contemporary artists -- is having his first show in Korea at Leeum Museum of Art. His humorous yet satirical works have grabbed attention globally, and his recent conceptual art involving a banana titled “Comedian,” on show at Leeum, is sure to provoke questions about the contemporary art scene such as what constitutes art and what conceptual art is. “Comedian,” a banana duct-taped to a wall, stirred up c

Jan. 30, 2023

Takashi Murakami's 'kawaii' art reflects human yearning for religion

BUSAN -- Japanese leading contemporary artist Takashi Murakami showed up in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan for his first exhibition in the country in 10 years. Inspired by Japan’s “otaku” subculture, his art may look bright and “kawaii,” cute in Japanese, at first glance. However, its content is more profound than what first meets the eye. Otaku is a Japanese word that refers to people with an obsessive interest in particular subjects such as animat

Jan. 29, 2023

[Herald Interview] Park Min-joon’s art blurs reality, fiction

The two paintings by Sapierre featured in the novel “Two of Flags" are on show at Gallery Hyundai's exhibition of works by Park Min-joon, a fiction come to life. The novel, written by Park, tells the story of painter Sapierre who wanted to bring to life the figures in his paintings. His ambition and deathly efforts result in two paintings from which a boy named Ain springs out. The boy, asleep for 600 years, finally opens his eyes. The story refers to the fictional artist’s

Jan. 26, 2023

Thaddaeus Ropac presents first group show of Korean and Korean diaspora artists

The leading international gallery Thaddaeus Ropac has brought together a group of Korean and Korean diaspora artists to Seoul as its first exhibition of the year. The show is a first group show that focuses on art that shares the cultural context of Korea. The exhibition, titled “Myths of Our Time,” highlights the narratives drawn by the three female artists of Korean ethnicity whose works hold diverse cultural contexts “reimagined through a contemporary lens to address urgent

Jan. 21, 2023

Korea's art auction market led by Lee U-fan, Yayoi Kusama

The Korean art auction market saw a downturn last year, after sales reached a record high in 2021, but was buffered by two artists -- Korean artist Lee U-fan and Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama -- whose works saw the greatest popularity in the country’s auction markets, a recent report by Korean Art Authentication and Appraisal showed. Auction market sales fell 34.2 percent last year compared to 2021, while works by the two art masters saw steady popularity. Kusama’s “Statue of

Jan. 20, 2023