The Gwangju Biennale 2024 will be held under the title “Pansori -- a soundscape of the 21st century,” led by French director Nicolas Bourriaud. "Pansori," a form of Korean traditional musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer, will be a metaphor of the overarching theme for the 15th edition of the biennale. Bourriaud will explore the concept of space correlating to sound, spurring a discussion about our changing senses and perceptions of space. Literally mean

Arts & Design June 26, 2023

Indoor climbing in the heart of Seoul The rainy season is approaching, but rock climbers still have options. Damjang gym, located in Eulji-ro, Seoul is a minimalist bouldering gym with creatively designed routes suitable for climbers of all levels. If you are trying indoor climbing for the first time, join a newcomers' group and receive an hour of instruction from a professional trainer to learn the basics. Regular classes are also available, where experienced instructors teach bouldering t

Culture June 23, 2023

Some 210 galleries from 20 countries will be participating in South Korea’s long-running international art fair Kiaf Seoul this year. The 22nd edition will kick off on Sept. 6 at Coex, southern Seoul along with global art fair Frieze Seoul. Galleries joining the fair for the first time include Denny Gallery and The Hole in New York, Galerie Marguo in Paris, Galerie Thomas in Munich, Lucie Chang Fine Arts in Hong Kong, Tuesday to Friday in Valencia and Triumph Gallery in Beijing. Some leadi

Arts & Design June 21, 2023

Korean artist Woo Hannah has been chosen to receive the inaugural Artist Award at Frieze Seoul, part of the global art fair’s curated program of special projects and collaborations, ahead of its upcoming second edition in September. Woo’s winning commission, “The Great Ballroom,” is a large-scale fabric installation that conveys the changes of the human body. It will be installed at Coex in Seoul, suspended from the ceiling during the art fair. Frieze Seoul will take pl

Arts & Design June 20, 2023

Hanyang University Museum currently has on display a solo exhibition introducing the work of architect Kim Jae-kyung, an associate professor at Hanyang University in Seoul and director of the JK-AR architecture practice. Kim's work explores how legacies of East Asia’s wooden architecture can be applied in contemporary ways. Kim has delved into East Asia’s wooden architecture, comparing the styles of Korea, Japan and China, and came to focus on the structure of brackets – &

Culture June 19, 2023

Painter Kim Bo-hie's solo exhibition at the Kumho Museum of Art in 2020 drew a huge crowd after her paintings went viral on social media. People formed long lines just to get into the museum in search of some comfort from her work, which depicts the nature of Jeju Island. The exhibition earned her popularity among a wider audience. In the latest exhibition, “Towards,” at Gallery Baton in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, the 71-year-old artist introduces her newest paintings that port

Arts & Design June 18, 2023

The National Museum of Korea has opened its fourth thematic exhibition featuring elements of international cultural heritage, unveiling gems from ancient Greece and Rome. The 126 antiquities pieces on display are from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The exhibition, “Separate But Inseparable: Mythology and Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome,” opened Thursday and runs through May 30, 2027. The collection includes a Roman portrait of Gaius Julius Caesar estimated to be from be

Arts & Design June 18, 2023

Giant, surreal stone cafe in Daelim-dong Lostone, a four-story cafe in Daelim-dong, Seoul, offers a unique spacial experience beyond just visiting a cafe for a cup of coffee. Lostone is an abbreviation of “lost stone.” Dozens of giant stone pieces make up part of the wall on each floor, creating a unique atmosphere. The cafe building took three years to come together. Inspired by oddly formed rocks and strangely shaped stones frequently seen in Korean and Chinese landscape paintings,

Culture June 16, 2023

Artist Huh Hwe-tae’s solo exhibition “Huh Hwe-Tae: The Path of Flowers I Found” kicks off Wednesday at Gallery Is in Insadong, Seoul. Huh claims to be the inventor of the art style known as “emography,” a portmanteau of the words "emotion" and "calligraphy." The term “emography” itself was coined by Ryu Young-hak, an art critic and independent curator based in Seoul, after viewing Huh’s calligraphic works in Germany in 2016, acc

Arts & Design June 13, 2023

The Korean premiere of documentary film "Ennio: The Maestro" will take place at Seoul Art Cinema on Wednesday evening as part of Fare Cinema, an event aimed at promoting Italian films around the world. Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul and Jinjin Pictures, the local distributor of the film, are co-hosting the premiere. The documentary film was helmed by Oscar-winning Italian film director Giuseppe Tornatore, the director of 1988 classic "Cinema Paradiso," to celebrate the

Film June 12, 2023

People visit the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province on Friday to see the exhibition, “Seasons - Lee Kun-hee Collection: Modern and Contemporary Korean Art,” unveiled on Thursday featuring modern paintings donated by late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. Forty-six paintings on display are part of collection of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, donated by Lee. The exhibition also includes other collections from state museums, showing 90 ar

Arts & Design June 9, 2023

The Kumho Museum of Art has been showcasing South Korea's emerging young artists through the "Kumho Young Artist" exhibition since 2004. Organized by the Kumho Cultural Foundation, this annual art exhibition features a selection of six artists each year, with their works presented in two consecutive shows. In the second session of the "Kumho Young Artist" exhibition, artists Lee Hee-joon, Lim No-sik and Hyun Seung-eui have unveiled their works across the museum. The exhi

Arts & Design June 9, 2023

Hong Kong waffles at Ikseon-dong hanok village It would be a perfect weather this weekend to stroll around the maze-like hanok village at Ikseon-dong in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. The narrow alleys that run through this cluster of traditional houses are paced with hip cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops. Among the cafes is Iksun Jutaek, literally meaning Iksun house, which offers Hong Kong-style bubble waffles. Bubble waffles, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, are a common street sna

Culture June 9, 2023

White Cube, one of the world’s leading galleries, will open in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, which will become the gallery's second space in Asia after Hong Kong. The space will be unveiled this fall, the gallery announced Thursday. The gallery will be located in Sinsa-dong, close to Dosan Park and other cultural institutions such as the SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation and the nonprofit Atelier Hermes gallery. The gallery space is located in a ceramic-encased building, which is also

Arts & Design June 9, 2023

Thaddaeus Ropac Seoul will expand its current space in the Fort Hill building in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, doubling the exhibition space with the addition of a ground-floor gallery, the European gallery announced Thursday. The gallery opened its first space in Asia in October 2021 to expand its presence in the Asian market. Austrian gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac has been running galleries for 40 years, operating spaces in Salzburg, London, Paris and Seoul. The gallery represents more than 60 art

Arts & Design June 9, 2023