König Galerie Opens New Location in Seoul’s Gangnam District

The gallery's first exhibition includes works by Katharina Grosse, Norbert Bisky, Friedrich Kunath, and Alicja Kwade.

Berlin's KÖNIG Galerie will open a new location in Seoul, Korea, on Saturday 3 April.

The location will be led by managing director Soo Choi, who worked at her mother's gallery, Park Ryu Sook, for a decade before starting her own gallery, P21, in 2017.

'Many of KÖNIG's artists have not yet been shown in Korea or in Asia even though they are highly recognised in Europe and the U.S.,' Choi said.

They're of a younger generation, she continued, who take 'interdisciplinary and concept-oriented approaches' that make them 'more cutting-edge and progressive' than many foreign artists already introduced to Korea.

The Seoul gallery, which occupies the fifth floor and rooftop terrace of luxury boutique MCM HAUS, will open with a group exhibition featuring over 40 works by 20 artists.

'On the rooftop, we have Alicja Kwade's new sculpture Trans-for-Men (Fibonacci) 5 (2020), that was made specifically for this show,' Choi said. She was also looking forward to showing Jeppe Hein's benches and mirror works, Monica Bonvicini's steel chain sculpture Love (2020), Claudia Comte's painting Turn and Slip 160 magenta (2020), Tatiana Trouvé's wire and light bulb sculpture I tempi doppi (2014), and works by Katharina Grosse, among others.

The gallery's location inside MCM HAUS builds on a relationship that saw KÖNIG TOKIO occupy one floor of the luxury leather goods brand's flagship store in Tokyo from November 2019 until the end of 2020.

Lena and Johann König, co-CEOs of KÖNIG Galerie, said 'KÖNIG and MCM are both rooted in their German origin, but we committed ourselves to actively establish our brands out in the world. Korea has a strong position in the art market, so we are excited to be presenting our program to the Korean audience.'

Founded by Michael Cromer in Munich in 1976, MCM was bought out by Korea's Sungjoo Group in 2005.

KÖNIG Seoul has a hectic first year planned with new exhibitions opening almost every month.

They will show Jorinde Voigt in May, Jeppe Hein in June, Conny Maier in August, Trey Abdella in September, On Kawara & Peter Dreher in October, and Alicja Kwade in November. —[O]