Kiaf SEOUL Reaches for International Audiences
The fair will start off September with gallery nights, on‑site gallery booths and curated exhibitions, and a robust talks programme. Save to My Ocula
A strong list of newcomers and international representatives are joining Korea’s leading contemporary art fair as it kicks off in the heart of Seoul next month.
Kiaf SEOUL 2025 will gather 175 exhibitors from over 20 countries and territories for a panoramic presentation of gallery booths, special exhibitions, panel discussions, collaborations, and off-site events.
The main Galleries section unfolds on the first floor of COEX from 3 to 7 September, with highlights including Gallery Shilla (Daegu)’s solo presentation of works by the Seoul-based art and technology collective Kimchi & Chips; a group presentation of Anish Kapoor, Candida Höfer, Daniel Boyd, Ha Chong-Hyun, Haegue Yang, Kim Yun Shin, Park Seo-Bo, and Ugo Rondinone at Kukje Gallery (Seoul); works by Antony Gormley and Lee Ufan at 313ARTPROJECT (Seoul); and a selection of works by modern masters Pablo Picasso, André Masson, and Pierre Alechinsky at Die Galerie (Frankfurt am Main).
Joining them are leading Korean galleries BHAK, Gallery Hyundai, Gana Art, Hakgojae Gallery, Johyun Gallery, and Wooson Gallery, as well as international exhibitors Choi & Choi, Galerie Marguo, Galerie Vazieux, Lazy Mike, JARILAGER Gallery, Kornfeld Galerie, Sundaram Tagore, Tang Contemporary Art, Whitestone Gallery, and Yumiko Chiba Associates.
Kiaf SEOUL has traditionally held a strong domestic presence, reflecting its enduring role as a global platform for contemporary Korean art. The international composition of this year’s 21 first-time participants, however, reveals a commitment to a growing global audience. Those newcomers include NUMBER 1 GALLERY (Bangkok); h-u-e (Busan); Art of Nature Contemporary (Hong Kong); Primo Marella Gallery (Milan); SISTEMA GALLERY (Moscow); and LWArt (Tokyo).
Sunghoon Lee, President of the Galleries Association of Korea, spoke of the strengthened selection process seen this year.
‘Kiaf is focusing on improving the quality of exhibition content and refining the selection of participating galleries, to continue our mission of elevating the strongest selection of both international and Korean art to our global audience,’ he said.
The curated Kiaf PLUS Section, now in its fourth year, features 19 emerging galleries across the fair’s main exhibition halls. Participants include Seoul-based galleries La Heen and THEO, alongside first-time exhibitors The Bridge Gallery (Paris) and hide gallery (Tokyo). The third Kiaf HIGHLIGHTS Awards, dedicated to emerging artists, will each award 10 million KRW (around 7,200 USD) to three winners on 3 September in recognition of their ‘innovation, identity, conceptual rigor, and artistic excellence’.
Some of the semi-finalists for this year’s Kiaf HIGHLIGHTS include Ahra Kim at Kimreera Gallery (Seoul); Donghoon Rhee at Gallery SP (Seoul); Grim Park at THEO (Seoul); Sejin Hong at Gallery PLANET (Seoul); and YU Xiao at Lucie Chang Fine Arts (Hong Kong). Their works will appear on media facades throughout Seoul before and during the fair.
Meanwhile, Kiaf SEOUL’s curated special exhibitions return this year with Reverse Cabinet, a group exhibition curated by Yuli Yoon, Chief Curator at Ilmin Museum of Art and Co-Director of the curatorial platform WESS in Seoul, and Tomoya Iwata, Co-Director of the Tokyo-based alternative space The 5th floor. Commemorating the 60th anniversary of Korean-Japan diplomatic relations, the exhibition explores the ways contemporary Korean and Japanese artists interpret and respond to their cultural contexts.
At studio159, on the second floor of COEX, Kiaf SEOUL will present a three-day long talks programme in collaboration with Frieze Seoul and the Korea Arts Management Service. The 9 panel discussions are free and open to the public, offering insights on salient topics in contemporary art discourse. These include socially engaged art in Asia, the use of archival materials by queer Asian artists as means of resistance and the ever-growing implications of AI in art.
The first week of September in Seoul is expected to be packed with both Kiaf SEOUL and Frieze Seoul running simultaneously and exhibitions at galleries, museums, institutions, and cultural spaces across the city. For those wanting to gain a head start, Gallery Nights (2–4 September) will see galleries and institutions in Hannam, Cheongdam, and Samcheong districts extend their hours for additional viewing and events. —[O]
Main image: Kiaf SEOUL 2024, COEX, Seoul (4–8 September 2024). Courtesy Kiaf SEOUL.
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