Ocula’s Guide to Navigating Seoul Art Week

The art world descends on South Korea this month for Frieze, Kiaf SEOUL (4–8 September), and the Busan and Gwangju Biennales.

Celebrating this coming together, Seoul‘s leading galleries and museums are presenting an exceptional array of shows. The challenge is to map out an itinerary to see as much as possible. This will include navigating three consecutive gallery nights in Hannam, Samcheong, and Cheongdam (3–5 September).

With the right apps downloaded (Naver Maps in lieu of Google, TADA for taxi cabs, and Subway Korea) and a burning desire to see the best exhibitions, sailing through Seoul’s contemporary art scene in a few days is absolutely possible.

Getting in early and going beyond Seoul

Those wanting to make the most of Korea’s contemporary art scene should make a side trip to see the Busan Biennale (17 August–20 October). Directed by Philippe Pirotte and Vera Mey, this year’s edition draws upon 18th-century pirate utopias and the philosophy of Buddhist Enlightenment.

Back in Seoul, we recommend a visit to SFactory for The Preview Seongsu (31 August–3 September), a young art fair representing up-and-coming galleries and artists in Korea, and Arko Art Center for a major group exhibition of sculptures by 16 Korean women artists (19 July–8 September).

Head to Space K Seoul for Kylie Manning‘s ethereal paintings (9 August–11 November); GALLERY2 for Episode II: Home and Away, a group show of young British figurative painters co-presented with Matt Carey-Williams (29 August–28 September); and Whitestone Gallery for Kohei Kyomori‘s paintings probing the culture of decoration and foray into installation work (31 August–13 October). Do check opening times before you head out though, as not everything may be open on Sunday and Monday.

For those seeking some respite from the busyness of Seoul, Ho-Am Art Museum in Yongin opens Nicolas Party‘s solo show on 31 August, or head north to the DMZ area for DMZ OPEN Exhibition: Passage, opening on 30 August. Co-curated by Sunjung Kim and Sun A Moon, the exhibition spans three venues and showcases works by 12 artists, primarily of Korean descent, with generous outdoor presentations.

Finally, while most art spaces in Seoul are closed on Monday, DOOSAN Gallery is hosting a preview of Sinae Yoo‘s solo exhibition on 2 September ahead of its official commencement on Wednesday.

Tuesday 3 September: Hannam, Itaewon, and Hangangro

The adjacent Itaewon and Hannam are arguably the two most famous neighbourhoods in Seoul for their nightlife and eclectic international cuisine. Since the mid-2010s, they have also become home to some of the most exciting contemporary art spaces in Korea and on 3 September, many of these galleries are extending their hours as part of Gallery Night Hannam.

Our suggested route is to start in Hannam and travel westward for exhibitions in Itaewon and Hangangro. Thaddaeus Ropac is showing two solo exhibitions of Sean Scully and Georg Baselitz, while Gallery Baton shows Doki Kim‘s sound-responsive installations and paraffin sculptures.

A six-minute walk down the road is Various Small Fires, showing Alex Foxton‘s paintings. From VSF, travel north for solo presentations of Seoul Kim at ThisWeekendRoom and Kim Denim (Kim Jean) at Studio Concrete, or towards Hangangjin station for Muyeong Kim at the independence space Amado Art Space. Pace Gallery is also in this area, but you will need to return the following day to catch the opening of Wang Guangle’s solo show and the joint exhibition of Lee Ufan and Mark Rothko, curated by Lee in collaboration with the Rothko family.

In Itaewon, start at Lehmann Maupin, showing Nari Ward, then head for Esther Schipper showing Tomasz Kręcicki; P21, showing Keem Jiyoung; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, showing Sam Falls at P21’s former location just two minutes away; Whistle, showing a collaborative group exhibition with three Asia Pacific galleries; and KÖNIG GALERIE, inaugurating their new Seoul space with works by 25 artists.

In Hangangro, which is around 15 minutes by car from Itaewon, Gagosian is presenting Derrick Adams’ latest body of work at the project space APMA Cabinet, with the opening taking place from 3 to 6 pm. Presented next-door at Amorepacific Museum of Art is Elmgreen & Dragset: Spaces, heralding the Scandinavian duo’s largest exhibition in Asia to date. Spaces follows the artists’ ongoing use of subversive spatial interventions with installations that include a 140 square-metre single-family home, an empty public pool, and a restaurant.

An eight-minute walk from the Amorepacific Museum is the second branch of CYLINDER, whose booth won the inaugural Frieze Seoul Stand Prize last year. This fall, CYLINDER TWO is pairing Jang Jongwan‘s paintings of idyllic landscapes populated with alien and anthropomorphic creatures with Saelia Aparicio‘s depictions of sinuous hybrid forms in the aptly titled Alice, Still in Wonderland.

Wednesday 4 September: Samcheong, Bukchon, and Gwanghwamun

With Frieze and Kiaf opening to VIPs on 4 September, those less inclined to compete for space at COEX may wish to spend the entire day in Samcheong-dong for its concentration of galleries, museums, cafes, eateries, and gift shops. Competition for seating might be dire, but a handful of galleries also have their own cafes and restaurants so there should be enough refreshment and shade to last into the evening.

Certainly a highlight of this area is MMCA Seoul, the city’s major institutional museum. Currently on view is Connecting Bodies: Asian Women Artists, an exhibition which presents around 60 artists, including Atsuko Tanaka, Bharti Kher, Cao Fei, Jung Kangja, He Changyo, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Yayoi Kusama, and Yoko Ono. A talk co-hosted by Kiaf, Korea Arts Management Service, and Frieze on Asian feminisms on 5 September at COEX is an excellent event to consider in relation to this.

If you are attending the fair that day, then no doubt you will want to be heading to Samcheong as evening arrives for Gallery Night Samcheong. The perfect place to start the night off is Samcheong-ro, the main street on the eastern side of Gyeongbok Palace. On view at Peres Projects are newest canvases by Anton Munar; John Pai’s seemingly weightless sculptures made from welded steel at Gallery Hyundai; and a varied exploration of the painted image by seven young Korean artists at Kumho Museum of Art.

Stay on the street for I Thought I Lost It at Hakgojae Gallery, a three-person exhibition featuring Oum Jeongsoon, Ding Yi, and Chiharu Shiota, and solo presentations of Kyungah Ham and Michael Joo at Kukje Gallery. Kukje Gallery will also present a discussion between Haegue Yang, Mami Kataoka, and Art Review‘s Mark Rappolt at 8 pm.

At Barakat Contemporary is Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s first solo exhibition in Korea, accompanied by the artist’s lecture performance Natq beginning at 6 pm. PKM Gallery is showing works by first-generation Korean abstract painter Yoo Youngkuk, some of which have never been exhibited, with a live performance by Bek Hyunjin at 7:30 pm.

Also not to be missed is Bukchon, the area overlapping Samcheong-dong and Gahoe-dong that is famous for its picturesque hanok (traditional Korean-style house). Among Bukchon’s residents are Gallery Chosun, showing Bona Park‘s insightful videos and installation contemplating friendship among women; Art Sonje Center, showing Do Ho Suh‘s exhibition with an outdoor screening of the artist’s documentary films at 7:30 pm; and Baik Art, showing Kim Joon’s sound installations drawing from his archives of natural sounds.

While Hwigyeomjae is not an art space, the hanok is worth visiting for its current presentation of DIALOGUE: I Am Because We Are, a group exhibition of seven Korean artists—Yoon Hyangro, Ram Han, Lee Byungho, among others—exploring concepts of humanness and interconnectedness. FUTURA SEOUL is showing Refik Anadol’s Echoes of the Earth : Living Archive, but it opens on 5 September. Nearby, recent works by Subodh Gupta and Lee Dongwook are on view at ARARIO GALLERY from 11 am, with openings taking place at 7 pm as part of Gallery Night Samcheong.

From here, take a walk in Yeollin Songhyeon Square, a welcoming piece of green in the midst of the city currently populated with sculptures as part of the Seoul Sculpture Festival (2 September–15 November), or venture farther north to see Minouk Lim‘s new, wall-based works made from paint, terracotta powder, cuttlefish bones, and found objects at BB&M, and Linn Meyers’ new paintings and Urs Fischer‘s sculptural and painted works spanning fourteen years at Jason Haam.

Another alternative would be to travel south to Gwanghwamun, where Ilmin Museum of Art is concurrently holding three solo exhibitions of recent works by mid-career Korean artists Bek Hyunjin, Cha Jeamin, and Kim Minae. At Sehwa Museum of Art, James Rosenquist: Universe is the late artist’s first major retrospective exhibition in Korea, encompassing works from the 1960s to the 2010s.

The walk from Sehwa Museum of Art to the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) is rewarding for the trees, bakeries, and the beautiful stone-wall path along the way. On view at the main branch of SeMA is At the end of the world split endlessly, part of the museum’s major exhibition series ‘Omnibus’—featuring works by Korean artists including Bae Yoon Hwan, Haegue Yang, Hong Seung-Hye, and Lee Bul—and Toward the Soul-Stirring Wind, the centennial exhibition of pioneering Korean woman artist Chun Kyung Ja.

For those with an interest in independent spaces in Seoul, the nearby neighbourhood of Euljiro is the place to be. PS Center features duo solo exhibitions by Chung Hyun and Goyoson. Around the corner, 55ooofff is showing Pleasure of Fugue, a group exhibition about intervals and elements of fugue, while at next-door, N/A is showing works by Alex Margo Arden, Steve Bishop, Jin Han Lee, Kiki Xuebing Wang, among others, in a group exhibition titled Vampire Problem?

A ten-minute walk from these two spaces is Jungganjijeom, an artist-run exhibition currently showing Hyeree Ro’s sculptural and moving image exploration of the concept of credits. The exhibition, also titled Credits, continues with Jieun Uhm’s works at Jungganjijeon II in Seochon—another area known for independent spaces—but you may have to come back as it only opens on Fridays and the weekends.

Thursday 5 September: Gangnam and Anicka Yi at Leeum Museum, Itaewon

Contemporary art galleries are scattered throughout Gangnam District, home to the fashionable, upscale neighbourhoods of Apgujeong and Cheongdam, and the famous COEX. On Gallery Night Cheongdam, participants including 333 Gallery, Lee Eugean Gallery, gallery NoW, SH Gallery, and White Cube Seoul will extend their hours into the night for artist talks and parties.

Around ten minutes by walk from COEX is THEO, showing Grim Park‘s paintings that reflect on self-identity; at SEOJUNG ART, located five minutes by car from THEO, eight artists explores the various bodies of the artistic object.

In Apgujeong and Cheongdam, expect to find Gabriel Orozco‘s reframing of the everyday in his paintings and works on paper at White Cube Seoul; Jason Boyd Kinsella‘s cubic portraits at Perrotin; Kim Heecheon‘s new video work delving into the instability of human existence at Atelier Hermès; and Tina Braegger’s paintings at Duarte Sequeira, co-presented with Berlin’s SOCIÉTÉ.

Anicka Yi b. 1971, South Korea Follow +

Notable highlights in the area also include the solo presentations of Joan Jonas at Gladstone Gallery; Sueyon Hwang at G Gallery; Guillermo Lorca at Tang Contemporary Art; Sterling Ruby at Shinsegae Gallery Cheongdam; and Honggoo Kang at ONE AND J. Gallery, as well as a group exhibition of over 60 works by 20 artists—Lucas Arruda, Marlene Dumas, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Hammons, Julie Mehretu, Luc Tuymans, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye—from the Pinault Collection at SONGEUN.

After the fairs, if you haven’t managed to catch it at a preview already, it will be refreshing to return to Itaewon for Anicka Yi‘s solo presentation at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (5 September–29 December). Considered one of the most important and groundbreaking contemporary artists, the Seoul-born, New York-based artist will present her latest body of work, alongside seminal artworks from the past 15 years.

Other practical tips

The subway has lockers in each station, accessible via T locker. What’s great about this app is that it allows you to check on availability remotely, as well as the location of lockers—a useful feature when commuting to mega-tourist sites like Samcheong.

You may also find CATCH TABLE useful for making reservations at cafes and restaurants, and Discover Seoul Pass, which comes with a transportation card and free admission to more than 70 attractions in the city. —[O]

Main image: Do Ho Suh, Secret Garden (2012). Mixed media, single-channel digital animation, and display case with LED lighting. 78.35 x 70.87 x 32.28 inches (with display case). © Do Ho Suh. Courtesy the artist; Lehmann Maupin, New York/London/Seoul; and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. Photo: Jeon Taeg Su.