Over the past few weeks, Seoul has been brimming with art exhibitions during Seoul Art Week in early September, which coincided with the city’s two major art fairs, Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul.
It was the perfect time for art lovers to hop from one show to another across the city. For those who wish to continue their art journey this weekend in the season's fresh air, here are a few selected exhibitions.
'Dialogue:Unread' at Hwigyumjae
The exhibition “Dialogue: Unread” at Hwigyumjae, a Korean traditional house designated as Seoul Hanok Cultural Property No. 14, in the Bukchon neighborhood, is a chance to explore 10 emerging Korean artists.
The exhibition touches on the neighborhood's complex history by referencing Japan's colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Media art by Jeong Jae-yeon reflects on personal experiences and public sentiment surrounding the former Government-General of Korea Building -- the Japanese colonial authorities' chief administrative building -- and its demolition.
“Hwigyumjae is a historical site that was owned by a pro-Japanese collaborator, and that context creates a rupture in the narrative of this work,” artist Shin Min said in a statement on her sculptural installations of female figures, titled “Archangels.”
Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Arts Management Service, the annual exhibition was launched in 2019 to foster the mutual growth of promising artists and galleries. The exhibition runs through Monday.
“Ugo Rondinone: in beauty bright” at Gladstone Gallery
Ugo Rondinone’s solo exhibition in Seoul unfolds at Gladstone Gallery in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, featuring 13 new landscape paintings. Each watercolor presents varying arrangements of the same five pastel tones -- pink, blue, yellow, purple and green -- while the compositions are constant, portraying a mountain lake with just four lines.
Born in 1964, Rondinone spent his childhood in the natural surroundings of Switzerland's alpine lakes. His wide-ranging oeuvre often invokes the natural world, yet without adopting naturalism.
“Ugo Rondinone decided which works to show in that exhibition -- it was really centered on the storytelling aspect,” Paula Tsai, a partner at Gladstone Gallery, told The Korea Herald.
The artist had the largest solo exhibition in South Korea at Museum San in 2024, exploring life, death and rebirth through 40 works created over 30 years. The exhibition at Gladstone Gallery runs until Oct. 18.
'UnHouse' at Frieze House Seoul
Frieze House Seoul opened its first exhibition, “UnHouse,” where each room in the space unfolds as a unique narrative, encouraging visitors to explore and step into different perspectives.
Featuring internationally renowned artists engaging with queer perspectives alongside rising Korean voices, the exhibition is organized under four themes: Body/Identity, Space/Power, Relation/Care and Memory/Transmission, presenting layered reflections on the notion of home.
Within a long-deserted residential building, elements such as staircases, tiled windows, corridors and ceilings are woven into the works, inviting audiences to experience home from unexpected angles.
The exhibition features works by Joeun Kim Aatchim, Choi Ha-neyl, Lee Dong-hyun, Anne Imhof, Em Kettner, Dan Kim, Dew Kim, Kim Min-hoon, Rebecca Ness, Catherine Opie, Grim Park, P. Staff, Willa Wasserman and Xiyadie. The exhibition, open until Oct. 2, was curated by Kim Jae-seok and directed by Andy St. Louis.
"In the current Korean context, where discourses on gender, sexuality and the legalization of same-sex marriage have become increasingly volatile, to revisit the concept of home through queerness is not merely symbolic but profoundly political," Kim said in a statement.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
