What to expect from art museums in 2026

The Korean art scene is in for a packed 2026, culminating in September, when two major international events, the Gwangju Biennale and Busan Biennale, are held, along with art fair Frieze Seoul 2026.

Survey exhibitions of Korean contemporary artists Suh Do-ho and Koo Jeong-a will also run at the same time.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea will show a comprehensive overview of Suh’s practice from early works to the present. Suh, as an internationally renowned installation artist, has explored themes of home, migration, memory and the relationship between the individual and collective through his translucent fabric replicas of architectural spaces.

Made of silk or polyester, Suh’s life-size structures reveal the idea of “home” as something portable and psychological rather than fixed. The exhibition will start in August, running through Feb. 2027.

Following her presentation in the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, Koo Jeong-a — known for stimulating the imagination through intangible media such as scent, light and magnetic fields — will present her first large-scale museum exhibition at the Leeum Museum of Art. Running from September to December, the exhibition will unfold across unconventional spaces throughout the museum.

Earlier in the year, Hoam Museum of Art in Yongin city, Gyeonggi Province, also run by the Samsung Foundation along with the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, will present the first museum retrospective of Kim Yun-shin, one of the first generation of Korean female sculptors.

Examining Kim’s 70 years as an artist, the exhibition from March to June will trace the 90-year-old artist’s journey through Korea, France and Argentina in search of unity between art and life, and harmony with nature.

“The exhibition will revisit the history of Korean modern sculpture while offering a fresh look at Kim Yoon-shin’s work through the lenses of Asian modernism and global contemporary art,” the museum noted on the exhibition.

Korean modern artists will be featured at the two public museums.

The MMCA's Cheongju venue in North Chungcheong Province, will shed light on Bang Hai-ja, Korean-born artist who spent her life working with light while going back and forth between Seoul and Paris.

Running from April to September, the exhibition will look into the inspiration the artist got through out her life from light and painterly experiments. Bang died in France in 2022, at the age of 85.

The Seoul Museum of Art will present the largest retrospective of Yoo Young-kuk, a pioneering postwar Korean abstract artist. Known for his bold geometric forms and vibrant colors, Kim often drew inspiration from nature, especially mountains. Marking the 110th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the exhibition will reveal some rarely seen paintings by Yoo, according to the museum.

Korea’s two major contemporary art biennales will open in September. The Busan Biennale 2026 will be led by international curators Amal Khalaf and Evelyn Simon with the theme “Dissident Chorus."

Meanwhile, the Gwangju Biennale, now marking three decades since its founding, will be helmed by Singaporean artist and curator Ho Tzu Nyen and explore the transformative power of art.

Several exhibitions by prominent international artists are also scheduled.

American artist Jonas Wood, known for his vividly colored, flat compositions depicting interiors, still lifes, landscapes and sports imagery, will have his first museum exhibition in Asia at the Amorepacific Museum of Art from September to February 2027, bringing together more than 80 works.

A retrospective on English artist Damien Hirst will be held at the MMCA’s Seoul venue, exploring core themes, including death and immortality, and humanity’s faith and desire, from March to June.

Berlin-based artist Tino Sehgal whose site-specific “live art” will be creatively composed using the collection of the Leeum Museum of Art, encouraging audience’s engagement from February to June.

SongEun Art Space in southern Seoul will celebrate its 25th anniversary of the SongEun Art Award at the special exhibition “SongEun x Unboxing Project: SongEun Art Award 25th Anniversary Exhibition,” looking back on the SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation’s longstanding commitment to supporting new Korean contemporary artists in August.