Featured Articles - K-ARTNOW
Featured Articles
Delivering Diverse Perspectives and Stories of Korean Contemporary Art

Latest Articles

Museum_Art Voice What the Damien Hirst Exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Means: The Museum's ‘After Symbolic Capital’ The Damien Hirst exhibition held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art carries a meaning that goes beyond that of a typical exhibition of a famous overseas artist. It is an event that introduces a single artist, but at the same time it serves as an occasion to reconsider how the system of contemporary art operates today and what role a national museum should play within that structure
2026.03.17

Made possible by

Art Focus

Key news on Korean contemporary art, clearly and thoughtfully delivered.

Art Spectrum

Introducing the latest trends and diverse movements in Korean contemporary art.
The One & Only Place
Where Korean Contemporary Art
Meets the World Every Moments
Join for Newsletters

& limited access to news & exhibitions

Follow Us on Social Media

Art Voice

Critical discourse and voices on key issues in the Korean contemporary art scene.
Museum_Art Voice What the Damien Hirst Exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Means: The Museum's ‘After Symbolic Capital’

The Damien Hirst exhibition held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art carries a meaning that goes beyond that of a typical exhibition of a famous overseas artist. It is an event that introduces a single artist, but at the same time it serves as an occasion to reconsider how the system of contemporary art operates today and what role a national museum should play within that structure

2026.03.17
Art+_Art Voice The “Korea Artist Prize” at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art: What Is at Stake? Institutional Representation, Public Accountability, and International Strategy

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), in partnership with the SBS Foundation, has announced the shortlisted artists for the “Korea Artist Prize 2026”

2026.02.24
Art+_Art Voice Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Nam June Paik’s Passing: Rethinking Korea Today, Nam June Paik and the Whitney Biennial Seoul 1993

The year 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Nam June Paik (1932–2006). Long before the emergence of the World Wide Web, Paik envisioned a globally networked society. In 1974, he began conceptualizing Electronic Superhighway, anticipating the cultural and social transformations that digital networks would bring. As early as 1964, he introduced Robot K-456, bringing the relationship between humans and machines into the realm of artistic experimentation.

2026.01.27
Art+_Art Voice Where Is Korea’s Contemporary Art Support System Headed? A Cultural Policy Obsessed with Results

President Lee Jae-myung recently emphasized that “in the international society of the 21st century, culture is at the core of national prestige and national power,” adding that “even an additional supplementary budget should be arranged if necessary to restore and strengthen the foundations of culture and the arts.”

2026.01.20
Art+_Art Voice Korean Contemporary Art: Who Produces the Discourse?

In recent years, Korean contemporary art has no longer remained on the periphery of the global art world. Korean artists are continuously invited to major biennials and international museums, and in terms of both form and subject matter, Korean contemporary art has increasingly demonstrated the ability to respond to global artistic standards.

2026.01.06
Art Fair_Art Voice Frieze and Kiaf Agree to a Five-Year Extension: Partnership or Dependence? Kiaf’s Challenge on the Path to Becoming a Global Art Fair

The partnership between Frieze Seoul and Kiaf SEOUL has been extended for an additional five years. Approved with near-unanimous support at an extraordinary general meeting of the Galleries Association of Korea, the decision represents more than a simple contract renewal. It signals how the association—which oversees and operates Kiaf—currently understands and positions the structure of the art fair within Korea’s art ecosystem.

2025.12.23

Art Insights

Providing insightful perspectives and in-depth analysis of Korean contemporary art.
Art Theory_Art Insight The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary and the Future of Korean Contemporary Art (4): How the ‘Deferral of Judgment’ Operates in Actual Works and Exhibitions

When discussing the conditions of the post-contemporary, the first thing to guard against is the misunderstanding that it refers to a new style or a fashionable label. As discussed in the previous essays, the issue at stake is not the declaration of a new

2026.03.10
Art Theory_Art Insight The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary and the Future of Korean Contemporary Art (3): Structural Transformation of the Korean Contemporary Art Ecosystem

The current crisis of contemporary art cannot be explained by stagnation in production or exhaustion of imagination. Countless exhibitions and projects continue to be organized, and new formal strategies and critical concerns consistently emerge.

2026.02.24
Art Theory_Art Insight The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary and the Future of Korean Contemporary Art (2): After the Deferral of Value Judgment, How Non-Essential Criteria Replace Artistic Evaluation

Contemporary art is frequently discussed today through the language of crisis. This crisis is often framed as a loss of meaning: the claim that contemporary art has nothing new to say, that critique has become repetitive

2026.02.10
Art Theory_Art Insight The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary and the Future of Korean Contemporary Art (1): The Mode of Meaning Production in Contemporary Art and the “Deferral of Value Judgment”

The term “The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary” is not intended to declare the arrival of a new era. Rather, it functions as an analytical concept designed to bring the operative principles that contemporary art has established for itself back into the realm of critical reflection.

2026.01.27
Art Theory_Art Insight The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary and the Future of Korean Contemporary Art - Prologue

This text is not written to introduce or defend Korean contemporary art. Nor is it intended to declare a new movement or to predict future artistic forms. The point of departure for this series is a more fundamental question: Under what conditions has contemporary art operated, and are those conditions still valid today?

2026.01.13
Art Theory_Art Insight Sign Capitalism and the Crisis of Contemporary Art (Final Installment): Post-Contemporary Conditions and the Task of Korean Contemporary Art

If modernism grounded art in formal innovation and historical progress, and postmodernism dismantled that narrative by foregrounding difference and the relativization of meaning, contemporary art today no longer functions as a framework capable of articulating new aesthetic principles or a coherent historical direction.

2025.12.30