One of the most striking phenomena in the recent Korean art world is the rapid increase in the number of art fairs. Not only in Seoul, but across the country—in Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, Jeju, Cheongju, and elsewhere—art fairs of differing scales and characters are being held throughout the year. In April of this year alone, as many as four or five art fairs took place almost simultaneously.
2026.04.14
Non-profit art spaces in Korean contemporary art began to emerge in the late 1990s. Spaces such as Alternative Space Loop (1999– ), Project Space Sarubia (1999- ), Art Space Pool (1999–Jan 2021), and Insa Art Space (2000–Jun 2025) functioned as platforms for experimental practices and emerging artists that were not accommodated within institutional art, forming a structure that explored new possibilities for artistic production both outside and within institutional frameworks.
2026.03.31
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
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
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
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
To consider the future of Korean contemporary art, we must first examine the structures and standards through which the global art world operates today. Over the past century, Korean modern and contemporary art has developed by absorbing artistic forms, concepts, and institutions that originated in the West and transforming them within Korea’s own historical and social conditions. Today, however, the situation is different.
2026.09.29
Moving beyond Orientalism entails more than shifting the center from the West to Asia. It requires transforming the structure through which particular actors have classified and evaluated the art of other regions, while developing new values and criteria grounded in diverse histories and experiences. What is needed is a new system of knowledge—one that recognizes the achievements of Western art history as a shared global legacy without treating them as the sole standard of judgment.
2026.09.08
BTS emerged in Korea and developed within the cultural and industrial framework of K-pop. Yet the market in which its music is produced and consumed, as well as its audience and influence, moved beyond Korea’s geographical boundaries long ago.
2026.08.25
“Asian contemporary art” does not refer to a single shared style or aesthetic. Korea, China, Japan, and the countries of Southeast Asia each have distinct histories, political and social conditions, art institutions, and markets.
2026.08.11
The Anachronism series began by examining how Korean art has continued to understand and organize itself under changing conditions through languages, institutions, and models of success inherited from the past. It considered the recurring tendency to reproduce earlier
2026.07.28
A fundamental problem in Korean art history remains insufficiently resolved: the criteria by which its historical periods are distinguished. When did Korea’s modern period in art begin? What does hyeondae misul—the category conventionally called “modern art” or “contemporary art” in Korean—actually signify, and where does it begin? And from what
2026.07.14
