Irene Kim, who for the last three years was the global head of VIP relations for Art Basel, has left the fair to join Chanel as head of the luxury brand’s US arts and culture division. Kim is the first person to hold the position.

Irene Kim graduated from the Department of English Literature at Kyung Hee University in 2005 and later received a Master’s degree in Art History from Florida State University. She then worked at the Guggenheim Museum and Sotheby’s Preferred in the U.S. Before joining Art Basel, she served as the head of the VIP program at The Armory Show in New York. She managed Art Basel’s VIP program for approximately eight years.

Chanel operates the ‘Chanel Culture Fund,’ actively supporting global arts and culture through partnerships with institutions such as the Leeum Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Power Station of Art in Shanghai. Since 2022, the brand has also been running the ‘Chanel Next Prize’, an initiative dedicated to discovering and supporting artists across various genres. 

Irene Kim will oversee Chanel’s diverse cultural and artistic programs, primarily in the U.S. region. As of now, it’s unclear who will take over Kim’s responsibilities at the fair.

References

• ARTnews, Art Basel’s Global Head of VIP Relations Scooped Up by Chanel, 2025.02.04
• 아아린 킴, 링크드인 (Irene Kim, LinkedIn)
• 샤넬 컬처 펀드 (Chanel Culture Fund)

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.