Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) and Hana Financial Group have announced Yoonjin Kim (b. 1989) as the sixth recipient of the ”2025 SeMA-Hana Art Criticism Award”.

The awards ceremony will take place on December 5 at SeMA’s Seosomun Main Building, followed by the〈2025 Korean Contemporary Art Criticism Forum〉 in the afternoon.

In recent years, Korea’s contemporary art scene has experienced rapid expansion—more exhibitions, a growing market, and increasing international exchanges. Yet criticism has not kept pace. Professional critical infrastructure has contracted, public and private outlets have diminished, and the conditions for sustaining long-term, research-based discourse have weakened.

Although artistic production and circulation have accelerated, the critical frameworks needed to interpret, contextualize, and challenge this expansion have not grown proportionately.
 
Against this backdrop, the 2025 SeMA-Hana Award and the accompanying forum serve as a meaningful platform, modest in scale but important in purpose, to reaffirm the necessity and continuity of contemporary art criticism in Korea.
 


Yoonjin Kim, a Critic Working Across Multiple Genres

Kim, this year’s award recipient, writes across visual art, film, and comics, focusing on the tensions and power relations that emerge between viewers, artworks, and institutions.

Kim’s winning essay,「The Era of Attention Seekers and the Aesthetics of Self-Exposure: On《Sustainable Museum: Art and Environment》」 examines the 2021 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan through the lens of self-exposure and the performative strategies embedded in institutional critique.

Held in 2021,《Sustainable Museum: Art and Environment》reframed the museum’s operational system—its resource consumption, waste production, logistics, installation processes, and exhibition infrastructure—as subjects of environmental scrutiny. Rather than presenting “artworks about the environment,” the exhibition exposed discarded materials, reused structural elements, and highlighted the ecological impact of exhibition-making itself, prompting reflection on how museums can practice sustainability.

Exhibition link: Busan Museum of Contemporary Art

This year’s award received 56 submissions, and the winner was selected through a blind, three-stage review: written evaluation, panel discussion, and finalist interview.
 
The jury consisted of: Choi Jongchul (Chair; Ewha Womans University), Kang Mijung (Aesthetician), Kang Woosung (Seoul National University), Kim Junghyun (Art Critic), Yoon Wonhwa (Art Critic), as well as SeMA’s curatorial and administrative directors.
The recipient will receive 20 million KRW, a trophy designed by artist Jun Jangyeon, and will participate in the 〈2026–2027 SeMA Criticism Research Project〉.
 


2025 Korean Contemporary Art Criticism Forum “The Present of Young Art”

Starting at 13:30, the〈2025 Korean Contemporary Art Criticism Forum – The Present of Young Art〉will bring together independent curators and critics to examine current developments in Korea’s contemporary art field and to identify areas where new critical perspectives are needed.
 


Speakers & Topics

 
Konno Yuki

「Face-to-Face Drifting: From the 2010s to the 2020s」
A reflection on shifts in the art field over the past decade, based on work between Korea and Japan and the evolving realities of “independent” practice.
 

Yoon Taegyun

「What Happened to ‘Independent’ Curators and ‘Independent’ Spaces? The Reproduction of Individualized Identity」
An examination of how independent curators and spaces operate today, beyond fixed mainstream/non-mainstream divides.
 

Han Moonhee

「Calls for Proposals, Incubating Programs, and the ‘Privilege’ of Being Young」
An analysis of how state-driven support systems define “youth” and shape contemporary artistic ecosystems.
 

Park Yujin

「After the Journey: International Exchange as an Experience of Dwelling in Time」
Insights drawn from encounters in non-Western cities, emphasizing exchange beyond documentation-driven institutional programs.
 

In addition, Jang Hankil, winner of the 2023 SeMA-Hana Criticism Award, will debut his research project 「What Remains: Public Memory and Artistic Language」.

Attendance can be reserved via SeMA’s website: sema.seoul.go.kr
 


A Small but Significant Step for Korea’s Criticism Landscape

Korea’s criticism ecosystem continues to face structural challenges—shrinking outlets, reduced institutional support, and unstable career paths for critics. Despite an expanding art market and increasingly active exhibition culture, the field lacks the critical depth needed to contextualize artistic production within broader cultural and historical frameworks.
 
Within this context, the SeMA-Hana Award and the Korean Contemporary Art Criticism Forum function as practical institutional mechanisms to sustain critical activity and support emerging voices. If these programs continue to grow and gradually extend toward international discourse, they may help establish a more robust and globally connected foundation for Korean art criticism.
 
Ultimately, the events offer an opportunity to reassess the present state of art criticism in Korea and explore the conditions necessary for its long-term development—serving as an important platform for shaping the future of contemporary art discourse.