The SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation marks the 25th anniversary of the SONGEUN Art Award and the 5th anniversary of the opening of its new building by revisiting the meaning embedded in the name “SONGEUN (松隱).” To this end, the foundation will present a series of exhibitions featuring contemporary Korean artists in 2026.
 
As the first exhibition of 2026, three solo exhibitions by artists selected through the Spring Fever open call—SONGEUN’s emerging artist support program—will open this April. Spring Fever revives the open-call format of the SONGEUN Art Cube program, which ran from 2002 to 2020, and reintroduces it as a newly reimagined artist support initiative in the foundation’s new building.

A total of 822 artists with no more than two previous solo exhibitions applied to the open call. Following a first-round portfolio review and a second-round individual interview process, Jaehyun Kim, Jiho Park, and Ria Choi were selected as the final recipients.
 
Each of the three selected artists will receive comprehensive support for the realization of their exhibitions, including curatorial consultation as well as coverage of production-related costs such as artwork transportation, installation, publicity, and the production of printed materials.
 
Continuing the original mission of the SONGEUN Art Cube exhibition support program, this initiative aims to foster sustainable artistic practices by offering young artists expanded and practical opportunities to realize exhibitions that strengthen and advance their creative capacities.

In June, a solo exhibition by artist Hye Joo Jun, the recipient of the 22nd SONGEUN Art Award, will be presented. This exhibition is part of the award benefits, which include the opportunity for a solo exhibition within three years of receiving the prize.
 
Jun expands her inquiries—originating from microscopic ecologies—into broader questions of biopolitics and biological resources, visualizing the ways in which invisible forms of life become entangled with technology, politics, and capital. By composing collected natural materials and recorded images into carefully edited arrangements, she connects disparate contexts. Through devices that manipulate sound, video, and the flow of air, she creates scenes in which subtle movements and traces come into view.
 
Centered on a relational field where different forms of life and temporalities intersect, this solo exhibition reveals the tension between traces of life and human-made systems, presenting a gradual unfolding of previously unseen sensations and relationships.

In August, a special exhibition tentatively titled 《SONGEUN × UNBOXING PROJECT: SONGEUN Art Award 25th Anniversary Exhibition》 will be presented to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the SONGEUN Art Award. Encompassing 182 artists, including past award recipients and finalists over the past 25 years, the exhibition surveys SONGEUN’s long-standing commitment to supporting new generations of contemporary Korean artists.
 
Held in conjunction with a period when major art events in Korea—such as Frieze Seoul, the Gwangju Biennale, and the Busan Biennale—take place, the exhibition aims to reexamine from multiple perspectives the institutional role and significance the SONGEUN Art Award has held within the contemporary art ecosystem.
 
In collaboration with the UNBOXING PROJECT, the exhibition proposes a curatorial approach that prioritizes the works and the artists themselves rather than relying on exhibition devices or scale, offering an opportunity to reflect anew on the present condition of Korean contemporary art.

In December, SONGEUN will present its annual program, 《The 26th SONGEUN Art Award Exhibition》. Established in 2001, the SONGEUN Art Award has been held annually to discover and support outstanding contemporary Korean artists, with the aim of fostering conditions in which artists’ practices can be sustained over the long term. In addition, the open call for the 26th SONGEUN Art Award will take place in early February 2026.
 
Through these initiatives, SONGEUN seeks in 2026 to continue building a foundation that enables emerging and contemporary Korean artists to pursue their creative practices from a long-term perspective, while working together to shape the future of Korean contemporary art.

References

• 송은, SONGEUN