The Busan Museum of Art has announced that it will host the international digital media art festival “2026 Loop Lab Busan” from April 16 through June 28. Now in its second edition, Loop Lab Busan is an international festival centered on time-based and image-driven digital media art, featuring a range of programs including exhibitions and forums.
 
This event brings together more than 30 cultural and arts institutions across Busan as an alternative art initiative that explores horizontal collaboration. It features exhibitions such as 《Digital Subculture》, 《Moving on Asia》, and the institutional collaborative exhibition 《Zero Lab Busan》.
 
During the event period, the Asia Curators Forum will be held in connection with 《Moving on Asia》 under the theme “The Future of Moving Images in Asia.” A total of 16 curators from 13 Asian countries will participate, redefining the value of Asian media art from a self-directed perspective.
 
In addition, a variety of affiliated programs such as artist talks will be offered, alongside the art fair “Loop Plus,” an associated event organized by Artivist.

The institutional collaboration exhibition 《Zero Lab Busan》 will open sequentially across Busan, beginning with 《Infinity Layers: Between the Point and Time》. Serving as a preview exhibition ahead of ‘Loop Lab Busan 2026,’ it will be held at Domoheon Sosopung Lounge and features Busan-based artists such as Mirae Kim, Younghwan Park, and Chung-hyun Cho, alongside Moonassi, who explores inner worlds through black-and-white drawing.
 
The participating artists employ a variety of media—including painting, photography, video, and holograms—to realize “illusions” situated at the boundary between reality and fiction, taking on new challenges to expand their artistic worlds. The hologram works presented in the exhibition were produced through technical collaboration with the Hologram Center of Kwangwoon University.

In addition to public exhibition venues such as Busan Museum and F1963/Busan Cultural Foundation (AES+F), exhibitions will also be held at private galleries and commercial spaces including Ewell Gallery (Regina Kim, Shim Won-young, Jin Hak), Lee & Bae (YIXD), Kukje Gallery Busan (Hong Seung-hye), DOT Museum (Harun Farocki), and Gallery Jaehee (Jung Jin-kyung, Kim Seo-young, Baek Cheol-jun).
 
Seo Jin-seok, Director of Busan Museum of Art, stated, “This event aims to break down the boundaries between popular culture and contemporary art, as well as between for-profit and non-profit sectors, and to build a multidimensional art ecosystem based on sharing and collaboration. Following the successful first edition last year, it will provide an opportunity to experience a new artistic paradigm by connecting the entirety of Busan into one vast museum through an expanded network.”
 
Further details about “2026 Loop Lab Busan” can be found on the Busan Museum of Art’s official website(https://art.busan.go.kr/index.nm).

References

• 부산시립미술관 보도자료 (Busan Museum of Art Press Release)