Latest Events in Seoul(July Updated)

The 2025 Asia's Top Artists Festival (ATA Festival) will be held on September 27-28 at the Youth Square at Nanji Park on the Han River in Mapo-gu, Seoul. This is the first time that the music festival will be hosted by Hankyung Media Group, South Korea's leading economic and entertainment media group. In addition to K-Pop performances, the festival will offer a full range of Korean cultural experiences. Attendees can try a variety of Korean cuisine in the "Korean Food Zone," which brings together international F&B brands and food trucks serving traditional Korean cuisine. The "Korean Beauty Zone" will provide opportunities to learn makeup techniques from professional makeup artists and try out beauty products. Fashion activities in the "Korean Fashion Zone" will include activities such as dressing up as characters from popular TV dramas. In addition, there will be an event area that showcases the traditional cultures of various Asian countries.

What if the whole world was a canvas and we were the protagonists walking on it? With 1.1 million fans, Werner Bronckhorst, a representative contemporary artist, brings you the experience of making everyday life into art. You can enjoy it at the first exhibition in Asia at Ground Seesaw West Village. This exhibition has a new collection of original paintings specially made for Korean audiences and exhibits more than 100 of his representative works. Feel the small special things in everyday life in the vast world. From the dynamic city scenery unfolding on the gray asphalt road, to the leisurely afternoon sunshine strolling on the green grass, to the moment of immersion in the blue waves. When you gaze at the daily slices transferred on the canvas, the days you face every day will become particularly precious. We invite you to join this journey and make this moment as special as the scene in the work.

The exhibition showcases more than 170 works created through a variety of techniques and media, including seven unpublished original paintings that are being made public for the first time in the world. The exhibition specifically reinterprets the ceiling paintings of the Opera Garnier in Paris and the stained glass of the Hadassah Medical Center through media art, providing an immersive art experience that allows light and color to softly surround the space. The exhibition was carefully planned by experts, curators and architects who have conducted in-depth research on European art history. From planning to spatial interpretation, it has been carefully designed to make the works resonate with the exhibition space, allowing the audience to fully experience the color experiments and spatial perception of the objects.

Miffy enters the Magic Mailbox and encounters 70 years of memories again! Take a trip down memory lane to meet Miffy, her family and friends through the Magic Mailbox, reflect on your cherished feelings, and encounter a letter from your long-lost friend Dick Brenner.

Boramae Park in southern Seoul was transformed into a vibrant garden display as the Seoul International Garden Show kicked off on Thursday. Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the show at the 400,000-square-meter (98-acre) park features 111 gardens, 21 more than last year’s edition at Ttukseom Hangang Park in eastern Seoul. The show will run through Oct. 20.

The Space Program presented in this cultural project is Tom Sachs. One of the representative works is NASA's space exploration program. It consists of about 200 reconstructed large-scale installations and sculptures. He is 21st century space exploration, especially the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. Since I became fascinated by this project, I have been working on the cutting-edge tools and technologies required for space exploration. We have been handcrafting spacecraft and other objects using everyday materials. Tom Sachs, First Moon Voyage (2007, Gagosian Gallery, Starting from Los Angeles, landing on Mars and collecting samples (2012, Park Avenue Armory in New York hosted a multi-event on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Exploring Earth (2017, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco) Mining rare minerals from Vesta, the brightest and closest asteroid (2021, The Museum of Modern Art Hamburg has been hosting courses on space exploration. This year’s fifth mission, Space Program: Infinity, is different from previous voyages, and for the first time we’ve changed course, and humanity has not yet encountered alien life and is heading into the infinite universe. It directly explores the risks and rewards you will face. 

Frieze Seoul is the leading international art fair, created by the team behind top art fairs such as Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Frieze New York and Frieze Los Angeles.

Come awaken every sense of yours! MORE TO ENJOY! MORE TO FEEL! A night that belongs only to GIRLS! A wonderful new experience is waiting for you! This night is not only entertainment, but also a time to release yourself. Lights, music, food... every detail is carefully crafted for you, just to let you forget the daily pressure and immerse yourself in unparalleled joy. Relax, laugh, dance with your girlfriends in the exclusive space for girls and experience the excitement that belongs to you!

Founded in 2017, the Seoul Biennale is a testbed for exploring fresh solutions to some of the most compelling issues facing major global cities today. So far, it has involved nearly 3 million people in four editions over the last seven years. The 5th edition will be curated by Thomas Heatherwick, who was appointed General Director of the 2025 Biennale by Mayor Oh Se-hoon. The 2025 programme will explore how to make buildings and cities radically more joyful and engaging, channeling the city’s ambition for a human-centered, climate-friendly future. This theme will be brought alive through a dramatic new public installation and a programme of events and activities.

Kiaf SEOUL is South Korea's first international art fair which opened in 2002. With the rapid growth of Seoul as a global art city, Kiaf SEOUL is also evolving quickly to exceed market standards. Seoul has become a vibrant art hub in the global art market, where art connects people to provide unforgettable memories. With 20 years of history, Kiaf SEOUL presented traditional and contemporary art in one place as a bridge to connect the Korean art market and the global art market. Kiaf SEOUL will continue to serve as a global platform to host a festival full of art.

One third of the Earth's surface. A larger ocean than all land combined. That's the Pacific Ocean. In this vast ocean, humans set sail, found islands, and established their roots. The art, culture, and material culture created by humans on the countless islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean are collectively called 'Oceania'. The world created by people who sailed between islands, following the stars, winds, and ocean currents, unfolds unique stories of art and philosophy. The special exhibition 'Mana Moana - Art of the Sacred Sea, Oceania' is an exhibition jointly planned by the National Museum of Korea and the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in France, and introduces traditional and contemporary art from Oceania from the 18th century to the present. You can see exhibits that vividly convey the lives and philosophies of Oceania people, from canoes and sculptures, masks and musical instruments, stone statues and ornaments, to textiles. In Polynesian, ‘mana’ means the sacred power that resides in all beings, and ‘moana’ means the vast ocean. For those who have made the sacred ocean their foundation for life and a space of connection, ‘mana’ is the source of the heart that respects life, nature, and ancestors, and the power that moves the world. This worldview of mana conveys a deep realization that sees all beings, including nature, not as mere objects of use, but as companions of coexistence. Now, we would like to meet the various cultures that humans have created on this island called Earth. We hope that you will have a time filled with empathy and lingering emotions with ‘mana moana’.

The Seoul Media City Biennale, initiated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is dedicated to innovative exploration of contemporary social conditions, new media developments, and changes in urban structures. Artist and filmmaker Anton Vidokle, curator and art historian Hallie Ayres, and film curator Lukas Brasiskis are co-curators of the 13th Seoul Media City Biennale. All three are affiliated with the publication e-flux founded by Vidokle, where Ayres is assistant director and Brasiskis is assistant curator of film and video.

The Seoul Museum of Art will hold the first solo exhibition in Korea, "Sararan", by Kawashima Kotori, a Japanese photographer who captures the beauty of existence, at the Seoul Museum of Art M2 from February 26 to October 12. This large exhibition held on two floors of the Seoul Museum of Art M2 will showcase the artist's entire creative world with 309 works, from his first photography series "BABY BABY" to his representative work "Future-chan" that is both artistic and popular, and new works that capture the cityscape of Seoul. The exhibition will also feature C-Print and gelatin silver prints created by the artist himself using analog methods.

HUNKY SHOW is a groundbreaking, sensational male dance performance musical, curated exclusively for female audiences who want to make their day special. Experience a new form of live performance that goes beyond mere spectacle, allowing you to directly participate and interact with the captivating performances of Korean fitness models and performance artists who appear in each episode. Also included are customer participation performances, anniversary specials, and even photo time and fan service to provide more than just viewing pleasure.

With the theme of "Every Day Can Be a Holiday", Elizabeth Langley makes everyone's ordinary day like an exciting holiday. Elizabeth's work stems from her passion to make the world a happier place, which all began with the various leisure activities she experienced in the natural environment of Australia during her childhood. In her works, she constantly captures happy memories of daily life through various activities such as swimming, sunbathing on the beach, skiing, cycling, etc. Elizabeth's work has the power to bring a sense of happiness in a busy moment. This exhibition will evoke a happy day hidden deep in our hearts and become a happy journey to experience "healing" and rest.

Representing the modern art master of the United States, Katherine Bernhard, covering the art world, the world's first and largest exhibition.

A permanent exhibition held at the Bank of Korea Gallery on the second floor of the Currency Museum. Masterpieces of modern and contemporary art history are carefully selected and displayed as permanent exhibitions. Compare the painting styles of the East and the West through a variety of works and walk the path of thinking and strolling.

On November 15, the National Museum of Korea opened its first dedicated exhibition room for the Oegyujanggak Uigwe. Located on the second floor of the National Museum of Korea’s permanent exhibition hall, this exhibition room is a space where visitors can only view the Oegyujanggak Uigwe, allowing them to fully experience the Oegyujanggak Uigwe.

2024.12.20 Permanent exhibition "Gustav Klimt: Eternal Beauty" tells the story of the golden painter Klimt's life of pursuing true beauty through his works. Freedom and love shine with golden light, from the mysterious birth of life to the noble death. Klimt's timeless and beautiful story begins here.

The modern art in the Leeum Museum of Art covers international art trends from Korean modern and contemporary art to Asian and Western modern art, and is the result of the Samsung Cultural Foundation's long-standing belief and passion for the development of Korean culture and art. In 2025, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Samsung Cultural Foundation, the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, provides a place for people to appreciate its collection of modern art from a new perspective. The focus of this exhibition is not on representative collections of well-known museums, but on works that have never been made public. In addition, new works recently acquired by the museum are introduced to enrich the artistic dialogue that reflects the changing times. The exhibition is not arranged chronologically or thematically, but encourages the audience to discover more relationships between works through visual or conceptual juxtaposition, thus creating a multi-layered, non-linear artistic experience. The opening works of the exhibition include Auguste Rodin's The Burghers of Calais, Alberto Giacometti's Lady Giant III, and Jan Bo's Our Country (Part), echoing the history and identity of the Leeum collection that connects modern and contemporary art. Starting with the wonderful encounter with paintings by Mark Rothko and Zhang Xuzhen, to the major works of modern masters Sol LeWitt, Richard Deacon, Carl Andre, and Robert Rauschenberg, which were made public for the first time since the opening of the Leeum, as well as the recently acquired works of Louise Nevelson, Hannah Darboven, and Lee Bontesseu, they complement each other and further enrich the depth and breadth of the art collection of the Leeum. In addition, the architecturally transformed M2 exhibition space will provide visitors with a special visual experience, allowing them to explore the space and works in a whole new way. Through this exhibition, we hope to examine the evolution and changes of modern art through the collections accumulated by Leeum Art Museum over the past decades, reflect on the contemporary context and artistic significance of the works, and feel the complex levels of art through the multi-level dialogue between the works. - Leeum Art Museum

Unveiling an exhibition of couture creations by British fashion muse Daphne Guinness. “432Mhz: Harmonics. The World of Daphne Guinness” is an immersive, multimedia exhibition by Ground Seesaw, running from 25 April to 10 August 2025. This groundbreaking exhibition brings to life the creative world of Daphne Guinness, showcasing her original couture pieces, accessories, jewellery, photography, designer illustrations, video installations, digital art, holograms and interactive AI experiences. A beloved muse to fashion legends such as Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, Daphne Guinness curated one of the most prestigious collections in fashion history for over 30 years.

A relaxing walk, a purple sky at dawn, A weekend afternoon bike ride, admiring the moon in all its shapes. The city is noisy, but the mind keeps moving forward Perhaps the closest unframed artwork is nature. You haven't noticed yet Introducing a world like a movie. The sky you look up at when leaving the exhibition hall Witness the moment that becomes a special scene face to face.

150 years ago, the Impressionist movement overturned the way people perceived the world. In the 21st century, Jonathan Belten's photographs contain the vividness of 19th century paintings. Look at the same sky every day, walk on the same streets, and meet familiar faces. Then, at a certain moment, the scenery that you are accustomed to suddenly presents itself in a completely new way. Belten calls it "super daily". Here, "seeing", the oldest way of understanding the world, is shaken by super daily experiences. To see things differently is to live differently. Start your first conversation with the scenery that you once passed by silently.

We want to remember many moments in our lives. We engrave those memories in our hearts, and sometimes we leave them in a form that we can hold in our hands. Commemoration begins with the desire not to forget precious moments. Souvenirs are small evidences of those feelings. Among the overflowing commemorations and souvenirs today, aren’t we forgetting the true meaning of commemoration? To ask ourselves the meaning of commemoration again, we look into the object called a souvenir. The desire to leave behind a special moment, The desire to share memories together, The earnest desire to hold the memories of my life in my hands. Let’s look back at the meaning of commemoration contained in a small object. What is a souvenir to you?

The National Museum of Korea will hold a special exhibition titled (tentative title) in June 2025. This exhibition covers the 200 years of art and culture from the establishment of the new nation of Joseon in 1392 to the outbreak of the Imjin War in 1592. During this period, the new dynasty led society and culture in a new space called ‘Hanyang’ with a new ruling power called the ‘Sadaebu’. Internally, as the Confucian ideology system was combined with the shadow of the previous era, Goryeo, the literary arts centered around the royal family and the sadaebu blossomed, and the handicraft system developed in earnest with the maturation of technology and the reorganization of the national system. Externally, various arts developed through international exchanges while being influenced by the East Asian relationship between the Ming Dynasty of China and the Muromachi shogunate of Japan. This exhibition covers various visual materials such as paintings and ceramics, Buddhist paintings and sculptures, books, and printing types from the 15th and 16th centuries. Through this, we will be able to examine the diversity, high aesthetic and technical achievements, and rich tastes of Joseon’s early art, which emerged as a new nation during this period. The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of liberation, the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, and the 20th anniversary of the relocation of the National Museum of Korea to Yongsan. To mark this memorable year, we will look back on the peak of East Asian culture achieved by the new nation Joseon and draw the ideals of the era we will advance into.

To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the normalization of relations between the Republic of Korea and Japan, the National Museum of Korea and the Tokyo National Museum have joined forces to present Japanese Art from Four Perspectives, a special exhibition that shines a new light on Japanese art through four unifying themes. Through the years, these two institutions have closely collaborated on numerous projects aimed at promoting understanding of their respective histories and cultures. These efforts have have now led to this momentous exhibition illuminating Japanese art for a Korean audience. Featuring sixty-two works specially selected by the Tokyo National Museum and the National Museum of Korea, the exhibition is designed to immerse visitors in both the visual beauty and emotional sentiment of Japanese art. To this end, Japanese art is considered from four fascinating perspectives, in terms of its splendid ornamentation (kazari), the contrasting aesthetics of restraint (hankazari), emotions related to the ephemeral transformations of nature (aware), and a light-hearted spirit of humor and leisure (asobi). Here, these four elements are organically interwoven to reflect the lives and worldview of the Japanese people. Thus, the exhibition offers the unique opportunity to experience not only the visual allure of Japanese art, but also the profound insight and emotion that it embodies. It is our hope that these four fundamental perspectives will help to provide visitors with a deeper appreciation of Japanese art and a broader understanding of Japanese culture as a whole.

The Seoul Museum of Art has announced the three artistic directors of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, which will be held from August 26 to November 30 next year. They are artist and filmmaker Anton Vidokle, curator and art historian Hallie Ayres, and film curator Lukas Brasiskis. The three were selected from 66 international open calls for applications. They proposed the concept of "exhibition-as-séance" and aim to "break away from the concept of biennials under contemporary neoliberalism and construct an enhanced experience where awakened life and the intertwined world of the superhuman arena". They point out that "these ideas are related to some important contemporary discourses, from feminism to indigenous struggles, from anti-capitalism to postcolonialism", and they plan to use "the aesthetics of spiritualism and animism to critically intervene in dominant discourses such as capitalism, materialism, postcolonialism and contemporary technology".

Around 1467, the Joseon royal family established a royal porcelain kiln in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do, to produce white porcelain for the palace. Geumsari was in operation from 1734 to 1751. Geumsari is famous for producing milky white porcelain and moon jars. Through the fragments collected from Geumsari, we can see white porcelains made in Geumsari, such as moon jars.

This year, the festival will expand its food trucks from 15 to 25, with 12 to 13 teams rotating every two weeks to provide more development opportunities for small businesses. The event aims to enhance the competitiveness of small Korean cuisine businesses and showcase a wider variety of Korean cuisine to tourists. The food truck lineup now covers 14 Korean dishes, an increase from 8 last year. In addition to last year's popular specialties such as Korean spicy noodles, spicy chicken and dried persimmon cheese rolls, many new items will be launched, including BBQ Vietnamese bread and puffed rice ice cream. As part of the city's climate action, all meals will be served in reusable containers. Live performances will also be arranged this year to bring a more pleasant experience to tourists. Multilingual self-service terminals and QR code payment options will also be provided on site to facilitate international tourists.