Shows to look out for during Frieze and Kiaf Seoul

Installation view of Bangkok-born multimedia artist Korakrit Arunanondchai's "Songs for Dying/Songs for Living" at Art Sonje Center in Jongno District, central Seoul / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

By Park Han-sol

• Published Sep 1, 2022 3:48 PM KST
• Updated Sep 2, 2022 4:30 PM KST

Seoul's major gallery districts celebrate openings of art fairs with special exhibitions

By Park Han-sol

On the occasion of the concurrent openings of two prestigious art fairs ― Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul ― at COEX in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, Friday, Korea will see a flood of exhibition openings and late-night outings at museums and galleries scattered across its capital city.

Art lovers are encouraged to journey beyond the fairs and immerse themselves in the creative fabric of Seoul, notably in the city's two main gallery districts: Hannam-dong and Samcheong-dong.

Here are selected shows that could be the cherry on top of your art-filled excursion.

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA)

Nestled within the historic Joseon-era Deoksu Palace is the largest-ever retrospective of multidisciplinary Korean artist Moon Shin (1922-95), whose creative terrain spanned painting, sculpture, craft and architecture.

“Towards the Universe,” held to mark the centennial of Moon's birth, reflects the globe-trotting artist's view of the cosmos as “a source of life” and “an uncharted territory” of infinite creativity.

Born to a Japanese mother and a Korean father during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial era, the sculptor spent his life as a permanent outsider in Korea, Japan and France.

In addition to paintings, the show offers a comprehensive view of his wood and bronze sculptures, best known for symmetry featuring (hemi)spherical patterns and biomorphic forms reminiscent of ants and butterflies.

Also showcased are Moon's experimental public sculptures produced during his time in France, including one the artist envisioned to be inhabitable by humans. The work, which remains only in photos and drawings, has been recreated in a virtual reality setting for the first time.

Meanwhile, the museum's main Seoul branch, east of Gyeongbok Palace, has unveiled the latest retrospective on Lee Jung-seop (1916-56), an iconic modern artist of Korea whose paintings of bulls letting out spirited cries came to symbolize the country's national identity.

Over 80 works on view ― tinfoil, postcard, oil and letter paintings as well as pencil drawings ― produced from the 1940s to 1950s come from the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's donated art collection.

The pieces speak to the painter's undying love for his wife and two sons, who escaped a life of destitution in war-torn Korea by relocating to Japan in 1952. His desire for a family reunion, which ultimately went unrealized, fueled his creative drive and ended up birthing a prolific oeuvre that unfolds before visitors' eyes.

Leeum Museum of Art

Since its reopening last October after a four-year hiatus, Leeum Museum of Art, with its fully renovated space, has been trying its hand at exhibitions that exist beyond people's comfort zones.

The latest show that reflects this curatorial change is “Cloud Walkers,” the museum's first special exhibition focusing on the theme of contemporary Asian art and society via the works of 24 creative individuals and teams.

“When looking at many of the past Asian art-centered exhibitions hosted by other institutions, their themes seemed to remain stuck in the geopolitical frameworks of the 20th century ― mainly addressing issues like (post)colonialism, modernization and democratization,” curator Kwak June-young noted.

Although such elements remain important, she added that it was also time for Asian art to seek new, future-oriented forms of cross-cultural solidarity beyond the existing geopolitical boundaries ― ones that muse on environmental sustainability as well as a hybrid world between the physical and the virtual.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma's gigantic installation “SU:M,” made up of novel, sustainable fabric that can absorb volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted annually by 90,000 vehicles, is one such example.

Other notable pieces include Korean designer Yeon Jin-yeong's “Padded Column,” composed of hundreds of discarded black padded jackets, and Tokyo-based duo A. A. Murakami's unique sensory installation “On the Threshold to the House of Eternity.”

Samson Young's “Possible Music #2” pours out music composed using the Hong Kong artist's imaginary instruments that exist only within digital software ― including a 20-foot trumpet and a bugle activated by superheated breath at 300 degrees Celsius.

The museum is also hosting a more traditional-themed exhibition on its second floor, titled “Moon Jars: Park Young-sook.”

The late Joseon-era white porcelain spherical jars reminiscent of the glistening full moon were one of the popular visual motifs that filled the canvas of Korea's modern abstract master Kim Whanki (1913-74).

On view inside the gallery that is as white as the jars themselves are 29 large porcelains fashioned by ceramist Park, including five pieces featuring acclaimed artist Lee Ufan's rough brushstrokes on the surface.

Gallery Hyundai's Hyundai Hwarang

Stepping into Hyundai Hwarang is like traveling back in time to ancient Korea.

At “Archaic Beauty ― Mugs in the Three Kingdoms Period,” visitors are greeted by row after row of small earthenware mugs produced by the people of the Gaya Confederacy and Silla Kingdom over 1,500 years ago.

Some 100 ancient cups on display come from a collection amassed over the last decade by art critic Park Young-taik.

“Ten years ago, I came across several Silla-era mugs tucked inside the corner of one of the artist's studios. Their simple beauty immediately caught my attention,” he said at the gallery.

And so began his years of visits to antique dealers nationwide in search of the miniature potteries that perfectly reflect the unadorned, classic Korean aesthetics.

According to Park, the shapes of these mugs were likely influenced by those of ancient Greece and Rome that were imported via Silla's extensive trade network.

Fired in a chamber kiln at temperatures higher than 1,000 degrees Celsius without glaze, these hard-surfaced cups all come in different shapes and sizes with unique handle designs and patterns, including waves, clouds and birds.

Barakat Contemporary

Following his solo show “Temper Clay” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City last year, the globe-trotting artist Kim Sung-hwan has returned to his home country after eight years with his large-scale exhibition, “Night Crazing.”

Sprawled across Barakat Contemporary's two venues are two of his video works, “Washing Brain and Corn” and “Love Before Bond,” along with his related drawings, collages and installations that are designed and placed according to the particular features of each site.

His artistic inquiries here bring forth the fluidity and multiplicity of collective memories, focusing on how the historical narrative that is passed down can either spread further, be modified or cease to exist in different times and places.

Notably, “Washing Brain and Corn” tells the graphic story of a 10-year-old boy named Lee Seung-bok ― a tale popularized in Korea during the 1970s and 1980s but that has become largely forgotten among present-day younger generations ― whose mouth was said to have been ripped open by North Korean commandos in 1968 for stating “I don't like the Communist Party.”

In his video, Kim makes the narrator his 10-year-old niece, a second-generation Korean American, who is therefore twice removed from the popularized tale ― due to her age, cultural background and language.

Art Sonje Center

Art Sonje Center has been transformed into the artist duo Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho's newly envisioned “Seoul Weather Station” as a way to contemplate the climate crisis while breaking away from anthropocentric attitudes.

“Humankind has always deemed nature as something to be conquered ― a worldview that led to today's ecological crisis,” Jeon said at the exhibition. “For our latest work, we started with a question ― how would a non-human being regard the history of man?”

Titled “To Build a Fire,” the installation introduces the story of a changing Earth from the perspective of a nameless rock, which is then retold by artificial intelligence model GPT-3. What completes the viewing experience is a four-legged SPOT robot scuttling across the gallery and serving as a guide.

Also on view is “Mobile Agora,” where discourse on carbon policy and global warming among experts ― academics, industrial designers and science fiction writers ― will take place organically, birthing creative interdisciplinary collaboration.

In the building's basement unfurls Bangkok-born multimedia artist Korakrit Arunanondchai's first solo show in Korea.

His 2021 video installations “Songs for Dying” and “Songs for Living” are presented together, filling the gallery with ritualistic and spiritual imagery, while telling a story in which personal narratives find common ground with historical incidents.

In “Songs for Dying,” the artist's personal loss of his grandfather is entangled with historical episodes like the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre and Thai anti-government protests.

Whereas death implies the departure of the spirit from the body, “Songs for Living” is all about their reunification ― thus turning feelings of loss into grounded collective movements with transformative potential.

As part of Frieze Week, Hannam-dong and Samcheong-dong will also each present special late-night gallery openings.

Hannam Night on Thursday will be joined by exhibitors including Thaddaeus Ropac presenting Anselm Kiefer's “Wer jetzt kein Haus hat (Whoever Has No House Now),” Lehmann Maupin with McArthur Binion's “DNA:Study/(Visual:Ear),” Pace Gallery with Adrian Ghenie's debut solo show in Asia and Various Small Fires with Diedrick Brackens' “together our shadows make a single belly.”

The next day, Samcheong Night will feature Perrotin with Emma Webster's “Illuminarium,” Kukje Gallery with Lee Seung-jio's solo exhibition, Hakgojae Gallery with Kang Yo-bae's “At First Sight” and PKM Gallery with Chung Chang-sup's “Mind in Matter,” among others.