Based in 2002 by the Galleries Affiliation of Korea, Kiaf has been deeply rooted in—and sustained by—its shut ties to South Korea’s gallery system from the outset. Globally, it’s uncommon for an artwork truthful to be organized straight by a nationwide gallery affiliation. Past Artwork Taipei, Kiaf stays one of many few distinguished examples, and the truthful’s sturdy and lasting relationship with Korea’s gallery ecosystem has helped it develop into what it’s at present.
The truthful returns to the COEX Middle on September 3 for its twenty fourth version, with 176 collaborating galleries hailing from South Korea and greater than twenty different international locations. With rather less than a month to go till opening day, Observer linked with Eunice Jung, the truthful’s director and head of the Galleries Affiliation of Korea, to get her ideas on the state of Korea’s artwork scene.
Since its founding, Kiaf has grown in keeping with the home gallery sector. Over the previous 20 years, the Korean artwork market has undergone a outstanding transformation. Jung says that when Kiaf launched, the market was valued at roughly KRW 200 billion; by 2023, it was approaching KRW 1 trillion. “Whereas it stays delicate to international financial shifts, the market has proven regular and resilient long-term progress, and Kiaf has advanced alongside it.” Over these years, the truthful has matured into certainly one of worldwide standing whereas sustaining a definite id rooted within the richness and dynamism of Korea’s up to date artwork scene.
Jung acknowledges that the 2008 international monetary disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022 had been essential inflection factors. “Throughout these durations, galleries confronted appreciable challenges—from exhibition delays to momentary closures—however these moments additionally turned catalysts for innovation.” Like a lot of its member galleries, Kiaf tailored by embracing digital innovation and exploring new engagement channels. “The shift towards on-line platforms allowed us to attach with a youthful and extra numerous viewers—particularly the Millennials and Gen Z—who usually encounter artwork first by social media. Instagram, specifically, emerged as a strong medium for discovery and connection, considerably influencing accumulating habits and public engagement.”
When the pandemic prevented Kiaf from holding an in-person occasion in 2020, the truthful launched an internet viewing room, overhauled its model id, and realigned its communication technique to emphasise digital channels. For Jung, the interval marked a profound shift in how the truthful approaches viewers engagement. “Our demographic has since expanded past conventional collectors to incorporate rising audiences with new pursuits, values and expectations.”
In the present day, Kiaf needs to place itself not solely as a market platform but in addition as a cultural occasion that prioritizes creative expertise. “We’ve expanded our programming to create extra pathways for audiences to attach with up to date artwork,” Jung says.
The arrival of Frieze in Seoul in 2022 launched new challenges and new alternatives, forcing Kiaf to sharpen its position in a extra aggressive setting. “It pushed us to lift the truthful’s high quality even additional to worldwide requirements whereas staying rooted within the strengths of Korea’s gallery community,” Jung explains. “Sharing the stage with a globally acknowledged model has pushed us—not solely in scale, however in refining our id, programming and international positioning.” Frieze has been each a check and a catalyst. “It challenged us to rethink what makes our truthful distinctive, and additional to refine our position inside a quickly altering artwork scene,” Jung says, noting that whereas a level of competitors is inevitable, they view it as a constructive pressure. “Wholesome competitors drives innovation.”
Recalling the primary version of Frieze Seoul, Jung admits the power was extraordinary because of dense crowds, heightened anticipation and an unprecedented highlight on Seoul as a brand new cultural hub. On the identical time, she believes Kiaf performed a key position because the gateway for a lot of native collectors throughout that transitional yr. “As Frieze started to ascertain its presence, the dynamic naturally shifted,” she recollects. “We noticed modifications in collector habits and media consideration, and started considering deeply about what sort of expertise Kiaf ought to provide shifting ahead.”
Since then, the ecosystem has discovered a stability. Time-slot entry techniques helped handle the preliminary congestion, and Frieze has steadily tailored its programming to replicate extra of the native context. For Jung, nevertheless, the connection between the 2 gala’s is evolving. Whereas Kiaf retains a deeply rooted cultural and institutional id in Korea, Frieze brings a worldwide lens and platform. But the growing participation of Korean galleries—nearly thirty this yr—is a transparent signal of its rising localization, and Jung acknowledges that as Frieze turns into extra embedded within the native artwork scene, it’s probably that competitors between the 2 gala’s will intensify. Nonetheless, collectively, the 2 gala’s are reshaping Seoul into certainly one of Asia’s most dynamic artwork capitals, and based on Jung, how every truthful continues to evolve will form the subsequent chapter of that story.
Jung is fast to agree that Frieze’s arrival in Seoul amplified worldwide consideration on the Korean artwork market, however she additionally notes {that a} single occasion didn’t drive the 2022 artwork growth. It was the results of an ideal convergence of things: the elevated visibility of movie star collectors (assume RM of BTS), the viral attain of social media, the cultural affect of landmark donations just like the late Lee Kun-hee Assortment and even public discourse round tax insurance policies associated to artwork. “Artwork accumulating started to transcend elite circles and emerged as a part of a broader way of life shift, particularly amongst Korea’s Gen Z technology, who worth id, self-expression and experiential consumption,” she explains.
In the present day, Seoul instructions a completely totally different degree of worldwide visibility throughout artwork truthful week and all year long. “September in Seoul has change into a real celebration of up to date artwork,” Jung says. They rely on sturdy assist from each the private and non-private sectors. “We now see significant collaboration throughout galleries, museums and nonprofit organizations, producing actual cultural momentum and a vibrant sense of neighborhood.”
As Kiaf prepares for every re-creation, Jung says they’re seeing growing engagement from establishments and foundations throughout areas just like the Center East, Europe and components of Central Asia. For Kiaf’s director, this increasing regional attain displays how deeply international curiosity round Korean up to date artwork has grown.
Whereas within the 2010s Artwork Basel Hong Kong served as Asia’s dominant artwork hub, shifting political dynamics and the pandemic’s affect have redrawn the regional map, based on Jung. “Seoul—now house to 2 main gala’s and a number of other worldwide gallery outposts—has emerged as a robust contender,” Jung says. Nonetheless, she believes the true driving pressure behind this momentum lies within the power of Korean artists: their sensibility, visible language and capability to interact native and worldwide audiences.
Jung additionally factors out that the surge of world consideration on South Korea isn’t restricted to the artwork world—it’s a part of a wider cultural phenomenon: the so-called Korean Wave. “From Squid Recreation and Ok-pop to Korean cinema and animation, Korean artistic expression is resonating on an unprecedented international scale,” she notes. “Up to date artwork is a pure a part of that wave. Its energy to inform nuanced, emotional tales rooted in Korean expertise—whereas nonetheless reaching throughout borders—makes it uniquely compelling.”
Just some years in the past, artists like Lee Bul or Do Ho Suh needed to construct reputations overseas earlier than receiving widespread recognition at house. Now that dynamic has utterly shifted. “In the present day’s Korean artists are leveraging digital platforms to interact international audiences straight, receiving quick suggestions and constructing natural followings throughout continents,” Jung says. “It’s now not nearly export however about true trade. And I see that as a wholesome signal of a maturing, globally linked artwork ecosystem.”
But Frieze’s arrival coincided with a market growth, when Korean collectors had been extremely lively. Since then, momentum has considerably slowed: South Korea’s artwork market reportedly contracted by 15 % final yr.
Jung acknowledges that 2024 has been a difficult yr for the Korean gallery sector—and the nation extra broadly—not solely resulting from financial uncertainty, however much more so due to political instability. Nonetheless, after the primary half of the yr, she feels the political state of affairs has begun to stabilize, providing a extra strong basis for planning and outlook.
“Like many different markets, Korea’s artwork scene hasn’t been resistant to international financial pressures,” she says, explaining how actual property exercise has cooled in sure areas and the way worldwide developments—reminiscent of shifts in U.S. commerce coverage—have added additional unpredictability. “Naturally, this wider local weather might affect main cultural occasions like Kiaf SEOUL,” she says. Jung stays optimistic, significantly after the federal government launched a nationwide stimulus plan to revive home consumption. “There are sturdy indicators of resilience,” she states, noting how one of many pandemic’s sudden legacies was the enlargement of the artwork viewers in Korea. “Artwork accumulating is now not seen as a pursuit for a privileged few however is known as a way of life selection and a type of self-expression, particularly amongst youthful generations.”
For Jung, this broader cultural shift already offers confidence out there’s long-term trajectory. On the identical time, public establishments and authorities businesses are extra attuned than ever to the worth of up to date artwork as a pillar of Korean delicate energy, alongside music, movie and vogue. Kiaf has already seen sooner ticket gross sales than in earlier years, stories Jung, with sturdy curiosity from company companions trying to interact by group attendance and sponsorship.
Nonetheless, this yr, the truthful’s method is extra measured. “We’re specializing in delivering a good that balances ambition with sustainability—one which reinforces the native artwork ecosystem whereas persevering with to pursue international requirements,” Jung explains. “Whereas the macroeconomic setting could also be complicated, we stay deeply optimistic in regards to the depth and potential of the Korean artwork market.”
Artwork gala’s serve totally different roles relying on the state of the native artwork ecosystem and the maturity of the collector base. Though some galleries and collectors had been already lively in South Korea within the Fifties and ‘60s, the artwork market remains to be comparatively younger. “Once I first entered the sphere in 2008, accumulating artwork felt overseas to most individuals; it was area of interest, nearly esoteric,” she recollects, noting how, on the time, the market’s annual turnover hovered round KRW 400 billion, which she half-jokingly in comparison with the output of a mid-sized tofu firm. In comparison with the Korean movie business, already valued at KRW 2 trillion, artwork was nonetheless discovering its place.
Then got here the pandemic. The market expanded quickly, however a few of that progress has since stabilized resulting from financial headwinds. Jung acknowledges there was additionally a second of overheated hypothesis, particularly round 2023. “I recall individuals queuing at gala’s asking whether or not a sure art work would go up in worth earlier than even asking in regards to the artist,” she says. That part might have been inevitable, however the market has matured. “Nowadays, households attend Kiaf collectively. Guests need to perceive artists’ worldviews and inventive processes—not simply their worth factors.”
What issues most is that the muse has modified. “The bottom is now broader, deeper and way more engaged,” Jung explains. “In the present day, you don’t must spend tens of millions collaborating in artwork. Amassing and dwelling with artwork is more and more normalized throughout Korean households. That’s a significant cultural shift, particularly on condition that Korea’s conventional schooling system centered extra on approach than appreciation.” Certainly, lately, South Korea has skilled a outstanding surge within the want to interact with artwork. “Persons are not solely visiting museums and artwork gala’s extra but in addition starting to see artwork as one thing to reside with, not simply devour.”
Kiaf responded by introducing a membership program concentrating on youthful collectors of their 30s and 40s. “It’s a program that gives entry to gallery openings, museum packages and intimate conversations with artists and established collectors,” Jung explains. “Since its launch, we’ve seen constant renewals—an indication of rising dedication and curiosity.”
Wanting forward, Jung’s precedence just isn’t merely enlargement. “Our objective is to embed artwork into on a regular basis life—to assist it change into a pure a part of how individuals reside, assume and specific themselves. For any market to develop sustainably, it must be rooted not simply in commerce, however in tradition.” The standard of the gallery choice and sales space displays stays on the core of Kiaf’s targets. “Collectively, they supply a vivid snapshot of the present second in up to date artwork and sometimes set the tone for the truthful as a complete.”
This yr, the truthful will characteristic a particular exhibition supported by the Ministry of Tradition, Sports activities and Tourism and the Korea Arts Administration Service as certainly one of its highlights. Visitor curators will current exhibitions that replicate well timed views and evolving tendencies in up to date artwork. As this version coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, two rising curators—Yuli Yoon (head curator of Ilmin Museum of Artwork, Korea) and Tomoya Iwata (director of the fifth Flooring, Japan)—have been invited to arrange a joint exhibition. Centered on mediums usually underrepresented at artwork gala’s, reminiscent of media artwork and set up artwork, the present explores themes of accumulating and show, interpreted by the distinct but intersecting cultural lenses of each international locations.
“The collaboration between Yoon and Iwata, formed by totally different languages, experiences and curatorial approaches, has been inspiring to witness,” says Jung. “Their deep and dynamic trade, grounded in mutual respect, is what I consider makes this venture so highly effective. I’m assured that the ensuing exhibition won’t solely be visually compelling but in addition conceptually wealthy.”
For Jung, this present will function a curatorial anchor for Kiaf SEOUL 2025, connecting the truthful’s expansive bodily structure with a unified narrative—and its industrial setting with the broader cultural mission the truthful and the group pursue, as a platform connecting the Korean artwork scene with the world.
Kiaf SEOUL returns to COEX on September 3, 2025.
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