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Frieze Seoul kicks off with a week of arts events and celebrations

MMM DD YYYYWORDS BY CHARLIE NG

'Where You Stand Green-2’ by Kibong RHEE. Image courtesy of the artist and the gallery.

The second edition of the Frieze Seoul art fair kicks off today (Sep 6) and spans through Sep 9 in the capital of South Korea. The main fair featuring more than 120 Korean and international galleries takes place at the Convention & Exhibition Center (COEX) in Gangnam, the heart of Seoul city. Frieze Week happening in tandem from Sep 5 to Sep 9 brings a week of art exhibitions, film and music showcases, talks, celebrations, and other events across the city.

‘Under the Stairs’ by Soyoung Choi. Image courtesy of the artist and Gallery Planet.

Art lovers and creatives can also attend the Kiaf Art Seoul art fair held at COES during the same period from Sep 7 – 10, as tickets of both fairs grant access to the other in a collaboration to diversify visitor’s experience this art-filled week.

‘Nothing Here Was Ours’ (still) by Minhong Pyo. Image courtesy of the artist.

Frieze Film

In its second year, Frieze Film curated by KIM Sung-woo and Sungah Serena CHOO features works by 14 Korean artists such as BAEK Heaven, Kim Daum, Kim Hyojae, Park Sunmin, and Pyo Minhong.

The program this year is titled “It was the way of walking through narrative” with the aim to explore how unique perspectives and storytelling in films are used to reveal everyday anecdotes eliminated from the official records.

The featured films are showcased physically in four independent art spaces: Amado Art Space, BOAN1942 ARTSPACE BOAN 1, Insa Art Space, and MOTHER Offline or online on Frieze’s website.

Inaugural Frieze Music

In collaboration with BMW, the debut edition of Frieze Music in Seoul will offer a live performance by Korean R&B and hip-hop singer-songwriter, Colde. The performance is joined by music producer APRO, rapper Khakii, and DJ Conan.

Set for Sep 8, Frieze Music is held at New Garage in the Seongsu-dong district on an invite-only basis — a limited number of tickets can be won via an Instagram competition from Frieze’s Instagram account (@friezeofficial).

‘You Won’t Know, If You Don’t Go’ by Friedrich Kunath. Image courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe.

Late-night openings

Frieze Week Seoul will also see a series of celebratory events, dubbed the late-night openings, in Seoul’s top three gallery districts from Sep 5 to Sep 7.

Sep 5 will see Hannam district’s Hannam Night with the participation of galleries and institutions like Gallery Baton, CYLINDER, Esther Schipper, Leeum Museum of Art, Lehmann Maupin, P21, Pace, Thaddaeus Ropac, Sprüth Magers, VSF and Whistle.

On Sep 6, Cheongdam Night’s highlighted venues are Atelier Hermès, G Gallery, Gladstone, ONE AND J., Perrotin, SONGEUN, and White Cube.

Meanwhile, Samcheong Night on the final day will be participated by A-Lounge, ARARIO GALLERY, Art Sonje Center, Hakgojae, Gallery Hyundai, Tina Kim Gallery, Kukje, and PKM.

‘Zesty’ by Jessie Edelman. Image courtesy of the artist and Denny Gallery.

Supporting independent or non-profit art spaces with Arts Council Korea (ARKO)

With the aim to support the independent or non-profit art scene rooted across the region, Frieze Seoul is also collaborating with Arts Council Korea (ARKO) to feature 36 of such art spaces during Frieze Week.

Among the 36 entities, 22 have received support from ARKO’s Selection Visual Art Program while the rest were selected this year by ARKO and this year’s Frieze Film curators.

Frieze has launched a digital city map listing the 36 featured spaces while ARKO has released its Art Space Network to highlight on a map a total of 91 alternative, emerging, and non-profit art spaces in Seoul and six other cities in South Korea.

Art and Culture