Featured Events in Seoul in February 2025 (March Updated)

The exhibition "Impressionism, from Monet to America: Light, Across the Ocean" will be held at ALT.1 in Hyundai Seoul from February 15 to May 26. Water Lilies by Claude Monet, a painter loved by Koreans, is coming to Korea. Monet is an artist who captured the fleeting beauty created by light on canvas. He is known as the originator of Impressionist painters. That is why Monet's landscapes change in various ways depending on the light, which fascinates even those who are not familiar with art. Despite the global art market recession, Water Lilies was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $65.5 million two months ago. Last year, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism, major museums such as the Musée d'Orsay in France held Impressionist exhibitions and borrowed paintings, resulting in no chance for Impressionism to enter Korea. For this reason, the special exhibition that will open next month is expected by people inside and outside the art world as a heavyweight masterpiece exhibition of all ages to kick off the new year. The bridge of European and American Impressionism, Worcester masterpieces gather in one place The Korea Economic Daily, which has been making waves in the art world since the end of the year with the exhibition "Vienna 1900, Dream Artists", jointly held this exhibition with the Worcester Art Museum in the United States to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Vienna 1900. This is the place where Impressionism was born, and you can see 53 points. The organizer of the exhibition explained, "This is a special opportunity to show Korean visitors a new look at Impressionism." The exhibition includes works by Monet, Cézanne, Renoir and Camille Pissarro, which were exhibited at the "First Impressionist Exhibition" held in Paris in 1874, as well as works by John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. Alfred These are works by American Impressionist painters such as Sisley. This is because Impressionism, which originated in Europe, crossed the Atlantic and blossomed after encountering American nature, becoming the starting point of modern painting. Art lovers have high hopes for the exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Before the 19th century, most paintings were based on historical, political, mythological and religious themes due to the influence of social and religious environments. However, after entering the 19th century, with the advancement of the Industrial Revolution and urbanization, the growth of the middle class allowed people to have more financial resources and began to enjoy various leisure activities. Impressionist painters came into being and depicted the daily lives and leisure time of these people on canvas. Breaking away from the academic style that dominated the art world at the time, the Impressionist painters were no longer confined to the studio, but turned their attention to nature where they could fully experience light, color and air. They particularly like to vividly depict Parisians enjoying their daily romance and leisure through scenes such as picnics, boating, sunbathing, cafes, streets and gardens. The media exhibition "Holiday in Paris: Holiday in Paris" reinterprets the works of French Impressionist representative painters Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Georges Seurat and Gustave Caillebotte through immersive digital media art, and through interactive elements, it makes the audience feel as if they have traveled back to 19th century Paris and become the protagonists enjoying leisure in Impressionist works. Philosopher Hegel once said: "Rest is the most precious thing in the world." It is a great pleasure for human beings to have peace of mind, temporarily get rid of physical and mental fatigue, and enjoy their own rest time. For those modern people who are tired of endless life and work, entering the exhibition hall, immersing themselves in the works of representative painters of Impressionism, and feeling the romance and leisure of Paris will be an impulse to get rid of physical and mental fatigue. We hope that the Paris scenery against the backdrop of the Seine River, the leisurely boating scenes and the sunbathing scenes on the grass reproduced through immersive media art can provide modern people with an excellent space to temporarily escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a rest.

The most popular photography exhibition among Koreans!

In 2025, to commemorate its 60th anniversary, Samsung Cultural Foundation will launch various exhibitions at the Leeum Art Museum and Hoam Art Museum, combining classical and modern art to deepen cultural exchanges and expand participation. The Leeum Art Museum will present the most influential contemporary artist Pierre. The solo exhibition of Pierre Huyghe (1962-) opens, and it is also his first solo exhibition in Korea. The exhibition features 14 important works jointly sponsored by the Leeum Art Museum and the Punta della Dogana Museum of Modern Art in Venice, covering video, sound, sculpture and installation, and builds the museum space into an ecosystem where humans and non-humans coexist, becoming a continuous field of learning and change. In the second half of the year, a solo exhibition of Lee Ufan (1936-) will be launched to examine the relationship between technology and human beings, and a traveling exhibition is planned to be held at the M+ Museum in Hong Kong. In the first half of the year, Hoam Art Museum will hold the "Qian Zhai Zheng Yu" exhibition, cooperating with South Korea's Masong Art and Cultural Foundation to display more than 120 classic works covering real landscapes, figures, and flower and bird paintings; in the second half of the year, it will launch Louise. The solo exhibition of Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) displays sculptures, paintings, artist diaries, etc., and deeply explores her inner world.

Project Hashtag is a project curated by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to discover creators leading the visual arts in Korea and to support mutual collaboration not only in art but also in various fields. Launched in 2019 with the support of Hyundai Motor Company, Project Hashtag celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2024 and builds it into a new level of competition project that experiments with the scalability of contemporary visual art. "Hashtag (#)", the name of the enterprise, is a special symbol that can be interpreted in many ways depending on the language, country, purpose, etc. It was first used by Chris Messina on Twitter (currently X) and is now widely used. Hashtag is a method of linking related topics in different posts by connecting # and keywords on SNS platforms, and in this way, links can be formed in countless cases. The guiding value of Project Hashtag is an attitude and practice that transcends traditional definitions and boundaries, just like a label, creating a structure that enables unpredictable connections and communication. Project Hashtag 2024 is a project that supports collaboration between creators, curators, and researchers in various fields, rather than focusing on traditional pure visual art, and involves a differentiated platform through which expanded artistic possibilities are explored. We also hope to actively embrace free sharing between different fields and further conduct marginal experiments on tensions and conflicts that arise within them. Project Hashtag 2024 opened for public submissions in March 2024. This year's applicants proposed not only convergence projects using the latest technologies such as generative AI, metaverse, and games, but also social experiments that address pressing contemporary issues. In particular, people's tendency to look at social issues such as new environments, interpersonal relationships, and changes in values ​​brought about by the introduction of AI technology into daily life from different perspectives, and to seek community solidarity through interaction with others was very evident. In the Project Hashtag 2024 showcase, "Wish Office (Kim Raeo, Choi Joonseong, Seo Jinkyu, Seo John, Oh Saeol), Playing Art Method (Cho Hoyoun, Kim Youngju, Rhee Sei)", proposed different themes in their own way through the medium of "games", introducing the projects of Ho-yeon Jo, Young-ju Kim, and Se-ok Lee. "Wish Office" builds a "wish world", a virtual world where everyone's wishes can come true. We proposed a social experiment game that examines modern society through the language of games, in which individual efforts are easily frustrated. The "Playing Art Method" addresses the problems that arise when games are displayed as works in art galleries, creating meaningful discourse through exhibitions, workshops and other methods to form a loose learning community.

Project Hashtag is a project curated by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to discover creators leading the visual arts in Korea and to support mutual collaboration not only in art but also in various fields. Launched in 2019 with the support of Hyundai Motor Company, Project Hashtag celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2024 and builds it into a new level of competition project that experiments with the scalability of contemporary visual art. "Hashtag (#)", the name of the enterprise, is a special symbol that can be interpreted in many ways depending on the language, country, purpose, etc. It was first used by Chris Messina on Twitter (currently X) and is now widely used. Hashtag is a method of linking related topics in different posts by connecting # and keywords on SNS platforms, and in this way, links can be formed in countless cases. The guiding value of Project Hashtag is an attitude and practice that transcends traditional definitions and boundaries, just like a label, creating a structure that enables unpredictable connections and communication. Project Hashtag 2024 is a project that supports collaboration between creators, curators, and researchers in various fields, rather than focusing on traditional pure visual art, and involves a differentiated platform through which expanded artistic possibilities are explored. We also hope to actively embrace free sharing between different fields and further conduct marginal experiments on tensions and conflicts that arise within them. Project Hashtag 2024 opened for public submissions in March 2024. This year's applicants proposed not only convergence projects using the latest technologies such as generative AI, metaverse, and games, but also social experiments that address pressing contemporary issues. In particular, people's tendency to look at social issues such as new environments, interpersonal relationships, and changes in values ​​brought about by the introduction of AI technology into daily life from different perspectives, and to seek community solidarity through interaction with others was very evident. In the Project Hashtag 2024 showcase, "Wish Office (Kim Raeo, Choi Joonseong, Seo Jinkyu, Seo John, Oh Saeol), Playing Art Method (Cho Hoyoun, Kim Youngju, Rhee Sei)", proposed different themes in their own way through the medium of "games", introducing the projects of Ho-yeon Jo, Young-ju Kim, and Se-ok Lee. "Wish Office" builds a "wish world", a virtual world where everyone's wishes can come true. We proposed a social experiment game that examines modern society through the language of games, in which individual efforts are easily frustrated. The "Playing Art Method" addresses the problems that arise when games are displayed as works in art galleries, creating meaningful discourse through exhibitions, workshops and other methods to form a loose learning community.

Maria Svarbova, a photographer from Slovakia, has been recognized internationally for her work and popularity, starting with winning the International Photography Award in 2016, being selected as one of Forbes' 30 Most Influential People Under 30, and ranking first on the Hasselblad Masters List in the Art category in 2018. Reception Photographer. "Maria Svarbova: Yesterday's Future" is an exhibition that showcases 174 different works by Maria Svarbova, stimulating a sense of futurism and retro. The exhibition consists of 5 parts in total and is held at Ground Seoul, located in the Seoul Culture Center. An immersive exhibition is presented in a unique large space. Through a variety of media and exhibition presentation methods, you can feel the artist's unique trend sensibility, including the artist's representative works, the swimming pool series and the wall series, as well as photography, video and installation works. Various photo-taking areas with a sense of movie sets are set up in the exhibition hall, giving visitors the opportunity to participate and become the subject of the work. In addition, various educational programs and related events will be held to help you understand the exhibition more easily and enjoy it more deeply.

Around 1467, the Joseon royal family established the official kiln, or royal porcelain kiln, in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do, to produce white porcelain for the palace. Geumsa-ri was the kiln that operated from 1734 to 1751. Geumsa-ri is famous for producing milky white, i.e. milky white white purple, and moon jars. By collecting the fragments of the golden relic, you can learn about the white porcelain produced by the golden relic, such as the moon jar.

"Poetry written on fabric, embracing special memories in everyday life" The textile design brand "minä perhonen", which weaves special memories in everyday life into fairytale-like fabrics, will hold the exhibition "Minä Perhonen Design Journey: Cycle of Memory" for the first time in Korea. This exhibition will show the process of remembering bits and pieces of daily life, such as clouds over fields, swelling buds, and sounds of the coast, incorporating them into designs and making them into fabrics. The founder Akira Minagawa's philosophy of cherishing people and memories is also reflected in his works. I hope you will have a precious opportunity to discover the charm of textile design and a feast of beautiful textiles during your design journey with Minä Perhonen.

Jean Jullien, an Instagram superstar with 1.25 million followers, uses simple lines and colors to humorously present daily life and social issues around us.

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.

The Korean Artist Award is a prize system and support program jointly organized by the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA) and the SBS Foundation. Since its establishment in 2012, the award has selected four artists each year, provided support and exhibition opportunities for their new artistic creations, and continued to help them carry out international activities to showcase the potential of Korean contemporary art. Unlike previous exhibitions that mainly featured new works, starting in 2023, new works and artists' previous works will be organized together to broadly illuminate the artists' working worlds.

The Korean Artist Award is a prize system and support program jointly organized by the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA) and the SBS Foundation. Since its establishment in 2012, the award has selected four artists each year, provided support and exhibition opportunities for their new artistic creations, and continued to help them carry out international activities to showcase the potential of Korean contemporary art. Unlike previous exhibitions that mainly featured new works, starting in 2023, new works and artists' previous works will be organized together to broadly illuminate the artists' working worlds.

Souimun Gate (昭義門) was once a prominent part of the Seoul City Wall during the Joseon dynasty. Situated between Sungnyemun and Donuimun Gates, it served as a key passageway to the southwest of Seoul. The area surrounding Souimun was a bustling hub of both land and water transportation, filled with people and goods during the Joseon era. Additionally, just outside Souimun was the site where individuals convicted of capital crimes, along with Catholics considered a threat to Neo-Confucian ideology, were executed. These public executions were meant to serve as a stark warning to passersby about the consequences of crime. In 1914, during the Japanese colonial period, Souimun was demolished to make way for road development, as it was seen as an impediment to modernization. This exhibition offers visitors a glimpse into Souimun's rich history, showcasing its role as both a guardian of the Seoul City Wall and a vibrant center of activity before its demolition.

Recording All Life National Geographic's most ambitious project, the Photo Ark

Lotte Museum presents the world of antique jewelry that has been hidden from sight. Jewelry is a human legacy that reflects the times, including politics, economy, art, etc. This exhibition brings together masterpieces from 5,000 years of history, from extremely rare ancient gems to the present. Please experience a fascinating time while appreciating the spirit of the times, aesthetics, and craftsmanship contained in jewelry created for beauty.

"Cinema Paradiso (Immersive Special Exhibition)" is a global touring exhibition jointly planned by Korea Forest International and Italy's Crossmedia Group to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Italy in 2024.

The departure hall of the airport is a place where many people gather with excitement and anticipation. The starting point is the same, but each person's journey unfolds differently. This exhibition is an exhibition that looks back on the past 10 years of Seoul Design Foundation open curating that has provided creative opportunities to creators and supported their journeys at that starting point. What paths have the artists walked, and what meaning do their experiences in their journeys contain? What will the next 10 years look like? So, shall we go together to DDP Gallery Moon? This moment of departure together will be the starting point of new creation!

As you walk around the Seoul Museum of Craft, you will come across a variety of craft works. Just as each form was created to suit its use, the colors were not created by chance. The colors of each work reflect the artist’s thoughts and feelings. Artists devote themselves to research to find the most unique colors and repeat experiments to apply the desired colors to their works. No color is simple and can never be easily expressed. This exhibition is a record of the process in which craftsmen create their own colors, and a story about the time and dedication they put into it. The archive materials, including research notes on colors, poems, materials, and tools, are like looking at a palette filled with the unique colors that the artists wanted to express through their works. The three craftsmen in different fields, Noh Kyung-jo in ceramics, Lee Byeong-chan in dyeing, and Kim Heon-cheol in glass, all obtain colors from nature. Baking colors from the earth, dyeing colors from plants, and making colors shine more colorfully with light transmitted through glass. Creating colors is another way that craftsmen relate to nature. The colors they create enrich our daily lives and stimulate our senses. And these colors will meet you and create another relationship. I hope you will rediscover the colorful colors you witnessed in this exhibition and treasure them in your hearts. ※ ​​The Craft Archives exhibition is only open on weekdays (Tuesday to Friday). Please take note when viewing.

The exhibition "Lee Kang So: When the Wind Blows the Water" re-examines a unique series of works created over six decades by Lee Kang So (b. 1943), a seminal figure in the development of Korean contemporary art. As a leading artist in the Korean art scene, Lee Kang So has been conducting conceptual experiments on image perception and recognition. The exhibition title "When the Wind Blows the Water" is inspired by the work "Qing Ye Yin" by the Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianist Shao Yong (Shao Yong, 1011-1077). In his work, Shao Yong metaphorically describes a state of epiphany when encountering a new world. Shao Yong's title summarizes the oeuvre of Lee Kang So, who has long questioned the many different ways we see the world around us and continues to conduct conceptual experiments on perception in a variety of media such as painting, sculpture, installation, printmaking, video and photography. Lee Kang So's artistic philosophy, as he himself described his work for the 1975 Paris Biennale, is described in this way. At the time he said: “I do not intend to depict images in a traditional way, away from the subject-object relationship, but rather to present an open structure that reveals the order and relationships in the universe that are usually invisible, making these invisible states naturally visible.” (“Participating in the 9th Paris Biennale”, Space, January 1976)

The exhibition "Lee Kang So: When the Wind Blows the Water" re-examines a unique series of works created over six decades by Lee Kang So (b. 1943), a seminal figure in the development of Korean contemporary art. As a leading artist in the Korean art scene, Lee Kang So has been conducting conceptual experiments on image perception and recognition. The exhibition title "When the Wind Blows the Water" is inspired by the work "Qing Ye Yin" by the Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianist Shao Yong (Shao Yong, 1011-1077). In his work, Shao Yong metaphorically describes a state of epiphany when encountering a new world. Shao Yong's title summarizes the oeuvre of Lee Kang So, who has long questioned the many different ways we see the world around us and continues to conduct conceptual experiments on perception in a variety of media such as painting, sculpture, installation, printmaking, video and photography. Lee Kang So's artistic philosophy, as he himself described his work for the 1975 Paris Biennale, is described in this way. At the time he said: “I do not intend to depict images in a traditional way, away from the subject-object relationship, but rather to present an open structure that reveals the order and relationships in the universe that are usually invisible, making these invisible states naturally visible.” (“Participating in the 9th Paris Biennale”, Space, January 1976)