Featured Events in Seoul in May 2024 (January Updated)

Musical "Sunny Ten" ranked first in sales of Daehakno musicals! Touching moments, shouts of the past! "That feeling of memories of the 90s and 2000s!" Original! Summon the shining youthful light of the past! Jukebox musical "Sunny Ten"! 公演时间： 工作日：19:30 Saturday & public holidays: 14:00 16:30 周日: 14:00 (Closed on Tuesdays)

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's MultiArt 2024 "Space Elevator" is a project that explores another reality universe and the feelings associated with it. The project will be held every month from May this year to February next year. What is the "reason" and "methodology" that humans should leave the self-satisfied earth and move towards a new reality-the universe? MultiArt 2024 may be unfamiliar to us, but surprisingly, we focus on the interesting concept of "space elevator" that has been discussed for a long time in engineering.

The HIPHOPPLAYA FESTIVAL 2024 블라인드 티켓 is set to ignite Seoul's Hangang Park in Banpo with unparalleled energy from May 4th to 5th, 2024! Known as HPF, HIPHOPPLAYA FESTIVAL 블라인드 티켓 stands as a cornerstone of Korea's hip-hop scene, serving as an annual gathering spot for hip-hop and R&B enthusiasts and a hotbed for youth culture. HIPHOPPLAYA FESTIVAL 블라인드 티켓 this year, priced at 189,000 KRW for a two-day pass, boast an impressive lineup including ZICO, Dynamic Duo, GIRIBOY, pH-1, BIG Naughty, B.I, LEE YOUNG JI, E SENS, CHANGMO, AWICH, KID MILLI, YANG HONGWON, ASH ISLAND, and CAMO, promising an unforgettable showcase of performances. The HIPHOPPLAYA FESTIVAL 2024 블라인드 티켓 symbolizes not only the allure of hip-hop music but also the vibrant participation of the younger generation in cultural festivities. Invite your friends and join us at this annual hip-hop extravaganza!

Time required: 75 minutes (no intermission) Language: English, Korean Payment method: Prepaid [19+ women only] A macho show with both artistic and aesthetic qualities! Blushing and heartbeating the whole time! ▪ A macho show specially created for women over 19 years old! Awesome stage effects and lighting design, a full range of audio-visual enjoyment! ▪ The hot, attractive and artistic performance and the more dreamy plot will allow you to experience the feeling of deers bumping into each other throughout the whole process! ▪ There are many opportunities for interaction among the audience. If you are lucky, you may be invited to the stage and make the audience scream with the Obamas! ▪ Release stress and liberate yourself! Here you don’t need to care about other people’s opinions, enjoy it and experience it to your heart’s content!

"Nanta Show" takes the traditional Korean culture "Four Things Game" as the theme, and interprets the stories that happened in the kitchen with humorous performances. It is also the first non-verbal performance in Korea. "Nanta Show" sublimates all kinds of kitchen props into musical instruments. It combines the rhythm of traditional Korean musical instruments and the rhythm of modern music, giving all the props vitality. Therefore, "Nanta Show" is a machine for men, women and children, surpassing It is a powerful performance of nationality and age, and it breaks the high box office record of Korean performances every year. "Nanta Show" has a history of 15 years since its successful premiere in 1997. In 1999, he participated in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the United Kingdom and was well received. After that, he successfully performed overseas performances in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands and Australia, and finally settled on Broadway in New York. "Nanta Show" has over 7.4 million viewers so far. And it has toured in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao and other cities.

The KOBA Show 2024 is a highly anticipated event that is set to showcase the future of the next generation broadcasting service, video, sound, and lighting industry. Taking place at the Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea, this event provides a unique opportunity for professionals and enthusiasts alike to witness the state-of-the-art advancements in the cultural industry. From May 21 to May 24, 2024, attendees can expect to immerse themselves in the cutting-edge technologies and innovations that are shaping the broadcasting, image, sound, and lighting industries. The KOBA Show 2024 will feature a comprehensive display of the latest trends and developments in these fields, offering a glimpse into the exciting future that awaits. With its serious and official tone, the KOBA Show 2024 promises to deliver an insightful and informative experience for all participants. This event serves as a platform for industry experts to exchange knowledge and ideas, fostering collaboration and growth within the sector. For anyone interested in the future of broadcasting, video, sound, and lighting, the KOBA Show 2024 is a must-attend event. Mark your calendars and join us at the Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center to witness firsthand the advancements that are shaping the cultural industry.

CosmoBeauty Seoul 2024 is the premier event in Korea for professionals in the beauty industry. This prestigious gathering serves as a dedicated business platform, offering a wealth of opportunities to both domestic and international beauty entrepreneurs. CosmoBeauty Seoul 2024 provides an invaluable gateway to the Korean Beauty Market, which is renowned for its cutting-edge trends and innovative products. Additionally, this event serves as a stepping stone to the global industry, enabling businesses to expand their reach and connect with industry leaders worldwide. Taking place from May 29th to May 31st, 2024, in the vibrant city of Seoul, CosmoBeauty Seoul 2024 will be held at the esteemed Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center. This state-of-the-art venue, located at 513 Yeongdong-daero, Samseong 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, sets the stage for a dynamic and immersive experience. CosmoBeauty Seoul 2024 invites beauty professionals from all corners of the globe to explore the latest trends, network with industry experts, and discover the limitless potential of the Korean Beauty Market. With its serious and official tone, this event is a must-attend for those seeking to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving beauty industry. Join us at CosmoBeauty Seoul 2024 and unlock the possibilities for your business in Korea and beyond.

When you are in Seoul, how can you miss such a shocking and dreamy graffiti show? There are handsome actors, exquisite painting techniques, funny plots, romantic love stories, all of which are in the graffiti show! Even if you don't understand a word of Korean, you can still enjoy the performance! The actors' wonderful painting techniques, interesting makeup, humorous performances, plus the music that fills the entire scene and the soft light will bring you Unlimited joy and shock! [Graffiti Show: Reappearing Heroes with Art] "Graffiti Show" is a stage play that combines three-dimensional images with live painting. The theme of the performance is "heroes". Through more than 10 art techniques, the heroic images in people's hearts such as Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee are "reborn" on the stage. The modern media used interspersed are dazzling. While being surprised and happy, it is the Unlimited touch of being with heroes. The performance venue is located at the Gwanghwamun "Gyeonghyang Art Theater", and it is very convenient to go shopping nearby before and after the performance. [You can resonate even if you don't know Korean] This play is a "wordless play" with no lines from beginning to end. The actors' humorous actions and expressions, coupled with artistic graffiti, make the audience completely happy. There is no difficulty for foreign audiences who are not familiar with Korean to understand. No matter men, women, young or old, from which country, you can find joy and resonance here. [Dazzling Art Forms] In the more than one-hour performance, you can see various art forms with different styles, such as [Colorful Painting], where the actors will draw colorful patterns on the water, which is very magical; [Action Painting] is a combination of dance and painting. Four actors will freely splash oil paint with a cheerful rhythm, and when they are put together, it turns out to be a complete picture; [Sketch Painting] is outstanding for its speed. In just a few minutes, a large Korean painting will appear on paper. [Amazing Stage Created by 3D Images] "Graffiti Show" creatively introduced projection technology in the performance, presenting realistic 3D stereoscopic images in front of the audience, with a feeling of both reality and fantasy, making people feel as if they have entered a fantasy world. [Light Sculpture Painting] Sculpting pictures! Faster and stronger! [Action Painting] Jump! Shake! Sprinkle! Amazing works created with only four drawing boards! [Dust Painting] What you see is not all, a mirage-like dust painting! [Sketch Painting] A moment not to be missed, a large Korean painting completed in an instant! [Cube Painting] A dreamlike simulated rubber and plastic art completed with more than 200 Rubik's cubes! [Luminous Painting] Depicting the peace of the night sky with a silver light pen! [Colorful Painting] There is no "impossible", a colorful painting drawn on the water! [Battle Painting] The charming touch of the three actors presented in the dark!

• Enjoy realistic and exciting kitchen performances and dazzling performances. • Expressing the classical rhythm of our traditional song ‘Samulnori’ through a performing art that combines acrobatics, comedy, and percussion instruments • Enjoy classical performances by a talented troupe, from traditional folk songs to contemporary songs. Founded in 1997, Nanta Show is Korea’s representative silent show and Asia’s first long-running Broadway show. It has been performed over 43,000 times in 322 cities in 60 countries and regions, entertaining over 13 million audiences worldwide. Come experience the captivating charm of the Nanta Show for yourself. △ Nanta Show is Korea's first non-verbal theater performance that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and genders, by comically dramatizing events that occur in the kitchen using the rhythm of Samulnori, a traditional Korean music. △ Since the work consists only of rhythm, beat, and situation, it is free from language barriers and can therefore be enjoyed and sympathized with by anyone, regardless of age or gender, around the world. △ Another strength that makes Nanta special is that the audience can come up on stage and participate in the show. Get excited and empathize with the actors, and experience the thrilling fun that is unique to “Nanta”! △ After establishing its own theater in Jeong-dong, Seoul, Nanta opened theaters in Jeju Island, Myeong-dong, and Hongdae, establishing itself as a must-see tourist attraction not only for domestic audiences but also for foreign tourists.

Exciting visual performances of the most Korean cultural content!

Global Electric Power Tech 2024 in Seoul is a pivotal event within the electrical and electronics industry. As a leading exhibition, it plays a crucial role in fostering technological advancements and establishing a solid infrastructure for the electric and power sectors. Attendees have the opportunity to engage in various technology seminars, workshops, and forums aimed at accelerating innovation through the exchange of valuable information. The event showcases a wide array of products encompassing Electric Power Facilities and Systems, Control and Management Systems, Lighting and Relevant Materials, Transmission Equipment and Systems, as well as New & Renewable Energy Systems & Components. Taking place from May 1st to May 3rd at the Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center, located at 513 Yeongdong-daero, Samseong 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Global Electric Power Tech 2024 is a must-attend for professionals looking to stay at the forefront of developments in the industry.

Experience the convergence of literature and technology at the upcoming event, "Reading My Poetry Book titled MINKYUNGDAE Poem and AI Picture". Immerse yourself in a captivating journey as the poetry of MINKYUNGDAE comes to life through AI-generated pictures, adding a unique dimension to the artistic experience. This exclusive event will be held at the prestigious National Library of Korea in 서초구, on May 2, 2024. Witness the seamless blend of creative expression and innovative technology at this one-of-a-kind gathering. Admission tickets are available for £11.55, offering a remarkable opportunity to delve into the world of poetry and digital artistry. Don't miss out on this extraordinary event where the beauty of words meets the wonders of artificial intelligence.

The Seoul Bar & Spirits Show 2024 aims to disseminate the culture of bars and showcase the rapidly evolving trends in the liquor market. As the only professional Liquor exhibition in Korea, this event offers a unique opportunity to experience a diverse selection of spirits in one location. The show will take place in the vibrant city of Seoul, specifically at the prestigious Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center. Located at 513 Yeongdong-daero, Samseong 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, this venue provides the perfect setting for industry professionals and enthusiasts alike to explore the world of spirits. From May 3rd to May 5th, 2024, attendees will have the chance to discover and appreciate the finest liquors, while gaining insights into the latest trends and developments in the market. The Seoul Bar & Spirits Show 2024 promises a serious, official, and calm atmosphere, making it an unmissable event for anyone with a passion for the liquor industry. Don't miss this opportunity to be a part of the premiere liquor exhibition in Korea.

Bio Korea 2024, an effective business event, serves as a prominent platform for the bio-industry. With a focus on the international exchange of information and Technology Transfer, Bio Korea has successfully established itself as a hub for the bio-industry. The event, set to take place from May 8th to May 10th, 2024, will be held in the vibrant city of Seoul, specifically at the renowned Starfield COEX Mall. Located at 513 Yeongdong-daero Samseong 1(il)-dong Gangnam-gu Seoul Seoul, South Korea, the venue offers a convenient and accessible location for participants. Bio Korea 2024 offers a unique opportunity for professionals, experts, and enthusiasts in the bio-industry to gather and explore the latest advancements, trends, and innovations in the field. Through its comprehensive program, the event aims to foster collaboration, facilitate business opportunities, and promote knowledge sharing. Whether you are a researcher, entrepreneur, investor, or part of an organization within the bio-industry, Bio Korea 2024 is a must-attend event to stay informed, expand networks, and discover new possibilities. Mark your calendars and join the global bio-industry community at Bio Korea 2024 in Seoul.

Seoul International Travel Fair 2024 is set to showcase the diverse touristic offerings and enhance the tourism landscape in the region, with the aim of attracting a large number of visitors and tourists to explore the unique features of Seoul, South Korea. The fair provides a conducive environment for the exchange of insights and the latest trends in the global tourism industry. Taking place at the Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center, located at 513 Yeongdong-daero, Samseong 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, the event will run from May 9 to May 12, 2024. Attendees can look forward to discovering the rich cultural heritage, modern amenities, and captivating attractions that define Seoul as a premier travel destination.

To ensure a highly effective sourcing event, the World's Leading Wines Seoul 2024 exclusively invites established and quality-focused importers and distributors from South Korea. This exclusive gathering specifically targets importers and distributors with a strong track record of sales in the South Korean market. The selection process for invitation is based on the participants' dedication to curating exceptional wine portfolios and their established distribution networks and sales channels. Only the head wine buyers, predominantly owners and CEOs, are confirmed to attend this prestigious event. Set against the backdrop of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, the World's Leading Wines Seoul 2024 will take place at the esteemed Grand Hyatt Seoul. Located at 322 Sowol-ro, Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, this iconic venue provides a captivating setting for industry professionals to gather and explore the finest wines from around the world. Mark your calendars for May 15, 2024, as this remarkable event promises to be an unparalleled opportunity for networking and discovering exceptional wines. Join this exclusive event and immerse yourself in an environment dedicated to excellence in the wine industry. Network with like-minded professionals, expand your business connections, and stay at the forefront of the South Korean wine market. World's Leading Wines Seoul 2024 is an event not to be missed, meticulously crafted for the discerning importers and distributors who are focused on elevating their wine offerings and market presence.

Story-Telling Night powered by PechaKucha - Celebrating Ideas that Matter is set to take place at the Embassy of Switzerland in Jongno-gu. This event, a part of the Swiss-Korean Innovation Week 2024, will showcase six speakers from diverse backgrounds, sharing their intriguing stories of trust in the engaging 20x20 PechaKucha format. Guests can expect to be captivated by untold innovation stories presented visually and dynamically. The evening will provide a platform for speakers to narrate their personal tales within the realm of innovation, creating a unique networking opportunity in the relaxed setting of the Swiss Hanok courtyard. Attendees will have the chance to absorb a wealth of information in 400 seconds, highlighting the essence of the event's theme. Tickets for this enlightening experience will go on sale on April 27 at 8:30 AM, offering a chance to be part of a memorable night celebrating impactful ideas.

Six speakers with diverse backgrounds will share their captivating stories of trust in the engaging 20x20 PechaKucha format. The Swiss-Korean Innovation Week 2024 will host the Storytelling Night - powered by PechaKucha, showcasing untold innovation narratives in the dynamic and visual 20x20 format. Presenters hailing from various fields will delve into their personal tales within the realm of innovation. This closing event offers a prime opportunity for networking amidst the serene ambiance of the Swiss Hanok courtyard. Attendees will witness the power of concise storytelling as speakers convey their ideas in just 400 seconds. Join us at the Embassy of Switzerland in Jongno-gu on May 24, 2024, at the celebration of PechaKucha Night - Celebrating Ideas that Matter. Tickets will be available for purchase starting April 25 at 8:30 AM.

The Tea World Festival 2024 in Seoul is set to be a captivating event showcasing an array of tea-related products and items. Visitors can explore a variety of teas such as Green Teas, Oolong Teas, Black Teas, and Tea bags, along with an assortment of Foods and Drinks infused with tea. Additionally, the festival will introduce attendees to innovative products crafted from tea, including beverages, medicines, cosmetics, and health care items. Tea enthusiasts can also browse through a collection of Tea Wares and Instruments, including Ceramic and Porcelain tea sets, Tea Pots, and more. The event will take place at the Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center, located at 513 Yeongdong-daero, Samseong 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, from May 31 to June 2, 2024. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of tea at the Tea World Festival 2024.

Saturday Myeong~Pum, the representative performance of the National Gugak Center It is held every Saturday at the National Gugak Center located next to the Seoul Arts Center with a colorful and rich high-quality stage ranging from court music to folk music, dance, and original Korean traditional music.

Widely dubbed an alchemist of disparate socioeconomic values, Pratchaya Phinthong often acts as an intermediary introducing an exchangeable currency through which distant realities reciprocate. Primarily through extensive traveling and dialogues - from Southern Africa to the South Pacific Ocean (1) - Phinthong finds and gathers materials and narratives for his art projects, allowing them to interplay in both ironic juxtaposition and fateful harmony. His works' minimal appearance and open-endedness correspond to his particular methodology, which openly invites all relevant partakers and coincidences rather than controlling them. As a result, Phinthong’s works encompass the fluctuation of meaning over time and the human agencies that shape their courses. The exhibition addresses a selection of important moments from 2012 onward in Phinthong’s expansive practice through which one could segue into some of his journeys. Examples include devising an ecological alternative to the eradication method of tsetse flies that transmit the deadly sleeping sickness in sub-Saharan Africa (, 2012); tracking the provenance of the ‘Broken Hill’ skull in the Lusaka National Museum collection, Zambia, after hearing a rumor that it’s a fake (, 2021); collaborating with villagers in Ban Napia located in northeastern Laos that remolds the UXOs (unexploded ordnance) left by the US army during the Vietnam War (, 2019-, , 2022-). For this exhibition, as an extension of project, he traveled to the Korean DMZ, an important habitat for an endangered species of cranes in paradoxical association with the recent test flight of the US Air Force’s B-21 stealth bomber (), 2024 and , 2024). The selection of works in particularly notes on the vast spatiotemporal distances Phinthong takes up between the diverse geographical locations and socioeconomic functions. They signify the notion of mobility - the capacity to shift grounds and cross borders - as one of the momentous instruments in his works that enables and manifests in both conceptual speculation and the act of traveling. Mobility expands the elasticity of the spatiotemporal range and hence one can formulate conceptual suppositions outside an individual’s reach. One can imagine scopes that seem undetectable and invisible because it is often beyond the human lifetime’s scale of time and space. Moreover, mobility challenges the abstraction often employed in modes of capitalist circulation and valorization via concrete interaction with the individual relations surrounding a story. Through mobility, each established autonomous system that Phinthong brings in for an exchange of values can be provoked and opened up for conversion. The subtle presence of his artworks may not visually convey the vast spectrum of geographies and subject matter Phinthong covers. The range is condensed to his continuous deployment of diptychs both literal and figurative in his works. The artist places two different systems in close proximity, which largely operate in two modes: pairing/doubling and exchange. In pairing/doubling, Phinthong presents two distinct subjects conventionally understood as opposites as a pair, in intimate, humble scale and form. They are so close to each other that it is uncanny, ironic, or even surreal. For example, in the photograph , a pair of dead tsetse flies simply lie on the artist’s hand. The flies that transmit sleeping sickness, fatal without treatment, are in direct contact with a very much alive person, observing the doom-cast past and future. In some cases, the works are duplicates of another work. For instance is a painting duplicate of documentation from Phinthong’s 2013 solo exhibition Broken Hill at the Chisenhale Gallery. It is part of a recent series in which Phinthong has been collaborating with a painter to copy online photo documentation of Phinthong’s works photorealistically. Here, a digital photograph, a reproducible material, is reproduced again but manually by someone other than the author; as a result, it becomes a unique work of art that cannot be reproduced again. This work questions the autonomy and ownership of art, contingent on its materiality and maker and its status as a commodity and documentation. Through the formal and conceptual usage of duality, Phinthong resists a singular authority and interpretation and instead advocates coexistence and collaboration. Furthermore, Phinthong mediates an exchange, a two-way correspondence in his artistic production and engagement sites. In the ongoing series and , he has been working with the villagers of Napia in northeastern Laos, who have been melting UXOs to create silverware and souvenirs to sell to tourists. Phinthong pays the villagers the production fee he received from galleries and institutions and as a result produces materials that extend bilateral fields and values. The villagers’ renewal of once a lethal munition, still a threat to many people in Laos, into something functional and tradeable is similar to Phinthong’s artistic gesture of transforming the original context into another. David Teh, a writer and curator, as well as a long- term collaborator of Phinthong, stresses that the gesture is not to merge the different systems but “..., the exchange always two-way: the artist sacrifices the symbolic and economic privileges of art in favor of nonart actors, but in return, appropriates their nonart material as an artwork.” (2) By transferring the seemingly bound values and resources from one system to another, another social route is paved that could unsettle the rigid, unilateral flow of means and recognize the tangible realities of abstract macro economies. Pratchaya Phinthong’s emancipatory as well as reductive strategies together coincide with an organic behavior that is cyclical, one that abides by natural law to self-regulate to stability. The dynamic approach, which oscillates between the macro and micro, community and individual, art and nonart, is further intensified in the variable placement of his works in this exhibition. Not the first time employing this tactic to integrate the nature of sociality of materials, (3) Phinthong has proposed two installation variations of , the newly commissioned work for the exhibition , to alternate periodically throughout the exhibition. This work is an extension of : five pairs of are rearranged in the shape that resembles a B-21 Raider in one iteration, and a selection of five poses a couple of cranes take to communicate with each other, in another. Like the forest in the video work, , which ironically can protect itself from illegal loggers due to the embedded metal shards damaging their machinery, one bird of destruction is repeatedly transformed into the other of hope and regeneration. Pratchaya Phinthong draws novel cartographies of meaning by revealing events and social relations hidden under generalized definitions. However this cartography is not merely a conceptual one, but it is through direct and concrete encounters in his travels. At times the problem seems too abstract and overwhelming in scale in the complex systems of neoliberal globalization and ongoing histories of trauma; Phinthong takes the basic method of exchange in an economic structure as a pragmatic opening to conversion. And soon enough, we see the world as interconnected structures, the local and global simultaneously. Like a kind of holistic but subtle transformation one experiences long after a good journey, a series of encounters unknowingly leave an imprint in time. But as the way nature heals itself, it is difficult to notice them as “evidence” because it takes a lifetime or even generations. As today takes care of tomorrow, it happens in time without us even having to try, and we may have to simply observe and listen today. (1) Although not exhibited here, a well-known artwork by Pratchaya Phinthong (2007), an installation including two photographs of a full moon, is a good example of his boundless traveling. Phinthong took a picture of the full moon in the Chatham Islands in the South Pacific Ocean because it was the place where he would land if he dug a hole straight through the Earth from Paris. The next day he went back to Paris to take a picture of the same moon. (2) David Teh, (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2017), 78. (3) Pratchaya Phinthong, . Dec. 2, 2018 - Jan. 27, 2019, BANGKOK CITYCITY GALLERY, Bangkok. The arrangement of precast concrete parking curbs was adjusted daily throughout the show.

80 Urban Reality sheds light on the urban surroundings of Korea in the 1980s through the GanaArt Collection and other artworks collected by the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA). GanaArt Collection refers to a total of 200 works donated to SeMA by Gana Art Center Chairman Lee Ho-jae in 2001. The collection encompasses works of the Minjung Art movement and of realism pieces that vigorously reflect the social reality of Korea in the 1980s and 1990s.