{"id":2113439,"date":"2026-08-26T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2113439"},"modified":"2026-08-26T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T15:30:00","slug":"what-happens-to-seouls-art-market-after-the-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2113439","title":{"rendered":"What Happens to Seoul\u2019s Art Market After the Hype?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Frieze_Seoul_2025.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong>\u00a0This story originally appeared in\u00a0On Balance,\u00a0<\/em>the ARTnews\u00a0newsletter about the art market and beyond.\u00a0Sign up here<\/em>\u00a0to receive it every Wednesday.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThe hype surrounding Seoul\u2019s boom years is over. As Frieze Seoul returns for its fifth edition and KIAF marks its 25th anniversary this September, the city\u2019s art market is entering a new phase. While collectors and dealers navigate more challenging terrain, signs point to a maturing market.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeoul\u2019s recalibration comes amid a modest improvement in global art sales. According to the most recent Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report<\/em>, the global art market grew 4 percent in 2025 after two years of decline, while South Korea posted growth of 6 percent. Yet dealers on the ground report a more mixed picture.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe mood has certainly changed,\u201d Jason Haam, whose eponymous gallery has participated in Frieze Seoul since its inception, told ARTnews<\/em>. \u201cA few years ago, much of the optimism surrounding Seoul was driven by the strength of the market. Korea became an exciting place for major international galleries because collectors here were buying aggressively. That particular optimism has faded, but I think that is true of the global art market as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHaam notes that while his gallery has raised its international profile, sales were stronger in 2021 and works have become increasingly difficult to move on the secondary market. \u201cThe easy flow of money has certainly stopped,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the market is healthier and more mature. The collectors who remain tend to be genuinely passionate about art and are more likely to continue collecting over the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSeoul-based adviser Hong Chang-Hee said the speculative activity that accompanied the boom has subsided. Today, higher interest rates, economic uncertainty, and currency volatility have made \u201ccollectors more conscious of liquidity\u201d and more selective when acquiring works priced above several hundred thousand dollars. That conscientiousness also extends to which artists are being acquired; Haam said he\u2019s noticed more recently that Korean collectors are placing greater trust in \u201cmarkets they can observe directly\u201d and looking closely at contemporary Asian artists rather than defaulting to Western blue-chip names.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut collectors at the top end are still buying, according to Timmy Kim, a Seoul-based adviser and curator. He sees a bifurcation in the market: The old guard continues to acquire works by established names priced above $1 million from blue-chip galleries, while younger collectors typically buy works under $10,000, often of emerging artists from newer local galleries.<\/p>\n

\n\tMid-career artists, however, have found fewer buyers, said Kim. Some had previously benefited from speculative buying, but the secondary market for their work remains limited, he explained. In contrast, there is stronger demand for Dansaekhwa artists, who emerged in the 1970s. Government support also tends to favor younger artists, and leading galleries have limited space for mid-career artists.<\/p>\n

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View of the 2025 edition of KIAF. <\/span>\u24d2Creative Resource\/Courtesy Galleries Association of Korea<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAccording to Sunghoon Lee, chairman of the Galleries Association of Korea, which organizes KIAF, the Korean collector base has become more sophisticated: \u201cWhile established artists and traditional media remain important, today\u2019s collectors are generally more informed, curious, and confident in their own tastes. As a result, we\u2019re seeing growing interest in emerging artists and a broader range of contemporary practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaegu-based collectors Jaeyong Cho and Hyunji Kim are one example. The couple began buying works by blue-chip artists such as Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami, but their interests have since broadened. \u201cRecently, we\u2019ve found ourselves drawn to the diverse practices of younger artists working in the ultra-contemporary sphere,\u201d said Cho, citing recent acquisitions of works by Korean artists Haneyl Choi and Heemin Chung. At the fairs, they also spend more time discovering unfamiliar artists and galleries rather than seeking out names they already know.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fair landscape is also changing. Several dealers and advisers believe Frieze Seoul is becoming increasingly regional in character, a sharp contrast from its debut edition, when many local and international insiders thought it would beat out Art Basel Hong Kong for primacy in the region. Haam described the fair as \u201cmore local than Art Basel Hong Kong,\u201d but said he sees it as a \u201cnatural evolution\u201d as many fairs now serve their own regional ecosystems. Looking at this year\u2019s exhibitor list that point bears truth: more than 70 percent of the 133 exhibitors are based in the Asia-Pacific region, while around 50 enterprises have permanent spaces in Seoul.<\/p>\n

\n\tTimmy Kim, the adviser, noted that several collectors from the US flew in for the first edition of the fair but that number has since dwindled as the fair has \u201cbecome more localized now.\u201d He attributes that partly to when Frieze Seoul takes place: \u201cIt\u2019s a month ahead of Art Basel Paris so it\u2019s not attractive for [serious international collectors] to keep traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSome are more optimistic about international attendance. Mariko Kawashima, an Asia-based representative for S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Mendes Wood DM, expects more overseas collectors to travel to Seoul this year because of the Gwangju and Busan biennales, in which the gallery has artists exhibiting. Mendes Wood itself is returning to Frieze Seoul after sitting out last year\u2019s fair, when more than 40 galleries that had participated in the previous edition did not take part.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSeoul has become an essential stop on the international art calendar,\u201d says SoYoung Kim, director of Massimo de Carlo\u2019s Seoul operations. \u201cGalleries, museums, collectors, and artists increasingly see it as an important place to build long-term relationships.\u201d Rather than returning to Frieze Seoul, however, the gallery will stage a pop-up with Korean artist Hejum B\u00e4 in a traditional hanok<\/em>: \u201cWe\u2019re very much part of that whole moment in the city, just outside the fair itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hejum B\u00e4\u2019s I Envy the Mother Conches<\/em> (2026) will feature in her upcoming solo at Massimo De Carlo\u2019s Seoul gallery. <\/span>Photo Yeonje Kim\/Courtesy the artist and MASSIMODECARLO<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tCollectors have become accustomed to shuttling between events and openings spread across the capital. Next year they will also need to travel between Frieze Seoul and KIAF as the two fairs\u2014dubbed \u201cKIAFrieze\u201d by locals\u2014will no longer take place under the same roof. As COEX in Gangnam undergoes renovations, Frieze Seoul will move to the Zaha Hadid\u2013designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), a short distance from Frieze House Seoul, the year-round exhibition space the fair opened last year. KIAF will remain at COEX.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Frieze Seoul has matured, the fair has also increased its local investment. South Korean retail conglomerate Shinsegae Group recently signed on as the fair\u2019s headline partner through 2030. While some have raised concerns about the loss of synergies between the two fairs and DDP\u2019s suitability for an art fair of this scale, Hong, the adviser, said Shinsegae Group\u2019s broad reach could help the fair cultivate new collectors. \u201cIt has the potential to bring new energy to the Korean art market, which has been somewhat subdued in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside the fairs, a string of gallery closures has shaken Seoul\u2019s art scene, as it has in art hubs around the world. Several international galleries, including Peres Projects, K\u00f6nig, and Various Small Fires, have shuttered their Seoul outposts, alongside local space One and J. Gallery. Haam likened the closures to the period following the 2008 financial crisis. \u201cWe enjoyed a remarkably long period of growth, and today\u2019s slowdown should be understood as a long-overdue market correction,\u201d he said, adding that galleries need to rethink how they operate in Seoul.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther foreign dealers remain committed. Meyer Riegger opened a Seoul space in collaboration with Galerie Jocelyn Wolff last year, while Gladstone Gallery is doubling in size and relocating to Hannam-dong ahead of the fairs.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond the commercial sphere, Seoul\u2019s institutional scene is developing. Centre Pompidou partnered with the Hanwha Foundation of Culture to open a museum on Yeouido Island in June, while PhotoSeMA, the city\u2019s first museum dedicated to photography, opened last year and the Songhyeon Cultural Center, an exhibition space meant to house the 23,000 works donated by Samsung founder Lee Kun-hee, is slated to open in 2027. Korean institutions, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), are also increasingly partnering with counterparts overseas.<\/p>\n

\n\tMMCA director Kim Sung-hee has observed that local collectors are becoming more open to supporting museums and cultural institutions, which she describes as part of the \u201cmaturation of Korea\u2019s culture of giving.\u201d<\/p>\n

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View of the northern facade of 739-28 Hannam Building, which will serve as the main entrance to the Gladstone Gallery\u2019s new Seoul location. <\/span>Courtesy Mass Studies<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tFrieze Seoul director Patrick Lee has observed the same shift. \u201cWhat is particularly encouraging is the level of engagement beyond collecting itself. Many collectors are contributing through patronage, education, and support for artists and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNot everyone agrees, however. Timmy Kim is more cautious, saying Korea has yet to develop a strong culture of museum patronage. He pointed to gala dinners as one Western fundraising model that does not easily translate to Korea. \u201cKorean culture is very different,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have many hidden collectors in the Korean market who don\u2019t want to expose themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he believes that could change with the next generation, who are more inclined to attend events publicly\u2014and with a deepening sense of engagement. \u201cWhen I go to museums, I feel like the young audiences are discussing the art, not just taking pictures,\u201d he said. \u201cThe environment is way more developed now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEmma Son, Seoul-based partner at Lehmann Maupin, sees similar promise among Korea\u2019s growing cohort of young collectors. \u201cWhile they may begin with more modest acquisitions, many are thinking long term and developing thoughtful collections from an early stage. That kind of sustained engagement is very encouraging for the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/market\/frieze-seoul-kiaf-2026-preview-korean-art-market-1234795903\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Frieze_Seoul_2025.jpg?w=1024″] Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0This story originally appeared in\u00a0On Balance,\u00a0the ARTnews\u00a0newsletter about the art market and beyond.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive it every Wednesday. The hype surrounding Seoul\u2019s boom years is over. As Frieze Seoul returns for its fifth edition and KIAF marks its 25th anniversary this September, the city\u2019s art market is entering a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2113439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2113439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2113439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2113439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2113439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}