Frieze Seoul art fair debuts to tap rapid growth in South Korean market
- London art fair organiser makes its first foray into Asia with the event in underground COEX in the South Korean capital, whose art market is growing fast
- More than 110 galleries are exhibiting, 30 per cent from Asia including some newly present in Seoul. ‘The level of artworks has been elevated,’ an adviser says
Frieze, the fast-expanding London art fair organiser, on Friday opened its first Asian edition in Seoul. And rather than being hosted outdoors in Frieze’s signature marquee, the fair is taking place in Asia’s largest underground shopping mall.
Frieze Seoul’s preview day at the COEX, with its state-of-the-art aquarium, in the affluent district of Gangnam in the South Korean capital opened with more than 110 galleries from 21 countries exhibiting.
They include Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner and 19 other galleries either based in Seoul or with a branch there. Around 30 per cent of the galleries are from Asia, including 10 emerging names that have opened since 2010.
KIAF Seoul, the country’s longest-running contemporary art fair, also opened on Friday alongside Frieze at COEX, with galleries from 17 countries exhibiting.
Frieze began in London’s Regent’s Park in 2003, expanded to New York in 2012, and, after Seoul, will add a fourth fair in Los Angeles.