Frieze Seoul 2026 & Six Presentations to See at Seoul’s Art Week

When Frieze Seoul returns to COEX in Gangnam from September 2–5, 2026, it will arrive at a particularly bountiful moment for the Korean art world. The fifth edition, directed by Patrick Lee, brings together more than 130 galleries from 30 countries and regions, connecting Seoul’s galleries and institutions with an international parade of artists, collectors, and cultural figures. Presented in vibrant partnership with Kiaf SEOUL, the fair will unfold alongside major biennials and exhibitions across Korea, giving visitors a chance to experience the city as a sprawling cultural landscape.

This year, discovery is a guiding thread. Across the fair, attention turns toward artists whose positions within art history continue to evolve, material practices that move fluidly between art, craft, and design, and emerging galleries bringing distinctly personal perspectives to Seoul. The Galleries section will include major international names such as Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, White Cube, David Zwirner, Lisson, Thaddaeus Ropac, and Mendes Wood DM, alongside established Korean galleries including Gallery Hyundai, Kukje Gallery, PKM Gallery, Johyun Gallery, and Arario Gallery. 

Beyond COEX, Frieze Week will radiate through neighborhoods and institutions throughout Seoul. Leeum Museum, SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation, and Art Sonje Center are among the must-see participating cultural destinations, while Neighborhood Nights will bring rich programming to Euljiro, Hannam, Cheongdam, and Samcheong. 

Frieze LIVE: The Find Seoul, Busan Biennale × Frieze Film, and Frieze Music will further widen the frame, making the week feel like an ongoing exchange between the fair and the stunning city around it.

“Frieze Seoul is shaped by the extraordinary depth of activity across Korea at this time of year,” said Patrick Lee, Director of Frieze Seoul. “At the fair, what connects this year’s edition is a shared attention to what’s been overlooked, artists whose place in the canon is still being written, craft as a serious form of contemporary practice and galleries working outside the cities that usually get noticed first. Frieze Seoul’s job is to put all of that in dialogue with the strongest, most established practices already here. The result is an edition full of discovery, both within COEX and across the city.”

“Frieze Seoul is shaped by the extraordinary depth of activity across Korea at this time of year,”

Patrick Lee

Here are six presentations to have on the radar.

Lee Joon at Hakgojae Gallery

At Hakgojae Gallery, the skillful Lee Joon will be presented alongside works by Nam June Paik and seven Korean women artists ranging generations. Paik’s Tolstoy (1995), energized by his lifelong interest in the writer’s ideas of universality and human connection, will anchor the presentation, creating a visceral dialogue between past, present, and future.

Koo Jeong A at PKM Gallery

Koo Jeong A’s SpSt Y will be presented by PKM Gallery ahead of the artist’s solo exhibition at Leeum Museum in September. Her work will appear alongside paintings by the late Yun Hyong-keun and a new mosaic glass work by Olafur Eliasson, creating a conversation across generations and mediums.

Yoo Youngkuk at Pace Gallery

At Pace Gallery, Work (1989) by Yoo Youngkuk will take center stage, arriving as the artist receives a major retrospective at the Seoul Museum of Art. The presentation also includes a fresh elliptical glass installation by James Turrell and sculptures by Anicka Yi that have never previously been exhibited.

Lee Kang So at Thaddaeus Ropac

Thaddaeus Ropac will unite Lee Kang So and the late Georg Baselitz in a presentation that connects two distinctive approaches to painting and sculpture. The fair appearance intertwines with Lee Kang So’s major solo exhibition at Lotte Museum of Art and Baselitz’s retrospective at Sehwa Museum of Art, making the presentation part of a much wider institutional moment in Seoul.

Tadashi Kawamata with Mennour and Ruinart

Toasting to Frieze Week, Ruinart will further evolve its Conversations with Nature series with Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata, presented by Mennour. The collaboration forms part of the sweeping partner program unfolding throughout Seoul, adding a soulful material and architectural perspective to the citywide events surrounding the fair.

Haegue Yang at Kukje Gallery

At Kukje Gallery, the revelatory Haegue Yang will be presented alongside works by Ha Chong-Hyun, pioneering sculptor Kim Yun Shin, Byron Kim, and Gala Porras-Kim. Bringing together Korean and Korean diaspora artists from diverse eras, the presentation places Yang’s internationally active practice within a broader landscape in tune with riveting Korean contemporary art and its evolving global reach.

Beyond the Fair

Frieze Seoul’s appeal lies equally in the tremendous city surrounding it. At Frieze House Seoul, two exhibitions will run from August 27 through September 19, including INVISIBLE FOREST by Japanese artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, a monumental installation made from approximately 7,000 split bamboo strips. Meanwhile, Frieze LIVE will bring Ryan Gander’s The Find Seoul into public spaces across the city.

With Frieze Seoul 2026, the leading fair becomes a doorway into a much larger cultural moment: four days at COEX opening onto galleries, museums, neighborhoods, performances, and conversations throughout the city. As September approaches, Seoul is poised once again to become an effervescent meeting point for the many directions contemporary art is taking across Asia and beyond.