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Art Theory_Art Insight The Conditions of the Post-Contemporary and the Future of Korean Contemporary Art (11): AnachronismⅡ—Why Can Past Models of Success No Longer Serve as the Conditions of the Future? The anachronism of Korean contemporary art is not simply a matter of outdated institutions or obsolete sensibilities. The more fundamental problem lies in the way methods that once proved effective continue to be repeated today as strategies for the future. A failed past can be criticized relatively easily. A successful past, however, tends to survive for a long time. It becomes inertia within institutions, a standard within policy, an object of imitation within the market, and a source of justification within discourse.
2026.06.16

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Gallery_Art Voice The Crisis of the Mega-Gallery Model: From an Era of Expansion to an Era of Focus

Recently, major media outlets including The New York Times, the international contemporary art platform Ocula, and ARTnews have extensively reported on the large-scale restructuring of Pace Gallery, one of the world’s leading mega-galleries. In particular, remarks by Pace CEO Marc Glimcher describing the current gallery model as not merely “broken” but effectively “unfixable” have sent ripples throughout the global art world.

2026.06.09
Art+_Art Voice Artists Are Not Entrepreneurs: What Arts Startup Support Policy Overlooks in Fine Art

Fine art engages with society, the market, and institutions, but its mode of existence cannot be reduced to commodity production or the provision of services. An artist is not someone who produces works in order to satisfy the demands of a specific customer, and an artwork is not a product made to provide functional utility

2026.05.26
Biennale_Art Voice What the Venice Biennale Jury Resignations Reveal About Contemporary Art: Why Has Contemporary Art Entered the Eye of the Storm?

On April 30, 2026, all five members of the international jury for《In Minor Keys》, the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, resigned just nine days before the exhibition’s opening. Led by jury president Solange Oliveira Farkas, the jury members Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi released a brief statement of resignation through e-flux.

2026.05.12
Art Fair_Art Voice Frieze Seoul vs Art Basel Hong Kong, Where Is the Center of the Asian Art Market?

Over the past few years, the landscape of the Asian art market has been rapidly reshaped. Seoul has drawn increasing attention from the international art world through Frieze Seoul, Kiaf Seoul, and Seoul Art Week, while Hong Kong, despite political changes and the impact of China’s economic slowdown, continues to maintain its position as a powerful transactional hub.

2026.04.28
Art Market_Art Voice The Surge of Art Fairs in Korea: Market Growth or Structural Excess?

One of the most striking phenomena in the recent Korean art world is the rapid increase in the number of art fairs. Not only in Seoul, but across the country—in Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, Jeju, Cheongju, and elsewhere—art fairs of differing scales and characters are being held throughout the year. In April of this year alone, as many as four or five art fairs took place almost simultaneously.

2026.04.14
Nonprofit_Art Voice The Deformation of Non-Profit Art Spaces: How Government-Driven Funding Systems Distort the Structure of Artistic Production

Non-profit art spaces in Korean contemporary art began to emerge in the late 1990s. Spaces such as Alternative Space Loop (1999– ), Project Space Sarubia (1999- ), Art Space Pool (1999–Jan 2021), and Insa Art Space (2000–Jun 2025) functioned as platforms for experimental practices and emerging artists that were not accommodated within institutional art, forming a structure that explored new possibilities for artistic production both outside and within institutional frameworks.

2026.03.31

Art Insights

Providing insightful perspectives and in-depth analysis of Korean contemporary art.
Art+_Art Insight The Age of Reification: The Crisis of Capitalism and Fine Art (9) - Analyzing the Structure of Collectors’ Desire - Is Collecting a Store of Value or a Social Signifier?

“Who bought that piece?” This question often wields more power than the artwork’s intrinsic aesthetics or philosophy. In today’s art world, the collector is not merely a purchaser but a powerful actor who structures value and inscribes narrative.

2025.07.29
Art+_Art Insight The Age of Reification: The Crisis of Capitalism and Fine Art (8) - How Semiotic Capitalism Has Neutralized Fine Art

In the 21st century, late capitalism has evolved beyond an economy of production and consumption into a system where symbols and signs dominate value. Jean Baudrillard called this the “political economy of the sign,” where the symbolic meaning of things supersedes their material substance. In such a system, commodities are no longer just physical objects—they are bundles of signs, socially coded and ideologically charged.

2025.07.15
Art+_Art Insight The Age of Reification: The Crisis of Capitalism and Fine Art (7) - How Must Fine Art Exist in the Age of AI?

Fine art has always touched the deepest strata of the human spirit. It is not simply the skill of creating aesthetic objects, but the act of a living human being attempting to understand themselves. While humans have evolved by using tools, it is in writing poetry and painting images that they crossed from utility into the realm of the mind. Art was born at this very threshold, and it has defined civilization ever since.

2025.07.01
Art+_Art Insight The Age of Reification: The Crisis of Fine Art and Capitalism (6) - Who Is Public Arts Funding Really For?

Public support was once the final bastion of art. It served as the only mechanism through which art could defend itself from the logic of the market—a space where the essence of artistic creation could be protected from the accelerating demands of capital.

2025.06.17
Art Market_Art Insight The Age of Reification: Capitalism and the Crisis of Fine Art (5) - Are Auctions and Art Fairs Destroyers or Creators of Pure Art?

In today’s global art market, auctions and art fairs are no longer simply distribution channels or temporary festivities. Auctions reduce art to quantifiable numbers, while art fairs promote the rapid reproduction and immediate consumption of market-friendly works. Empowered by capital, these two forces now dictate not only the market’s direction but also the survival conditions of artists themselves.

2025.06.03
Art Theory_Art Insight The Age of Reification: Capitalism and the Crisis of Fine Art (4) – Why Has Korean Contemporary Art Criticism Collapsed?

The Korean contemporary art scene today is enveloped in a profound silence—the absence of art criticism. Exhibitions abound, artworks circulate rapidly through the market, and artists are consumed at speed, but there is scarcely a voice that interprets, questions, or inscribes meaning into these movements.

2025.05.20