Art Busan is set to test its limits by expanding its boundaries into design in Seoul next month, with the launch of a new experimental event, Define: Seoul, its organizer said Tuesday.
Slated for Nov. 1-5, the inaugural event combines design and fine art and will showcase contemporary design with Eastern and Western aesthetics, as well as Korean heritage, Jeong Seok-ho, the managing director of Art Busan, said in a press conference in Seoul.
Launched in 2012, Art Busan has become one of the country’s most prominent annual art festivals, alongside Kiaf Seoul, encouraging major art galleries and key collectors at home and abroad to flock to the southeastern port city of Busan every spring.
Art Busan topped the local art market last year in terms of the number of visitors and sales volume, according to Jeong.
While Jeong and his colleagues once considered bringing Art Busan to the capital Seoul, they scraped the plan after concluding it was “meaningless” to duplicate the same show in the already saturated art scene with more than 100 art fairs nationwide.
The new brand, Define: Seoul, came into being after seriously taking multiple factors into consideration, Jeong said, to meet the diverse needs of young collectors, foster a new art collection culture and find a new blue ocean in the local art market.
“We will focus on catering to a young generation of collectors living in Seoul, in particular,” he said, by discovering and selectively showcasing artworks that combine unique art and design.
Under the theme of “A Look within Matter,” Define: Seoul will offer “an opportunity for people to connect with contemporary sensibilities and shared experiences arising from design and art,” art director Teo Yang said.
The fair is also aimed at creating a platform where people can appreciate and resonate with the values of design curated and presented by Define: Seoul, he added.
The event will take place in Seongsu-dong, a once manufacturing hub-turned-young, trend-setting district, in collaboration with design studios, galleries and local brands, including international contemporary design and art gallery Galerie Philia and Giopato & Coombes Studio from Italy.
The cultural complex, Layer Studio, will serve as the fair’s main venue and special exhibition sections. In addition, design seminars and studio visit programs will take place in collaboration with Musinsa Studio and various locations throughout Seongsu.
In July, Art Busan secured it first round of investment from a group of leading unicorn entrepreneurs and investors, gaining huge momentum for its business expansion plan.
The investors included Kim Sang-hun, former CEO of Naver; Kelvin Dongho Kim, CEO of the Korea Credit Data (KCD); Tony Lyu, a venture partner at SoftBank Ventures Asia; and Simon Seojoon Kim, the CEO of Hashed.
Source: Yonhap News Agency