A collaboration between e-flux and Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS)
Kiaf SEOUL x KAMS X Frieze Seoul Talks Program: September 5, 2026, 11:30am
Over the past several decades, Korea has developed an unusually rich culture of biennial exhibitions. Alongside Gwangju and Busan are biennials devoted to ceramics, craft, photography, women artists, and “nature art,” among other fields. Their proliferation is closely connected to Korea’s democratic transformation and to the role that art and cultural exchange have played in the country’s public life.
Published by e-flux in collaboration with Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), Korean Biennials Today considers this history at a moment when the biennial itself is changing. The publication asks how a format associated with internationalism, public culture, and the circulation of artists and ideas is being reshaped by economic pressures, resurgent nationalism, and changing ideas of political and cultural representation.
The supplement includes a short history of biennials in Korea; conversations with the curators of the 2026 Gwangju Biennale and Busan Biennale and the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; and introductions to artists participating in these exhibitions.
Rather than treating Korea’s biennial culture as a regional version of a model developed elsewhere, Korean Biennials Today asks what its particular history might contribute to a broader account of the biennial form, at a moment when some of its older assumptions are increasingly in question.
Featuring Binna Choi, Ben Eastham, Park Gahee, Amal Khalaf, Che Kyongfa, Patrick Langley, Novuyo Moyo, Ho Tzu Nyen, Brian Kuan Wood, and Evelyn Simons. Designed by Atelier Alves.
Selections from the publication will be published over the coming months at e-flux Criticism.
Kiaf SEOUL x KAMS x Frieze Seoul Talks Program
Editor Ben Eastham will be in conversation with Amal Khalaf, Co-Artistic Director of Busan Biennale 2026, and Hallie Ayres, Co-Artistic Director of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale and Associate Director of e-flux, as part of the Kiaf SEOUL x KAMS x Frieze Seoul Talks Program on September 5 at 11:30am.
Established in 2006 and affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) is a public institution dedicated to supporting the development and international promotion of Korean performing arts, visual arts, and arts-related industries.
