Frieze Seoul’s fifth edition runs from 2 to 5 September 2026 at COEX in Gangnam, under the direction of Patrick Lee and in partnership with Kiaf SEOUL, as in previous years. This year the fair brings together more than 130 galleries from 30 countries. There’s another way to read it, too: almost every major presentation at the fair has a counterpart in the form of a museum retrospective currently running across the city. The fair and the city’s institutions end up telling the same story from two sides at once.
Do Ho Suh in two places at once
Lehmann Maupin gallery is giving him a dedicated section right at the fair. This coincides with the opening of his largest survey to date at MMCA, which we covered separately. STPI, meanwhile, is showing his new thread drawings, made during the artist’s 2026 residency. Anyone planning to visit the MMCA show can stop by the fair first and see fresh work from the same period.
Yoo Youngkuk next to Turrell
Pace Gallery is showing Yoo Youngkuk’s 1989 work Work. It stands next to a new elliptical glass work by James Turrell. Sculptures by Anicka Yi, never exhibited before, are joining them too. The overlap is clear here as well: Yoo Youngkuk currently has a major retrospective at Seoul Museum of Art.
Koo Jeong A ahead of her own show
PKM Gallery is showing her work SpSt Y ahead of her solo exhibition at Leeum Museum, opening in September. Next to it hangs a work by the late Yun Hyong-keun, who has his own project with RM of BTS at SFMOMA that same autumn. One wall at the fair ends up connecting two independent news stories at once.
Lee Kang So and Baselitz, twice over
Thaddaeus Ropac is placing Lee Kang So alongside the recently deceased Georg Baselitz. Both currently have major exhibitions of their own in Seoul: Lee Kang So at Lotte Museum of Art, Baselitz at Sehwa Museum of Art. The fair functions as an antechamber to both retrospectives at once.
Lee Bae, in Wonju and in Seoul
Johyun Gallery is presenting his sculptural work directly at the fair. His major solo exhibition at Museum SAN in Wonju is running at the same time. Anyone who wants the full picture of Lee Bae can plan both stops this year.
Spotlight: the artists the canon left out
The brand-new Spotlight section brings attention back to overlooked names of the twentieth century, curated by Wonseok Koh. The strongest story belongs to Myanmar artist Po Po. His conceptual works from 1986 to 1990 were made under conditions of political isolation and censorship, and have never been shown before.
Craft as contemporary art
The new Material Practice section places ceramics, textiles, glass, metal and hanji on equal footing with contemporary art. Jane Yang-D’Haene, for instance, reinterprets the Korean moon jar tradition in a contemporary form. The overlap with Spotlight is direct: both sections look for what the mainstream has overlooked so far.
rieze Korea, and a look ahead
In summer 2027, frieze magazine will launch its own Korean-language quarterly. A sample issue titled Frieze Korea will be available at this year’s fair already. It ties into another change we’ve been following: in 2027 the fair moves from COEX to Dongdaemun Design Plaza. This year, then, Frieze is strengthening its presence in Korea on two fronts at once, editorially and spatially.
Where and when
COEX, Gangnam, Soul. 2. až 5. september 2026. Sprievodný program beží po celom meste pod názvom Neighborhood Nights, vo štvrtiach Euljiro, Hannam, Cheongdam a Samcheong.
