Korea Events Calendar

Across performance, visual art, architecture, literature and technology, Es Devlin’s first solo exhibition in Korea oversees 30 years of the English artist’s practice. A strong believer in a ‘temporary society’ built by transient audiences, Devlin places emphasis on the moment when individual perception expands into a collective experience. The exhibition’s large-scale installation invites visitors to engage in acts of participatory drawing, literature and audio. The artist harnesses multitudes of mirrors to refract natural and artificial light, illuminating the possibility of new encounters in the presence of others.

In the inaugural exhibition of the recently opened Centre Pompidou Hanwha, 'The Cubists: Inventing Modern Vision', highlights the birth of cubism in Paris and follows its development from 1907 to 1927. Featuring more than 90 works throughout eight sections, including one portion dedicated to emergent cubism in colonial Seoul of the 1920s and onwards, the landmark exhibition provides a multi-layered narrative of the revolutionary 20th-century movement and how it surpassed the boundaries of painting and entered wider contemporary culture.

Seoul set “Land Architecture, Land Urbanism” as the 4th Biennale’s theme in a bid to draw the next 100 years of Seoul, an eco-friendly, high-density city of mountain ranges, waterways, and wind breezes. The Biennale will have five exhibitions (Thematic, Seoul 100-year Masterplan, Guest Cities, Global Studios, and On-site Project) to introduce projects and discourses about eco-friendly, high-density Seoul’s masterplan. Those projects and discourses are suggested by architects such as Jürgen Mayer, Snøhetta, Thomas Alexander Heatherwick, and nearly 100 Korean and international teams.

Traditional Korean mask dances are performed as well as mask dances by international troupes too. From folk culture to dance lessons, exhibits and more, this is a great event to plan a weekend away around. The Andong Hahoe Village is a must-visit.

Korea's oldest contemporary biennial, founded 1981 as the Busan Youth Biennale, consolidated in 1998 (as PICAF, renamed Busan Biennale from 2002) from three antecedent events, and the institution that has carried the port-city argument across forty years of Korean contemporary art.

“Changgyeonggung Night Banquet” is a family-friendly nighttime royal banquet program that offers a modern reinterpretation of the deep filial piety banquet that Crown Prince Hyomyeong presented to his father, King Sunjo. Participants will dress up as civil and military officials and the outer court officials of the Joseon Dynasty, wear royal court attire, and attend the banquet, where they will enjoy royal court cuisine with their accompanying family members and participate in traditional performances as well as a variety of traditional experience programs.

Walk along the 652-meter DDP rooftop and enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of Dongdaemun and the Seoul skyline.
This is an urban attraction tour program offering a unique way to experience the city from above.

Admission Fee Standard KRW 26,000 / Special KRW 50,000
Operating Hours
· 1st Session: 11:00 (English)
· 2nd Session: 13:00 (Korean) Friday–Sunday
· 3rd Session: 16:00 (Korean)
※ Operating Schedule Subject to Change.
※ Please check the detailed booking system for details.
Program Description A guided walking tour across DDP’s fully connected 652m rooftop, offering a 360° panoramic view of the Dongdaemun skyline.
Capacity · 15 participants per Standard Tour
※ Only adults aged 18 to 70 are eligible to participate.
※ A valid ID is required.
Duration · 60 minutes
※ Includes time for changing into the experience outfit, safety briefing, and event participation.
※ Please arrive at least 20 minutes before the tour starts for a safety briefing and tour preparation.
Notice · Photography and filming will take place for promotional purposes. Participation implies consent to photo/video usage.
※ Tours may be canceled due to weather conditions (rain, strong winds, extreme heat or fine dust).
※ Participation is restricted for those with acrophobia or health conditions.
※ For safety reasons, participants must: Weigh between 40–100 kg, Be 140 cm–200 cm tall, Be aged 18–70 years.

Korean-born Do Ho Suh returns to his birth city in MMCA Seoul’s major retrospective, exploring concepts of identity, memory and the enigma of belonging. The exhibition features key early works, notable projects and the debut of new pieces. Large-scale installations remain the cornerstone of Suh’s artistic prowess and take precedence in the exhibition. Through his notable use of polyester fabric and stainless steel, Suh constructs neon translucent structures – doorways, rooftops, rooms and connecting hallways that actively interrogate the meaning of inhabiting a space.

≪You Must Change Your Life≫
Inspired by the final line of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem Archaic Torso of Apollo, the 16th Gwangju Biennale explores how new capacities and forms of life emerge through artistic practice.

In Rilke’s 1908 poem, a fragment of an ancient sculpture releases within its viewer an overwhelming surge of emotional energy, culminating in the injunction: “You must change your life.” Yet the poem offers no prescription. Transformation remains open—urgent, but not yet determined. Taking inspiration from this imperative, the Biennale approaches change not as a destination but as a method: a process through which matter, bodies, perceptions, and relations are continually reorganised.

Change is often most immediately visible to us in moments of rupture and crisis. Yet change also unfolds quietly and unnoticed, like the changes in faces of the loved ones we see daily. And change also unfolds through the accumulation of our everyday acts and rituals as they accumulate to practices of repetition that brings about difference and. It is through such practices that we expand our capacity to affect—and to be affected.

A central proposition of this Biennale is that change is sustained through practice. But in order to be generative, any practice must be sustainable enough to repeat across multiple scales of life. Repetition is what shapes how we perceive, how we relate, and how we live. As such living models of persistence and experimentation, artistic practices appear here as cumulative techniques through which individuals and communities embody their experiences of transformation.

For years, nighttime admission to the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty’s premier 14th-century royal residence has remained one of Seoul’s most coveted seasonal traditions. The evening tour grants visitors rare, after-dark access to the palace's central historical zone, including the imposing Gwanghwamun and Heungnyemun Gates, the royal throne hall of Geunjeongjeon, the iconic floating pavilion of Gyeonghoeru and the royal living quarters.

Adding to the ambiance this season, the palace grounds will host live classical performances near Sujeongjeon Hall. Musicians from the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts will present a series of 15 court music and dance showcases across select dates throughout the run, filling the lit courtyards with centuries-old melodies.

• Visiting Hours: 19:00 – 21:30 (Last admission: 20:30)
• Online Booking Period: Aug. 26, 2026 (Wed) 10:00 – Oct. 1, 2026 (Thu) 23:59
• Admission Fee: 3,000 won
• Visiting Areas: Gyeongbokgung Palace Gwanghwamun Gate, Heungnyemun Gate, Geunjeongjeon Hall, Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, Sajeongjeon Hall, Gangnyeongjeon Hall, Gyotaejeon Hall, Amisan Mountain Area
• Visitor Capacity: 3,300 people per day
- Online Advance Booking: 3,000 people per day (Up to 4 tickets per person)
- On-site Purchase: 300 people per day (Limited to foreigners, up to 2 tickets per person) * Please bring proof of foreign nationality such as a passport or ID.

The Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale features a range of exhibitions and educational events. The event takes place at various locations in Korea famous for ceramics, including Icheon, Yeoju, and Gwangju.

Locations include:
- Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art (Icheon)
263, Gyeongchung-daero 2697beon-gil, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum (Gwangju)
727, Gyeongchung-daero, Gonjiam-eup, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramic Design (Yeoju)
7, Silleuksa-gil, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do

The 31st Hongseong Namdang Port Prawn Festival is Hongseong's representative autumn food festival where visitors can enjoy the pristine waters of Cheonsuman Bay and fresh, seasonal prawns.

The 5th Jeju Biennale 2026 attends to the processes through which Jeju's indigenous culture, in its encounter with northern civilizations, has mixed, gathered, and metamorphosed into Iyahong. Taking Iyahong (the refrain of a Jeju folk song) as its central concept, the Biennale embodies the metamorphic process of flowing, mingling, and being reborn. Through Jeju as an island of metamorphosis, it presents the modes of survival and aesthetics cultivated in the coexistence and symbiosis of things and nature, humans and deities.

As crossroads and platform where southern maritime and northern continental cultures intersect, Jeju has formed a distinctively syncretic culture. The island has functioned not as a site of isolation, but as a cultural threshold of ceaseless connection and metamorphosis. Where the 4th Jeju Biennale illuminated Jeju at the heart of maritime civilizational history through the keyword Drift, the 5th Biennale examines Jeju as a site of convergence with northern civilizations — formed at the crossing of history (politics), nature (geology), and polytheistic culture (faith and belief) — through three keywords: Exile, Stone Culture, and Mythology.

Locations include:
- Jeju Museum of Art
2894-78, 1100-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Jeju Stone Park
2023, Namjo-ro, Jocheon-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Jeju Arts Platform
18, Jungang-ro 14-gil, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Art Space IAa
21, Jungang-ro 14-gil, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Gallery Remicon
31, Sanji-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea

For those seeking an immersive cultural experience beyond Seoul, Museum SAN in the Wonju mountains, presents Lee Bae’s solo exhibition 'En attendant'. Drawing on the museum’s dedication to nature, art and space, the artist’s new show meditates on the act of waiting and healing. Charcoal, and its fire-induced metamorphosis from wood, becomes a central point in the exhibition. Throughout the grand scale of the museum’s interior and outdoor spaces, sculptural architecture, video installations and Bae’s signature painterly works comprise a full spectrum of artistic creation in sweeping constructions of black, white and earth tones.

Lee Kang So, one of Korea’s most significant contemporary artists, exercises an artistic language guided by philosophical experimentation and reinforced by fluidity across media, including painting, sculpture, photography, video and performance. In 'Emergence and Dissolution', So explores the concept of unfolding, pressing the viewer to question their idea of completion and refocus on the significance of an unfinished process as they interpret new meanings from decades of the artist’s notable and experimental works.

Approximately 150,000 pyeong or more (Seoul Forest + Seongsu area)
detail
Creation of 'Seoul Forest Grand Garden' encompassing Seoul Forest, the Han River, Seongsu-dong, and Ttukseom Grand Garden

It's the perfect season for reading, so let's meet at the Seoul Outdoor Library this autumn! 🍂

📅 Sep. 4, 2026 (Fri) – Nov. 1, 2026 (Sun) Every Fri, Sat, Sun
⏰ (Night) 16:00–22:00 | (Day) 11:00–18:00
※ Operating schedule is subject to change depending on plaza usage schedules, etc.

Taekwondo experience enjoyed alongside regular performances.

Note
- The above schedule is subject to change depending on weather conditions and on-site circumstances.
- More detailed performance schedules will be announced through the official Instagram (@seoul.tkd).

From traditional Hanoks to urban landmarks! A special Seoul trip with Taekwondo.
Note
- The above schedule is subject to change depending on weather conditions and on-site circumstances.
- More detailed performance schedules will be announced through the official Instagram (@seoul.tkd).

The Amorepacific Museum of Art presents Sol LeWitt’s posthumous 'Open Structure', the artist’s first large-scale exhibition in Korea. Spanning the entirety of the artist’s career, 'Open Structure' champions LeWitt’s belief that artistic work reaches new ambitions within the structure of an exhibition space. From his early works spotlighting black-and-white structures to his expansion into colour and the investigation of archival materials, the exhibition invites viewers to enter conversation with LeWitt’s principles of authorship, instruction and sequence.

Opening ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 10:00~10:10
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Opening ceremony of Sungnyemun Gate by guards

Guard Ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 10:00~15:30 (※13:00~14:00 break)
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Ceremony to guard Sungnyemun Gate

Closing Ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 15:30 ~ 15:40
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Closing ceremony of Sungnyemun Gate by guards

Seoul Museum of Art celebrates 110 years since the birth anniversary of abstract artist Yoo Youngkuk in a monumental retrospective covering over six decades of the artist’s works. 'A Mountain Within Me' comprises more than 170 works and archival items, including many paintings, photographs and drawings making exhibitory debuts. Abandoning the standard chronological retrospective structure, SeMA traces a non-linear temporal journey against highly vivid primary colour schemes, centring the singular mountain as a key pivotal point throughout Youngkuk’s abstract evolution.