Art exhibitions in Seoul, September 2022

In September 2022 we visited quite a few art exhibitions around Seoul. Here I'll tell you about a few.

K Museum of Contemporary Art (KMCA) - Demian

KMCA in Gangnam had three different art installations from which we chose to experience the Demian one. It is still on until 8th of December, 2022, so you should check it out if you are around or visiting Seoul. The exhibition is based on Herman Hesse's classical literature piece Demian, which is one of the most read books in Korea. I haven't read the book myself but I have the understanding that it is a bit of a darker and gloomy one - this exhibition is not that and a rough translation from the exhibition synopsis says:

In this exhibition, we hope that the process of breaking eggs and wishing for a new world will be an interesting and impressive experience rather than painful.

The exhibition consists of art from 12 different artists.

Sumsei Terrarium

I saw Sumsei Terrarium many times in my TikTok feed before traveling and wanted to visit. Sumsei Terrarium is about bringing nature to the middle of Seoul and your day-to-day life. It is not just an art project, but they sell products that are meant to bring the memory of nature to your everyday life. Maybe something like it would be nice if you don't have a possibility to roam in the nature once in a while.

The Terrarium in Seoul consists of five different areas: Black out, Water of Dawn, Heart of Wind, Sumsei Forest and Refresh Five Senses. You go through all the areas in order, and begin the journey in a pitch black room and guide yourself forward with just your hands and feet. SUMSEI Terrarium is also meant to be experienced with bare feet, so you leave your footwear at the door.

At the end of Black out you get to look up to the sky and see the Aurora Borealis. The next space was my favourite from all - Water of Dawn. I first walked up some stairs that were flooding and entered a space with a muddy floor and some mist in the air. I was happy to go through the exhibition alone, so I got to spend some time in the mist room on my own.

The Heart of Wind had sounds of the wind and the wind was blowing as well. There were two rooms in which you could stay and listen to the grass in the wind. After the Wind section I continued up to the Sumsei Forest and had a refreshing grapefruit tea while enjoying the greenery. On the last floor you were outside, at the top of the building and could see a mirror hanging on top of water.

PACE Gallery - teamLab: Massless Suns and Adrian Ghenie's "21st Century Body Language"

This place was a must since a friend who I was traveling with wanted to see the exhibition teamLab had brought to Seoul. We also popped into the exhibition of The 21st Century Body Language as it was also held in PACE Gallery. The teamLab exhibition wasn't a very big one but it was free entrance. There were a few digital installations inside and then outside you could play with the eggs that make sounds when you poke them.

We continued walking the free exhibitions and ended up going around in the Adrian Ghenie art exhibition as well.

The teamLab exhibition is still up until December 24th, 2022 but the Adrian Ghenie one ends 22nd of October.

I had a couple of other exhibitions bookmarked in Naver Maps as well - such as the HYBE museum, which was closed during our time in Seoul, Rium Art Museum and Space Sinseon that we just couldn't fit in to our timetable. I'll keep them bookmarked for the next time I visit.