Seoul’s buzzing Gangnam district recently welcomed the fourth edition of Frieze Seoul 2025 at COEX in September. Walking through the vast atrium, sunlight filtered down on the bustling crowd of collectors, critics, and curious visitors. The fair opened with a sense of ceremony, punctuated by a notable visit from South Korea’s First Lady, whose presence added national pride to the cosmopolitan atmosphere.
FRIEZE Seoul 2025 Highlights
This year’s fair was more than a gallery showcase. It was an immersive cultural encounter. Wandering through the labyrinth of booths, the hum of multiple languages mingled with the quiet awe that art tends to inspire. Frieze Seoul 2025 underscored Seoul’s rising stature on the global art stage, with over 120 galleries presenting works that blended international prestige with regional creativity. It felt less like a trade fair and more like stepping into a living, breathing conversation between worlds.
K-Pop Idols and Celebs at Frieze Seoul 2025 Opening
The star power at Frieze Seoul 2025 added extra sparkle to the opening day. K-pop icons including BTS RM (Namjoon) and V (Taehyung), along with BLACKPINK Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé, were spotted exploring the fair’s galleries and installations, drawing as much attention as the artworks themselves. Among the guests, also spotted Park Seo Joon, All Day Project Tarzan, Eric Nam, NCT Mark, Lee Min Ho, and more. Their presence underscored Frieze Seoul’s growing reputation not only as a cultural hub but also as a magnet for global celebrities and tastemakers who help amplify Seoul’s status on the international art stage.
Performances That Transformed COEX
Among the most unforgettable moments at Frieze Seoul 2025 were the live performances that turned the polished halls of COEX into stages of ritual, endurance, and transformation. Visitors gathered in awe around durational pole dancing. This piece demanded both physical strength and poetic intensity. These works embodied the idea that “performance can happen anywhere, anytime”—reminding audiences that Frieze Seoul is as much about lived experience as it is about static artworks.
Adding to this atmosphere, the artist duo Yagwang presented two spellbinding works: Raw Proof and Raw Proof: Echo. Their practice weaves together movement, song, and spoken narration, inspired by gestures drawn from both professional wrestling and daily cleaning routines. In Raw Proof, performed at Dosan Park, these elements unfolded as a continuous, poetic procession. In Raw Proof: Echo, staged inside COEX, the performance resonated throughout the fair’s spaces, blurring the boundaries between exhibition and lived experience.
Together, these performances expanded the vocabulary of Frieze Seoul—showing that art can inhabit the body, the street, and the very air of the fair.
Im Youngzoo Wins 2025 Frieze Seoul Artist Award
Korean artist Im Youngzoo received the 2025 Frieze Seoul Artist Award, supported by Bvlgari. Her commissioned project, Calming Signal, debuted at COEX in a dimly lit corner where circular movements filled the screen like whispered incantations. Standing before the installation, I felt the rhythm of ritual echoing through the crowd.
Her practice spans video, painting, sculpture, and VR, often blurring the lines between scientific rationality and spiritual or folkloric belief. As she explains: “I started to wonder: Is something truly invisible, or are we simply choosing not to see it?”
Calming Signal drew on “calming signals” in animal behavior—repetitive acts that soothe anxiety—linked to circular dances, such as Korea’s ganggangsullae or Sufi whirling.
Im Youngzoo described it best,
“Calming Signal imagines the ‘Future Commons’ as a space where we can bring our various patterns of anxiety and repetition into focus, and collectively witness their precarious balance, even if only for a moment.”
Tokyo’s Take Ninagawa Wins Frieze Stand Prize
At one booth, the Tokyo-based gallery Take Ninagawa shimmered with energy, its walls lined with works that leapt between delicate subtlety and bold experimentation. Visitors lingered longer here than in most, leaning close, conversing, and pointing at the dynamic juxtapositions.
Additionally, the gallery was awarded the Frieze Stand Prize for its striking presentation featuring Ryoko Aoki, Yoko Daihara, Shinro Ohtake, Aki Sasamoto, Gozo Yoshimasu, and Stella Zhong. Jury members praised the gallery for weaving together intergenerational and international artists into a cohesive narrative. Founder Takayuki Ninagawa reflected:
“This recognition affirms our ongoing mission to present Japanese artists in a truly international context, while fostering conversations that transcend borders.”
Kohesi Initiatives Takes Focus Asia Stand Prize
Over in the Focus Asia section, Jakarta’s Kohesi Initiatives stood out. The booth felt like entering an alternate dimension—dim lights, filmic projections, and a haunting sense of déjà vu. The project by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno imagined a “lost” martial arts film, Djoeroes Kramat, evoking Indonesia’s silenced histories of the 1960s.
Curator Jae Seok Kim described it as “exemplary,” noting,
“Kusno’s practice is deeply rooted in the histories and traumas of colonialism in Southeast Asia, yet it never lapses into didacticism… reality and fantasy appear not as opposites but as entangled conditions.”
Meanwhile, gallery director Benedicto Audi Jericho added with pride,
“We are honored to receive the Focus Asia Stand Prize. Winning the prize is a testament to Timoteus Anggawan Kusno’s extraordinary vision.”
The Launch of Frieze House Seoul: Where Is It Located?
This year also marks a turning point with the announcement of Frieze House Seoul. The Frieze House Seoul is located in Yaksu-dong, central Seoul. The renovated four-story building, initially constructed in 1988, will serve as a year-round cultural hub for exhibitions, residencies, and collaborations.
Kristell Chadé, Executive Director of Fairs at Frieze, described the move as transformative,
“Frieze House Seoul marks a natural and exciting evolution of our presence in Korea. … With this new space, we’re deepening our long-term commitment to the city and its artistic community.”
Meanwhile, Patrick Lee, Director of Frieze Seoul, emphasized the momentum,
“Building on the momentum of Frieze Seoul … Frieze House will offer a new way to experience international and Korean contemporary art in dialogue.”
As I left COEX, the hum of conversations still in my ears, it was clear that Frieze Seoul 2025 was not just an art fair. It was a tangible proof of Seoul’s transformation into a true cultural capital. With Frieze House Seoul opening its doors, that energy will no longer be contained to one dazzling week in September, but carried forward into the city’s daily rhythm.
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