Co-hosted by Kiaf SEOUL, the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), and Frieze Seoul, the 2025 Kiaf SEOUL x KAMS x Frieze Seoul Talk Program has served as a platform for sharing key agendas in contemporary art by bringing together leading figures from the Korean and international art scenes, fostering new discourses through their engagement with the Korean art world.

 

Comprising 9 sessions, the program offers diverse perspectives on the social, technological, and cultural transformations shaping the arts today. Topics range from the role and ecology of art foundations and institutions, global perspectives on the Korean art market, queer Asian art and socially engaged practices, the strategies and driving forces behind emerging galleries, and the evolving notion of creativity in the age of technology and algorithmic creation.

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2025. 9. 4. (Thu)

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

 

《Art Foundations and the Ecology of the Art World》

This session explores how private, artist-led, corporate, and philanthropic foundations shape the cultural landscape—offering not only funding but also critical infrastructure through residencies, exhibitions, and education. What motivates these institutions? How do they balance public good with artistic risk-taking? And how are they responding to urgent global concerns, from inclusivity to sustainability?
Through a dynamic conversation with foundation leaders from across Asia and beyond, this panel offers a behind-the-scenes look at how foundations are reimagining their roles in building art’s future.

 

Speaker

Zoe Butt (Founder & Executive Director, in-tangible institute)

Laurencina Farrant (Director, Songeun Art Center)

Grace Oh (Managing Director, Formation Association)

Patrick Sun (Sunpride Foundation, Founder)

 

Moderator

Gabriel Ritter (Director of the UCSB Art, Design & Architecture Museum and Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Art & Architecture)

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2025. 9. 4. (Thu)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

 

《Queer Asian Art and the Technology of Re-membering》

This session explores how contemporary Asian queer artists engage with archival practices to challenge dominant histories and social hierarchies. Featuring Candice Lin, Sung Hwan Kim, and Sin Wai Kin, the discussion examines how the technology of archiving—through reappropriation, reconfiguration, and speculative narratives—serves as a tool for resistance and reimagining queer Asian identities within historiography.

 

 

Speaker

Sin Wai Kin (Artist)

Sung Hwan Kim (Artist)

Candice Lin (Artist)

 

Moderator

Yongwoo Lee (Curator and Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong)

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2025. 9. 4. (Thu)

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

 

《Artistic Imagination between Reality and Virtual》

This artist talk explores stories behind their works, their creative journeys, and the ideas that shape their practice. From personal experiences and artistic processes to cultural identity and social engagement, this talk offers a deeper look into how art is made and why it matters. The session may also explore the visions for the future of art. With space for open dialogue and audience Q&A, Artist Talk invites meaningful conversations between artists and the public.

 

Speaker

A Young Kim (Artist)

Adrian Villar-Rojas (Artist)

 

Moderator

SunJung Kim
Artistic Director of Art Sonje Center

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2025. 9. 5. (Fri)

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

 

《Socially Engaged Art Across Asia》

Emerging during Korea’s democratization in the 1980s, what is often referred to as Minjung Art illustrated how art can be deeply intertwined with collective movements and social change. Similar forms of socially engaged practice have appeared across Asia—from Hong Kong to Singapore and Mainland China—where artists navigate political pressure and censorship by constructing alternative narratives and collective memory.
This session explores how socially engaged art across Asia has operated as a site of resistance, solidarity, and civic imagination in times of transition.

 

Speaker

Patrick Flores (Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Research, National Gallery Singapore (NGS))

Bo Zheng (Associate professor of media art at City University, Hong Kong)

Amy Cheng (Senior Curator, Singapore Art Museum)

 

Moderator

Sohl C. Lee (Associate Professor in Art History and Criticism, Stony Brook University, New York)

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2025. 9. 5. (Fri)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

 

《Engines of Change: How Seoul’s Emerging Galleries Are Shaping the Scene》

In Korea’s contemporary art ecosystem, “emerging galleries” function as more than just exhibition spaces—they serve as vital platforms for discovering new artists and shaping the direction of the art scene. This talk invites four Seoul-based galleries to share how they select artists and develop their exhibition programs, how they build relationships with collectors and institutions, how they balance participation in art fairs with curatorial vision, and what practical challenges they face in the field. As the art market rapidly evolves, how do these emerging galleries secure sustainability while crafting a distinct curatorial voice? Through this conversation, we aim to explore the living strategies and reflections of small but influential galleries that are helping to write the next chapter of Korea’s contemporary art scene.

 

Speaker

Seung Min Lee (A-Lounge)

Jee Hyejin (sangheeut)

Nahyung Kim (ThisWeekendRoom)

Inseon Kim (Space: Willing N Dealing)

 

Moderator

Jaesuk Kim (Director of xlarge GALLERY)

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2025. 9. 5. (Fri)

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

 

《KAMS × AAP Book Talk: Contingent Worlds》

Moderated by Michele Chan, this conversation will feature artist CHE Onejoon, known for his conceptually-driven, sound-based installations, and the artist collective ikkibawiKrrr, whose socially engaged practice bridges art, ecology, and community. Together, they will reflect on how their work responds to contemporary cultural and political issues, and how Korean art is evolving within a global context. This session also offers a preview of the Korean Artists Today publication, which highlights the depth and diversity of Korea’s contemporary art scene.

 

Speaker

CHE Onejoon (AfroAsia Collective)

Gyeol Ko (Artist, ikkibawiKrrr)

 

Moderator

Michele Chan (Managing Editor, ArtAsiaPacific)

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2025. 9. 6. (Sat)

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

《Global Perspectives on the Korean Art Market》

The global art market has experienced fluctuations amid the political and economic uncertainties following COVID-19, and the Korean art market is no exception. However, unlike in the past, Korea’s art scene is undergoing both quantitative and qualitative shifts, driven by the global success of various aspects of K-culture and growing attention from the international art world. Can the Korean art market position itself as a leader within the Asian art scene?

This session brings together global art experts to explore how the status of the Korean art market has evolved in recent years, what has caused these changes, what their implications are, and what strategies might ensure its continued growth.

 

Speaker

Jiseon Lee Isbara (President, School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

Vivienne Chow (London Correspondent, Artnet News)

Mami Kataoka (Director, Mori Art Museum)

 

Moderator

Sang-Hoon Kim (Professor, Seoul National University Business School)

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2025. 9. 6. (Sat)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

 

《Questioning Creativity: Art and the New Frontier》

New creative technologies are having a profound effect on our life and work. The great question is, will it replace human activity and creativity or enhance it? Will humans become, essentially, redundant? In art, inspiration is complex and hard to explain, but there is a fear that algorithms will mimic and substitute imagination and the artistic process. This may lead to the homogenisation of art. There is an alternative view that, rather like photography, these technologies will become another aspect of art, another sector of the art market. Today, these central issues will form the basis for discussion, along with the important concerns that relate to copyright and protection, pricing and economics and the artwork itself.

 

Speaker

Jinjoon Lee (Artist & Professor, Graduate School of Culture Technology, KAIST)

Alfredo Cramerotti (Director, Media Majlis Museum)

Hyojung Seo (Artist & Professor, SADI)

 

Moderator

Iain Robertson (Professor, Department of Culture and Arts Management, Hongik University)

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2025. 9. 6. (Sat)

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

 

《Special Exhibition Talk: A Mind on Display》

‘Collection’ is the act of gathering fragments of the surrounding world, cataloguing them, and discovering a unique sense of order and meaning within. Held in conjunction with the Kiaf SEOUL 2025 special exhibition Reverse Cabinet, this program delves into the layered meanings of “collecting” and “displaying” as both primal and intellectual human practices. A Mind on Display begins with the artistic practices of the participating artists. Each artist builds their own “collection” of objects, data, memories, and narratives—subverting existing interpretations and discourses in creative ways. This approach allows us to explore how collecting, beyond an act of possession, functions as a critical method and a major mode of artistic creation in contemporary art.

The program features a dialogue between the two curators behind the exhibition and collectors from diverse backgrounds. It investigates the intersection between the curatorial gaze that constructs a collection for public display, and the collector’s personal desire and philosophy that shape a more intimate, private assemblage.

 

Speaker

Tomoya Iwata (Director, The 5th Floor)

Ju-mi Park (Psychiatrist, Art Collector)

Purat (Chang) Osathanugrah (Chairman & Founder of Dib Bangkok, Art Collector)

Bryant Chao (Art Collector)

 

Moderator

Yuli Yoon (Chief Curator, Ilmin Museum of Art)

 

※ RSVP for this program through the Kiaf VIP App.