Featured Events in Seoul in December, 2024 (June Updated)

• Enjoy realistic and exciting kitchen performances and dazzling performances. • Expressing the classical rhythm of our traditional song ‘Samulnori’ through a performing art that combines acrobatics, comedy, and percussion instruments • Enjoy classical performances by a talented troupe, from traditional folk songs to contemporary songs. Founded in 1997, Nanta Show is Korea’s representative silent show and Asia’s first long-running Broadway show. It has been performed over 43,000 times in 322 cities in 60 countries and regions, entertaining over 13 million audiences worldwide. Come experience the captivating charm of the Nanta Show for yourself. △ Nanta Show is Korea's first non-verbal theater performance that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and genders, by comically dramatizing events that occur in the kitchen using the rhythm of Samulnori, a traditional Korean music. △ Since the work consists only of rhythm, beat, and situation, it is free from language barriers and can therefore be enjoyed and sympathized with by anyone, regardless of age or gender, around the world. △ Another strength that makes Nanta special is that the audience can come up on stage and participate in the show. Get excited and empathize with the actors, and experience the thrilling fun that is unique to “Nanta”! △ After establishing its own theater in Jeong-dong, Seoul, Nanta opened theaters in Jeju Island, Myeong-dong, and Hongdae, establishing itself as a must-see tourist attraction not only for domestic audiences but also for foreign tourists.

Yuko Higuchi is a professional painter living in Japan. The "Yuko Higuchi: Secret Forest" exhibition is held at ALT.1 on the 6th floor of the Hyundai Seoul Hotel in South Korea. Following Taiwan, this will be an overseas exhibition. In addition to 5 new works painted for the Korean exhibition, more than 1,000 works carefully selected directly by Higuchi will be exhibited.

This artist, who has lived and painted in Paris all his life, is committed to transferring the beautiful memories of life to the canvas, and presenting the daily yet ideal scenery of various parts of Paris as ordinary and peaceful scenes.

NCT Dream will hold the final performance of its third world tour "THE DREAM SHOW 3: DREAM ESCAPE" at the Gocheok Dome in Seoul from the 29th of next month to December 1st. This large-scale concert will come to an end. NCT Dream has performed in 25 cities around the world, including Asia, South America, North America, and Europe, since it started in Seoul in May this year. All members will gather together, and Renjun, who has suspended activities due to health reasons, will also return to the stage, and the audience will be able to enjoy 7 Dream's unique music and performances. Tickets for this final performance will be pre-sold through Melon Ticket. Fan club pre-sales will start at 8 pm on the 15th of this month, and general pre-sales will open at 8 pm on the 17th. At the same time, NCT Dream will start the "THE DREAM SHOW 3: DREAM ESCAPE" European tour in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on the 30th of this month.

Discover the cultural historical trends of the activities of the Vienna Secession artists in the late 19th century and the characteristics of Vienna that provided the backdrop for various artistic movements. Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday: 10:00~18:00 Wednesday, Saturday: 10:00~21:00

Saturday Myeong~Pum, the representative performance of the National Gugak Center It is held every Saturday at the National Gugak Center located next to the Seoul Arts Center with a colorful and rich high-quality stage ranging from court music to folk music, dance, and original Korean traditional music.

When you are in Seoul, how can you miss such a shocking and dreamy graffiti show? There are handsome actors, exquisite painting techniques, funny plots, romantic love stories, all of which are in the graffiti show! Even if you don't understand a word of Korean, you can still enjoy the performance! The actors' wonderful painting techniques, interesting makeup, humorous performances, plus the music that fills the entire scene and the soft light will bring you Unlimited joy and shock! [Graffiti Show: Reappearing Heroes with Art] "Graffiti Show" is a stage play that combines three-dimensional images with live painting. The theme of the performance is "heroes". Through more than 10 art techniques, the heroic images in people's hearts such as Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee are "reborn" on the stage. The modern media used interspersed are dazzling. While being surprised and happy, it is the Unlimited touch of being with heroes. The performance venue is located at the Gwanghwamun "Gyeonghyang Art Theater", and it is very convenient to go shopping nearby before and after the performance. [You can resonate even if you don't know Korean] This play is a "wordless play" with no lines from beginning to end. The actors' humorous actions and expressions, coupled with artistic graffiti, make the audience completely happy. There is no difficulty for foreign audiences who are not familiar with Korean to understand. No matter men, women, young or old, from which country, you can find joy and resonance here. [Dazzling Art Forms] In the more than one-hour performance, you can see various art forms with different styles, such as [Colorful Painting], where the actors will draw colorful patterns on the water, which is very magical; [Action Painting] is a combination of dance and painting. Four actors will freely splash oil paint with a cheerful rhythm, and when they are put together, it turns out to be a complete picture; [Sketch Painting] is outstanding for its speed. In just a few minutes, a large Korean painting will appear on paper. [Amazing Stage Created by 3D Images] "Graffiti Show" creatively introduced projection technology in the performance, presenting realistic 3D stereoscopic images in front of the audience, with a feeling of both reality and fantasy, making people feel as if they have entered a fantasy world. [Light Sculpture Painting] Sculpting pictures! Faster and stronger! [Action Painting] Jump! Shake! Sprinkle! Amazing works created with only four drawing boards! [Dust Painting] What you see is not all, a mirage-like dust painting! [Sketch Painting] A moment not to be missed, a large Korean painting completed in an instant! [Cube Painting] A dreamlike simulated rubber and plastic art completed with more than 200 Rubik's cubes! [Luminous Painting] Depicting the peace of the night sky with a silver light pen! [Colorful Painting] There is no "impossible", a colorful painting drawn on the water! [Battle Painting] The charming touch of the three actors presented in the dark!

"Nanta Show" takes the traditional Korean culture "Four Things Game" as the theme, and interprets the stories that happened in the kitchen with humorous performances. It is also the first non-verbal performance in Korea. "Nanta Show" sublimates all kinds of kitchen props into musical instruments. It combines the rhythm of traditional Korean musical instruments and the rhythm of modern music, giving all the props vitality. Therefore, "Nanta Show" is a machine for men, women and children, surpassing It is a powerful performance of nationality and age, and it breaks the high box office record of Korean performances every year. "Nanta Show" has a history of 15 years since its successful premiere in 1997. In 1999, he participated in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the United Kingdom and was well received. After that, he successfully performed overseas performances in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands and Australia, and finally settled on Broadway in New York. "Nanta Show" has over 7.4 million viewers so far. And it has toured in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao and other cities.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's MultiArt 2024 "Space Elevator" is a project that explores another reality universe and the feelings associated with it. The project will be held every month from May this year to February next year. What is the "reason" and "methodology" that humans should leave the self-satisfied earth and move towards a new reality-the universe? MultiArt 2024 may be unfamiliar to us, but surprisingly, we focus on the interesting concept of "space elevator" that has been discussed for a long time in engineering.

In the fall of 2024, art festivals will be held in major cities across Korea. Let's experience the charm of K-art through various art events held in major cities such as Gwangju, Busan, and Seoul! KIAF Seoul and Frieze Seoul are large-scale art fairs in the Seoul area, where you can enjoy various works by famous domestic and foreign artists. Secondly, Seoul Art Week will hold a variety of exhibitions and events at art galleries, museums, and galleries throughout Seoul, providing a great opportunity to experience "Seoul, the City of Art". Finally, at the Youth Art Fair "ASYAAF", you can see the passionate works of young artists from eight Asian countries. The Gwangju Biennale, which will be held in Gwangju, will use Pansori as a medium to show the public unique creations that blend sound and space. The Busan Biennale in Busan, on the other hand, is themed around darkness, revealing a new perspective on art through various works. During the festival, a variety of discounts are prepared for tourists, including combined admission tickets to the Gwangju and Busan Biennales, free VIP admission to KIAF and Frieze Art Fair, etc. You can seize the opportunity to experience a richer art journey at a reasonable price. In addition, there are many activities such as the "Art Travel Week" to visit art galleries with experts and seminars to discuss the main hot spots of international art festivals. This autumn, let us experience the infinite charm of autumn art through various art festivals!

The interna tionally known Scandinavian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset have continually redefined exhibition making and the ways in which art can be experienced. Presenting over sixty works with in five immersive installations—a full-scale family house, a public pool, a restaurant with an adjacent kitchen, and an artist's studio—this exhibition marks the their most extensive presentation in Asia to date. Within Spaces viewers will experience new installations of unprecedented scale and form. In Exhibition Room 1, visitors can enter a 140 square meter single family house designed by the Elmgreen & Dragset, explore its various rooms dotted with sculptural works and furniture pieces, and uncover clues about the lives of its fictional inhabitants. In Exhibition Room 2, the duo will install a to-scale public pool emptied of water. This melancholic image—a recurring motif in their oeuvre—suggests the decline of civic gathering spaces and the subsequent loss of community. Finally, visitors will encounter a restaurant named The Cloud. Seemingly caught between its opening hours, the space will be empty except for a lifelike figure of a young woman in the middle of a FaceTime conversation. Other installations will include an industrial kitchen that is reminiscent of a laboratory and an artist ’s studio. Through this expansive survey of Elmgreen & Dragset’s spatial practice, the Amorepacific Museum of Art seeks to provide its visitors with the unique opportunity to uncover unexpected interpretations of everyday realities. Featuring a combination of existing and new works by Elmgreen & Dragset, these architectural interventions will encourage visitors to hunt for narrative threads embedded within the exhibition and become protagonists of the story along the way.

Connected Bodies: Asian Women Artists (hereinafter referred to as Connected Bodies) aims to re-examine the contemporary significance of Asian women's art since the 1960s from the perspective of "bodily nature". This exhibition is part of the National Gallery of Modern Art's Asian Art Project, which crosses borders to conduct comparative research and display contemporary Asian art. The body is a place where various ideologies and situations meet, and where differences and diversity emerge. In order to think about this theme together, the exhibition brings together about 130 works by female artists from 11 countries in Asia.

The largest exhibition in Asia focusing on the spatial work of artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset. A special experience of discovering and completing hidden stories in life-sized installations such as swimming pools, houses and restaurants.

The exhibition Sutra and Box: Vessels of Enlightenment highlights two outstanding masterpieces from the Goryeo Dynasty: a handwritten Buddhist manuscript and an intricately crafted sutra box. The seven volumes of the Lotus Sutra, written and illustrated entirely in gold, are presented in this exhibition. They reflect the ardent aspirations of the people of the time and offer visitors an opportunity to appreciate these priceless works. According to the votive inscription in the sutra, it was dedicated with utmost devotion in the first year of the reign of King Chungmok (1345) of the Goryeo Dynasty by a noblewoman of the highest rank. By means of the merit derived from this work, she hoped to ensure the royal family’s well-being and enlightenment. Also on display is the Sutra Box, an illustrative work of Goryeo mother-of-pearl inlay of which only about twenty examples are known to exist. This exquisite box is decorated with countless finely cut mother-of-pearl fragments that are intricately arranged to form various floral patterns. Fine metal wires were used to prevent the inlay from falling out and to represent the stems between the flowers, demonstrating the blend of artistry and functionality that is the quintessence of Goryeo artisanry. This exhibition provides a meaningful opportunity to deeply understand the value and significance of these masterpieces created through a grand union of faith and art.

"Poetry written on fabric, embracing special memories in everyday life" The textile design brand "minä perhonen", which weaves special memories in everyday life into fairytale-like fabrics, will hold the exhibition "Minä Perhonen Design Journey: Cycle of Memory" for the first time in Korea. This exhibition will show the process of remembering bits and pieces of daily life, such as clouds over fields, swelling buds, and sounds of the coast, incorporating them into designs and making them into fabrics. The founder Akira Minagawa's philosophy of cherishing people and memories is also reflected in his works. I hope you will have a precious opportunity to discover the charm of textile design and a feast of beautiful textiles during your design journey with Minä Perhonen.

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was an artist from a French aristocratic family, known for his unique, charming and provocative handwriting lithographs of Parisian nightlife during the Belle Époque. As a painter, printmaker and illustrator, he did not belong to a specific school, but absorbed the diversity of the Art Nouveau in Montmartre, the avant-garde center of the time, and pioneered original shapes. Modern graphic posters, he is considered one of the greatest artists in the history of world art. This exhibition seeks to break away from the previous tendency to emphasize Lautrec's psychological defects and unfortunate life, and examine his art from a new perspective. I want to emphasize his freedom to interact with people despite his physical disability, his bohemian experimental spirit that did not belong to any school and freely accepted the Art Nouveau, and especially his humanistic spirit of observing the beauty behind charm and vulgarity. This exhibition explores the extraordinary nature of the art created by Toulouse-Lautrec, combining the vitality of the fin de siècle with humanism, exhibiting his monumental and fascinating works created in Montmartre, as well as posters that led the golden age of contemporary French Art Nouveau. Together with Lautrec, 159 masterpieces of prints by 13 artists, including Alphonse Mucha, are exhibited. The first part, "Bohemia," explores Lautrec's bohemian experimental spirit, who freely embraced various artistic trends and did not belong to any school of painting. The second part, "Humanists," examines Lautrec's human-centered paintings, which depict the lower classes of Montmartre with extraordinary humanity and emphasize his humanistic aspects. The third part, "Stars of Montmartre," consists of works from the second half of his creative career, highlighting his artistic legacy that continues to this day. The final chapter, "French Art Nouveau Posters," showcases the works of 13 artists who were contemporaries of Lautrec and dominated the golden age of French Art Nouveau poster art. It will be an interesting opportunity to compare their works, which have in common with Lautrec's in that they follow the lithographic medium and Art Nouveau trends, but also stand out from Lautrec's art with their own aesthetic consciousness.

Steidl, a living legend in art books The world's best museums and luxury brands, the go-to place for books by leading contemporary artists, Steidl began as a small printing house in 1968 and is now considered a legend in art books as a publishing company that elevates paper books to the level of art.

Korea's first immersive media art exhibition about the story of Leonardo da Vinci.

People, living things will die. Death covers the faces of those who survived the eternal years. So I always feel strange about death. Death is the beginning of a journey to an unknown place. Facing death, the living are heartbroken, That journey cannot be taken together. You can only provide a companion for those who are leaving. The only friend on that road with no solution is. Just like the midwife accepted me and my parents guided me when I was born The moment this life ends and the underworld begins to breathe, the existence that accepts me and guides me, has prepared an exhibition introducing "puppets". The ancestors used the word "passing away" to describe it. This means that the place we go after death is ultimately where we came from. With various puppets on the journey of our souls returning home and the traditional worldview of Koreans now transformed into a beautiful cultural heritage display material I hope it will be a time to think about life and death

The theme of the 2024 festival of Seokchon Lake Luminarie is "Dream, Universe & Love". "The seasonal festival Luminarie, which represents the autumn and winter of Songpa, has set up a variety of landscape lighting, light sculptures, and photo areas in Seokchon Lake, a unique tourist resource, to unfold a feast of light." "Luminarie" is a festival that uses lighting to make or decorate buildings, also called light art or light sculpture. Starting from the main gate that welcomes tourists at the entrance of Seokchon Lake East Lake, large and small Luminari will set up gates, Luminari will set up tunnels, bridge gates, dreamy and mysterious landscape lighting and photo areas.

The Korean Artist Award is a prize system and support program jointly organized by the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA) and the SBS Foundation. Since its establishment in 2012, the award has selected four artists each year, provided support and exhibition opportunities for their new artistic creations, and continued to help them carry out international activities to showcase the potential of Korean contemporary art. Unlike previous exhibitions that mainly featured new works, starting in 2023, new works and artists' previous works will be organized together to broadly illuminate the artists' working worlds.