Art Sonje Center unveiled its 2025 exhibition program during a press conference held on December 2. The 2025 program spans a wide range of media and genres, from live contemporary music performances to large-scale installations that use the museum building and its surroundings as artistic media.

The program will commence with a solo exhibition, “Ha Chong Hyun 5975” (February 14 – April 20, 2025), which explores Ha Chong Hyun’s early painting experiments from 1959 to 1974.

The exhibition will feature a comprehensive selection of works, including his experimental pieces embodying the spirit of the times before his monochromatic paintings, the high-chroma geometric abstractions of the late 1960s, installations reflecting socio-political messages created during his involvement with the AG (Avant-Garde) group, works using everyday materials, and pieces from his ongoing Conjunction series.

Additionally, a live performance by GRAYCODE and jiiiiin, exploring the materiality of music through the medium of air, is scheduled to take place at Art Sonje Center's Art Hall from February 27 to March 31.

The second exhibition will feature the first solo museum exhibition in Korea by artist Young In Hong. Scheduled to run from May 9 to July 20, 2025, this exhibition will center around Hong’s 2024 work, Five Acts. 

Five Acts is a stitched installation piece that captures significant moments in Korean women’s labor history, including the 1919 Independence Movement led by gisaengs, the 1931 independence movement driven by Jeju haenyeo (female divers), and the labor movements of female textile workers in the 1970s and 1980s following Korea’s liberation. 

Additionally, sculptures made of willow and fabric, inspired by animal toys the artist encountered in a zoo, will also be displayed. During the exhibition, impromptu performances will take place, where performers will use animal toys as instruments to narrate the stories of women woven into the stitched artworks.

In addition, a group exhibition featuring ten contemporary Spanish artists will be held concurrently to commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Spain. Curated by guest curator Chus Martínez, the exhibition will center on works from the collection of TBA21 (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary) in Madrid, Spain. 

The exhibition highlights artists who utilize oral traditions, folklore, and fiction to create alternative narratives to official histories, exploring the potential for solidarity and recovery between humans and non-human entities through art.

Lastly, a site-specific exhibition by Adrián Villar Rojas, an artist known for utilizing physical spaces as materials for his installations, is scheduled to take place from August 19 to December 14. Villar Rojas is renowned for his site-specific works based on extensive research and field investigations, delving deeply into the social, cultural, geographical, and institutional characteristics of the spaces he engages with. 

For this exhibition, the artist conducted two prior visits to Art Sonje Center in September 2023 and November 2024. During these visits, he explored the museum’s history and architectural features, creating a detailed 3D model of the building. This model serves as the foundation for large-scale, site-specific works that respond to the museum’s unique spatial dynamics. 

Art Sonje Center announced its vibrant 2025 exhibition program, expressing its aim to present a vision that bridges the legacy and future of contemporary art.

References

• 아트선재센터 (Art Sonje Center)

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.