The Galleries Art Fair 2024 will be held from April 3 to 7, starting with a VIP preview on April 3, at Coex Hall C and D. Organized by the Galleries Association of Korea, the Galleries Art Fair is the longest-running art fair in Korea with a rich history and tradition of 42 years. It is a large-scale art fair that opens every year and serves as a barometer of the Korean art market.

The Galleries Art Fair provides equal opportunities to all member galleries by offering the same booth size, and encourages no more than six artists per booth to exhibit, ensuring the quality of carefully curated exhibitions rather than just a list of exhibits. A total of 156 leading galleries in Korea will participate in the fair, showcasing works by both established and emerging artists.

The main programs of the 2024 edition include ZOOM-IN Edition 5, a special exhibition of emerging artists, ART&ARTIST TALK, a talk program with experts in various fields of the art market, and a special online preview of selected works before the event.

Celebrating its 5th edition this year, the special exhibition ‘ZOOM-IN’ presents 10 artists selected through a fair evaluation by experts. ZOOM-IN is an artist discovery program for artists under the age of 39 who are active in various genres such as painting, sculpture, and installation. And, the final three winners of the 2024 ZOOM-IN Awards will be selected through a combination of audience voting and expert judging at the fair. Award winners will receive cash prizes and special promotional offers. Participating artists are KWAK Aram, KIM Bokyung, KIM Hanna, SONG Jihyun, SIM Yeji, LEE Sungjae, LEE Hojoon, JANG Suik, CHOI Myeongwon, and CHOI Hyeyeon.

ART&ARTIST TALK will be held from April 4 to 6 at the D Hall Talk Lounge, and will focus on the balanced growth of the art market and the formation of a proper collecting culture, encompassing artists, galleries and critics. During the Art Talk, JUNG yunah, Vice President of Christie’s Hong Kong, will provide a collecting guide by examining the trends in Korea and international art market, and RHIE Yuhkyoung, a lawyer, will discuss legal issues related to art, including the Art Tax Act, the Promotion Act, and the Cultural Property Protection Act. KIM youngae, CEO of Ian Art Consulting, will introduce collaboration cases and branded collections on the theme of convergence between fashion and art, two different but similar industries. In addition, the Artist Talk, in conjunction with the special exhibition ZOOM-IN on emerging artists, will feature a conversation between critics AHN jinkook, LEE moonjung, LEE taeho, KOH dongyeon, KIM soojin, and KIM heokyung and 6 ZOOM-IN selected artists (KWAK Aram, KIM Bokyung, KIM Hanna, LEE Sungjae, LEE Hojoon, and CHOI Myeongwon). All talk programs will also be streamed live on the Galleries Association of Korea’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@user-td4xh3io7r).

This year, an website (www.hwami.org) has been established to deliver more detailed information about the fair. As the visitors are younger, it has introduced an online ticketing system, and VIP tickets will be paralleled with paper tickets for middle-aged and older people who are used to paper tickets. In addition, to increase access to art, for the first time, the Galleries Art Fair will distribute the 2024 edition of the catalog online for free, with a small number of physical printed copies for archival purposes.

Tickets for the 2024 edition will go on sale in advance on March 14 via a link on the official website, priced at 20,000 KRW. Students, Art Pass holders, and Korean Fine Arts Association members can purchase tickets at a discounted rate of 15,000 KRW. In addition, a special online preview will be held from March 18, two weeks before the fair, until April 7, on the S.I.Village website (https://www.sivillage.com/).

References

• 화랑미술제(Galleries Art Fair)