Companies Flock to Frieze Seoul as Department Stores, Hotels and Fashion Brands Join the Art Competition

Frieze Seoul has become a stage not only for galleries, but also for companies seeking to turn art into a reason for customers to visit, stay and spend time in their spaces.

Shinsegae is taking the most prominent retail role this year as the first South Korean distribution group to become the fair’s headline partner. The company will run a Shinsegae Lounge at COEX and plans to present a special exhibition by French artist Paul Cox. Its partnership with Frieze is scheduled to continue for five years, through 2030.

The group’s involvement draws on a cultural-art history that began in 1963, when it opened the country’s first art-focused space operated by a retailer. Shinsegae has since continued exhibitions, competitions and collaborations with artists. Group chairman Chung Yong-jin, known as a classical music enthusiast, is also associated with a strategy to make shopping spaces places where customers want to linger, combining culture, art, food and entertainment. Starfield’s Byeolmadang Library, the Open Art Competition and art tours at Josun Hotels & Resorts fit that approach.

Paradise City is presenting A.A. Murakami’s first solo exhibition in South Korea at Paradise Art Space in Incheon from Sept. 1. “New Nature” combines phenomena such as fog, light, bubbles and wind with advanced technology, and includes the first public showing of “MUD PAINTINGS. From ‘A Thousand layers of Stomach’ Series.” The exhibition will run until February 2027. CJ Group will host a Frieze-related event at Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art for about 400 guests from the domestic and international art and cultural sectors. LG Uplus, the only South Korean mobile carrier listed as an official Frieze Seoul sponsor, will support the new Material Practices section, operate a VIP lounge and offer an AI docent at its Gangnam cultural venue.