Frieze Seoul after the hype: South Korea’s art market grows more cautious

The speculative rush that once made Seoul look ready to overtake Hong Kong as Asia’s leading art-market hub has faded. Yet the quieter market on display at the fifth Frieze Seoul suggests not collapse, but a more mature phase.

Frieze Seoul and the established Kiaf fair opened together at the Coex convention center in Gangnam. The halls were well attended, with international visitors moving among more than 125 galleries from 30 countries. Buying decisions, however, were noticeably more measured than during the boom years. More than 70 percent of the participating galleries now have locations in the Asia-Pacific region, compared with about 50 percent at the inaugural 2022 edition. Frieze Seoul has become more regional.

The speculators who helped fuel the Korean market during the cryptocurrency and stock-market boom have largely disappeared. The market peaked in 2022 and then fell by about 25 percent by 2025, according to the Galleries Association of Korea, to 615 billion won, or roughly 390 million euros. The sharp fall in the won against the dollar, higher interest rates and economic uncertainty added to the pressure.

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It is fantastic to see how Seoul Art Week has continued to develop across the city, with institutions and museum exhibitions of a high standard.

Money remains available at the top end. Salzburg-based Thaddaeus Ropac sold Adrian Ghenie’s large painting “Figure with Funerary Stele” for 1.1 million euros and Antony Gormley’s sculpture “HOLD” for 750,000 pounds on the preview day. Other sales included a work by Martha Jungwirth for 170,000 euros, David Salle’s “Blue Trunks” for 220,000 dollars and Alex Katz’s “Study for Emma” for 150,000 dollars.

“It is fantastic to see how Seoul Art Week has continued to develop across the city, with institutions and museum exhibitions of a high standard,” Ropac said. He added that the quality of the offering now attracts a critical mass of collectors. Lisa Kandlhofer, whose gallery took part in Frieze Seoul for the first time this year, said she had studied the market for some time through contacts with Korean curators and collectors.

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I have been looking at the market for some time because we are in contact with curators and collectors from Korea.