Frieze Seoul wrapped its fifth edition on Saturday (Sept. 5) with a split-screen verdict. The aisles were packed and the roster of visiting museums and institutions was the biggest the fair has had, yet the checks were smaller than in the boom years. A price high for a Korean artist and a booth that moved more than 400 sponge-block artworks tell the story of a market that is cautious, curious and getting younger.
The numbers
More than 70,000 people came through the fair at COEX in Gangnam over four days, from 54 countries and regions, according to Frieze figures reported by the Asia Business Daily. Representatives of 178 museums and institutions from 25 countries attended. Both are highs for the fair. Its sister fair Kiaf Seoul, in its 25th year, drew about 80,000.
The headline on day one was the mood. The Korea Herald called it “big crowds, smaller checks”: blue-chip booths moved works in the low to mid six figures, while nothing on day one matched last year’s top sale, a Mark Bradford painting that went for around $4.5 million. “The morning’s been slower than the past few years,” a Gangnam gallery representative told the paper.
What sold
The fair’s priciest result was a Korean one. Kukje Gallery sold Yoo Youngkuk’s 1971 painting Work for between 2.2 billion and 2.5 billion won, the highest price on record for a Korean artist’s work at Frieze Seoul, per the Asia Business Daily. On opening day, ARTnews reported, Thaddaeus Ropac led with Adrian Ghenie’s new Figure with Funerary Stele (2026) at €1.1 million and an Antony Gormley cast-iron sculpture at £750,000.
Street-born names did well too. Gladstone sold ten 1982 Keith Haring works on paper to an overseas collector for $2.5 million in total, the Asia Business Daily reports. At David Kordansky, nine paintings from a first solo presentation by Chase Hall sold, and fairgoers queued to take photos with the artist, ARTnews noted. And at the affordable end, the gallery Whistle sold more than 400 of 500 sponge-block works by dpgp78 in Frieze’s Focus section.
Seoul’s art scene has its own momentum.
Patrick Lee, director of Frieze Seoul, Galerie
Lee said that collectors and institutions came from more countries than at any previous edition, and that galleries sold “across price points, from emerging artists to Korean modern masters.” Dealer Thaddaeus Ropac put the appeal more bluntly to ARTnews: “People here demand culture.”
Beyond the booths
The fair spilled into the city. British artist Ryan Gander planned to hide some 16,000 of his own coins across Euljiro, Hannam, Cheongdam, Samcheong and COEX for The Find Seoul, a treasure hunt that ran Aug. 31 to Sept. 10, ARTnews reported in July. On the VIP floor, actors Han So-hee and Park Eun-bin and The8 of Seventeen were spotted making the rounds, per the Korea Herald. Kiaf added a classical program with pianist Seong-Jin Cho, part of an effort to turn the fair into something closer to a festival of music, food and digital art.
The crowd mattered as much as the checks. “I’m seeing more younger audiences showing up at exhibitions, fairs, in a way that wasn’t visible a few years ago,” art adviser Gladys Lin told ARTnews, adding that it hasn’t turned into buying yet. “But that’s exactly the layer I’m watching.”
What’s next
The fairs will be apart in 2027. Because of remodeling at COEX, Frieze Seoul moves to Dongdaemun Design Plaza while Kiaf stays at COEX, the first time they have run at separate venues, the Asia Business Daily reports. Joint programming and ticketing will continue. Frieze’s next stop is London, where Frieze Week opens Oct. 14.
- Dates
- Sept. 2–5, 2026 (Kiaf Seoul ran to Sept. 6)
- Where
- COEX, Gangnam, Seoul
- Attendance
- 70,000+ at Frieze; about 80,000 at Kiaf
- Next year
- Frieze Seoul moves to Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Sources
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 11, 2026.
