LOCAL SEOUL 서울 GALLERIES TO WATCH:
CYLINDER
CYLINDER is a neutral and variable space born in Seoul in November 2020. The gallery has established its spatial identity between alternative and commercial art over the last few years, going through multidimensional changes in characteristics. CYLINDER willingly plays the role of an intermediary between institution and field and contributes to creating various art ecologies. Our vision is to provide a firm stepping-stone for the participating artists to move to the next level, and at the same time bridging the general public’s distance to contemporary art by lowering the threshold for them, transforming CYLINDER into a shared space.
image below: View of Cylinder gallery space
LOCAL SEOUL 서울 GALLERIES TO WATCH:
JASON HAMM
Jason Haam opened his eponymous gallery in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, in January 2018 with the inaugural exhibition of an American painter, Oliver Arms. Since its inception, the gallery has exhibited an extensive array of international contemporary artists. Founded with an uncompromising ethos for quality, the gallery is dedicated to showing works that are both original and emblematic of their time.
This year Haam announced the expansion of their current premises in Seongbuk-dong. The gallery will soon extend to an adjacent site at 350-4 Seongbuk-dong, effectively tripling our current exhibition space. This development will create a dynamic landscape where visitors can seamlessly move between exhibitions and experience the rich diversity of our program firsthand. The new building will be transformed into a site-specific installation by the renowned Swiss artist Urs Fischer, featuring a new body of sculptures within. This will be Fischer’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, following his first solo show in Seoul in 2022. After the exhibition, the structure will be demolished to make way for an innovative new gallery space, scheduled to open in September 2025.
image below: View of Jason Haam, Seoul
LOCAL SEOUL 서울 GALLERIES TO WATCH:
BARAKAT
Opened in 2016 in the center of Seoul, Barakat Contemporary focuses on in-depth research and planning into the important topics in international society and contemporary art, presenting to the domestic and international audience artists who show a humanities-based perspective on the present era. The gallery supports the long-term growth of unique artists from various cultures, including Africa, America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and offers audiences an uncommon opportunity to explore the contemporary issues arising from the points of contact between each society and culture. Barakat Contemporary is the only contemporary art branch of the Barakat Gallery, which features some 40,000 museum quality artifacts spanning various times and regions. Barakat Gallery has led the way in exhibiting ancient art and spreading the culture of collecting in (its locations in) Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Looking ahead, Barakat Contemporary will continue to combine the ancient and modern to create a new future for contemporary art.
image below: Installation View of Farah Al Qasimi: Blue Desert Online, Barakat Contemporary, 2024
