Art events will fill the country throughout September, with biennales, art fairs and museum exhibitions opening nationwide alongside ticket discounts and other benefits for art lovers.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it is running Korea Art Festival 2026 across the country for one month this month, together with the Korea Arts Management Service. Launched in 2024, the festival has expanded its programs and events this year, with the goal of making art part of everyday life for the public.
This year's edition covers four biennales — the Gwangju Biennale, the Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale, the Busan Biennale and the Jeju Biennale — and two art fairs, Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul, along with special exhibitions at 96 major museums, art tours, special exhibitions at international airports and an international conference.
"The Korea Art Festival is an occasion for anyone to encounter art in daily life and a gateway through which the world comes to Korean art," Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said. "Using this festival as a springboard, we will build the foundation of the art ecosystem as a whole, from support for creation to overseas expansion, so that art can emerge as the next face of K-culture."
The ministry is supporting special discounts on exhibition admission for Korea Art Festival 2026. Discounted tickets, priced at 30% to 70% off the regular rate, went on sale through online booking platforms starting June 15, and about 13,000 people had used them as of Aug. 26. Discounted tickets for Kiaf and Frieze Seoul, the Gwangju Biennale, the Busan Biennale and the Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale are now sold out, while discounted tickets for the Jeju Biennale are available on NAVER for 4,000 won, or 50% off.
Rail travel packages prepared by Korea Railroad Corp. offer another way to take in the festival. Working with the Busan Biennale, the railway operator created a Busan-bound package that bundles a 50% discount on southbound Seoul-Busan trains, a 30% discount on Busan Biennale admission and a 20,000-won voucher for shops at Busan Station. The package is available on the Let's KORAIL website, and vouchers can be exchanged for paper tickets at the Busan Biennale venue.
A total of 96 museums nationwide — 35 public and 61 private — are also taking part, with exhibitions ranging from retrospectives of major artists to shows by emerging artists and surveys of regional art. All exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's Seoul, Gwacheon, Deoksugung and Cheongju branches are free from Sept. 1 to 6.
The festival is again running its Art Travel program, in which participants tour museums, biennales and artists' studios in each region with professional curators and guides who explain the stories behind the works. Ten regional organizations are running 13 programs and two workshops across five areas: Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang and Jeju. This year, the three biennales running simultaneously in Gwangju, Busan and Jeju are linked with local art venues along a single route.
Through November, Incheon, Gimpo and Gimhae international airports — the gateways for domestic and international travelers — are being turned into large-scale galleries. Visitors can see 29 media and installation works by 16 emerging and mid-career Korean artists. The exhibition runs July 14 to Nov. 14 at Incheon, July 1 to Oct. 31 at Gimpo and July 15 to Oct. 15 at Gimhae.
The ministry is also running Dive into Korean Art 2026 for prominent figures from the international art world visiting Korea around the festival. From Aug. 30 to Sept. 6, 15 overseas art professionals, including museum curators and editors from around the world, are visiting the studios of nine emerging Korean artists, major art institutions and the Gwangju and Busan biennales.
The ministry said it is promoting the festival through the Korea Art Festival website and social media, outdoor electronic displays owned by the central and local governments, street-lamp banners and venues such as airports and train stations, while also providing information to foreign audiences online and offline through Korean Cultural Centers abroad and overseas offices of the Korea Tourism Organization.
Festival guidebooks are being distributed at major event venues, including the four biennales and Kiaf Seoul, as well as at HiKR Ground, a tourism promotion and experience center. The festival is also being featured in art magazines such as Wolgan Misool, Public Art and Art in Culture, and in KTX Magazine, linking art with tourism.
