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Koreans’ openness to new art a big factor in European gallery’s expansion in Seoul – ‘people show up even if it’s from artists they have never heard of’
- Peres Projects, a Berlin-based art gallery, opened in Seoul and within a year had outgrown its hotel basement spot and moved to a four-storey space
- Founder Javier Peres finds Koreans to be ‘exceptionally open-minded’. That matters when he is showing emerging artists such as Britain’s Cece Philips, he says
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It took only a few months for one Berlin-based art dealer to outgrow his first gallery space in Seoul.
Peres Projects, which represents a roster of international contemporary artists such as Brooklyn-based Emily Ludwig Shaffer and the Hong Kong artist known as Mak2, in April unveiled its new four-storey home in the heart of the city’s art district exactly a year after first opening a space in the South Korean capital.
The high-ceilinged, 2,000-plus sq ft (190 square metres-plus) space is much bigger than Peres Projects’ original basement space at Hotel Shilla, and the gallery’s expansion is another vote of confidence in the South Korean market.
In 2022, big global art market players such as Pace Gallery and Lehmann Maupin announced major expansions in their exhibition space. The year also saw the inaugural Frieze Seoul art fair, the first Asian event held by Frieze, a rival to Art Basel which also stages art fairs in London, New York and Los Angeles.
Peres Projects’ seven shows held at Hotel Shilla were a good experiment, says Javier Peres, who founded the gallery in 2002. Sales were strong.
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