The Berlin dealer Johann König is opening a new art space in the Seoul district of Gangnam together with the luxury clothing brand MCM after their shared venture in a building slated for demolition in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza shopping district closed at the end of last year.
The new space in Korea opens on 3 April with an exhibition of more than 40 works by artists represented by the gallery including Erwin Wurm, Jeppe Hein, Katharina Grosse and Alicja Kwade. König Seoul occupies the fifth floor of the MCM Haus and will include a sculpture garden on the building’s rooftop terrace. It is to be managed by Soo Choi, a Seoul-based dealer.
“Korea has a strong position in the art market, so we are excited to be presenting our program to the Korean audience,” Johann König said in a press statement. König Galerie has in the past taken part in the Korean art shows Art Busan and KIAF, the statement said.
Subsequent exhibitions in the new Seoul space will focus on established artists such as Jorinde Voigt, Jeppe Hein, Camille Henrot and Claudia Comte as well as less well-known names such as Trey Abdella and Conny Maier, the gallery said.
König already operates a gallery in London and his flagship space in Berlin opened in 2015 in a converted concrete Brutalist church, where he began staging art fairs during the pandemic. The third edition of his “Messe in St. Agnes” will take place from 2-9 May, and is managed by Lena Winter, who was appointed director of the event in February.