Kiaf SEOUL
Korea’s longest-running international art fair marks twenty-five years at COEX with 175 galleries, a first external creative director, and a quieter Sunday after Frieze closes.
2026 dates
- Venue
- COEX, Halls A and B and Grand Ballroom, Level 1
- Where to plan around
- 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Samseong Station on Line 2 or Bongeunsa on Line 9
- Access
- Buy online only through the Korea Art Festival / Frieze joint shop. Every Frieze or Kiaf ticket opens both fairs on overlapping days; general admission requires choosing which fair you enter first. Full-price single-day tickets are published at ₩90,000 before 15:00 and ₩70,000 after 15:00; multi-day Preview is ₩250,000 from Thursday 11:00. Early-bird discounts are sold out. Sunday uses a Kiaf-only general admission product.
- Official information
- Visit Kiaf SEOUL / Frieze ↗
The Banquet note
Kiaf SEOUL opened in 2002 under the Galleries Association of Korea and remains the country’s primary home fair. The twenty-fifth edition runs 2–6 September 2026 in COEX Halls A and B and the Grand Ballroom on Level 1, while Frieze Seoul occupies Halls C and D on Level 3 through 5 September. Organisers list 175 galleries from eighteen countries and territories. Designer Kuho Jung, known for fashion and exhibition work under the KUHO label, is the fair’s first outside creative director, charged with branding, visitor flow and special exhibitions under the theme Coexistence. Kiaf PLUS again gathers younger and international rooms; an airport activation with Incheon runs through early September in Terminal 1.
Read the two fairs as stacked geography, not rival brands. Start downstairs if Korean and regional galleries are your reason for the week; go upstairs first if the Frieze map is the appointment. One uninterrupted COEX day beats two exhausted half-days. Kiaf’s Sunday, 11:00 to 18:00, is the quietest public chance to finish what Thursday crowds interrupted. Design Miami Seoul at DDP is a separate ticket and a separate morning. Sleep in Cheongdam or Hannam for gallery nights; Samseong is efficient only if COEX is the entire point.
Plan it well
Buy the joint ticket before you fly; online only. Prefer Friday or Saturday for both floors, or Sunday if Kiaf alone is enough. Leave Design Miami Seoul for another morning.