Seoul Sculpture Festival Brings More Than 100 Works to Parks and the Hangang

A citywide gallery opens along everyday routes

Fourteen finalists selected from an international call drawing 98 artists are competing for the Seoul Sculpture Award, with visitors helping choose a winner whose work is scheduled to remain at Noeul Park for three years. The competition is part of the second Seoul Sculpture Festival, which runs from September 1 to November 30, 2025, bringing more than 100 sculptures to ten public sites across the capital.

Ttukseom Hangang Park anchors the festival, but its reach extends to Seoul Botanic Park, Boramae Park, Dream Forest and other public spaces. Commuters, joggers, families and visitors can encounter large sculptures, interactive pieces and curated displays during their normal journeys, without buying a gallery ticket.

Residents can scan QR codes beside the award entries to vote. Their choices will be combined with expert evaluations to select the grand prize. Alongside the competition, a curated exhibition presents 22 works by leading Korean sculptors, connecting new proposals with artists whose work already has a place in the country's public life.

The September opening places the festival within a busy art season. Seoul Art Week, Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul bring exhibitions, collectors and curators to the city, while sculpture in parks offers a different way to participate. Workshops, music, talks and a collaborative installation built with citizen messages give visitors opportunities to contribute as well as look.

As of September 3, the festival has nearly three months ahead of it. Its outdoor setting allows people to return through the autumn, seeing how the same work changes under daylight, evening light and the surrounding activity of a park.

Ten main sites, with more displays beyond them

Ttukseom Hangang Park, one of Seoul's most visited riverfront areas, hosts the main exhibition. Nine other locations carry the festival into parks and public spaces, placing sculptures along pedestrian routes and near plazas where people already gather.

Seoul Botanic Park, Boramae Park and Dream Forest are among the locations where an ordinary walk can become an encounter with art. The arrangement supports both planned visits and unexpected discoveries: someone can travel specifically to see a sculpture, or stop beside one while crossing a familiar park.

Seoul Sculpture+, running alongside the main festival, introduces works by 60 artists at ten additional sites. Another project, the One Pyeong Sculpture Museum, uses small pockets of urban space for compact installations that encourage viewers to look closely.

Those parallel programs extend the festival's presence into neighborhoods far from the Hangang. Large works can shape an open view, while smaller installations offer something more intimate. Together, they create reasons to visit several locations rather than treating the event as a single exhibition at the river.

Outdoor viewing also changes with the hour. A sculpture seen during a daytime walk may look different after dark as light alters its surfaces and its relationship with nearby paths and buildings. The schedule encourages repeat visits across the season.

How residents help choose the award winner

The Seoul Sculpture Award's 14 finalists were chosen through an international open call involving 98 artists. Their works range from abstract experiments with scale to figurative pieces referring to Korean history and contemporary life. Abstract sculpture uses shapes and forms rather than a clearly recognizable subject; figurative sculpture gives viewers something recognizable to consider.

Visitors register their choices by scanning QR codes near the works. Citizen votes are then combined with a panel review. The voting brings people who may rarely enter a gallery into the process of recognizing new sculpture, while professional assessment considers the demands of making work for public space.

Outdoor sculpture must cope with weather, fit the scale of its surroundings and remain readable from a distance. It also needs to reward closer attention. The combination of public voting and expert review brings those considerations together, balancing how a work connects with visitors and how it meets professional standards for design and fabrication.

The grand prize winner is slated for display at Noeul Park, within the World Cup Park complex in Mapo District, for three years. That planned placement gives the winning work a life beyond the autumn exhibition and makes the competition relevant to the appearance of another public park.

Established Korean sculptors join the exhibition

The curated exhibition of 22 works presents a wider view of contemporary Korean sculpture alongside the award entries. Featured artists include Kim Young won, known for the King Sejong statue at Gwanghwamun Square, and Han Jin seop, the first Asian artist to install a sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica.

Their inclusion brings artists associated with prominent public works into the same festival as more experimental pieces. Visitors can compare minimalist forms, which use a restrained visual language, with narrative works that draw on craft traditions and suggest stories through their subjects or construction.

The Korean Sculptors Association and other private partners help expand the program. Public institutions handle logistics and access, while artist networks contribute to selection and mentorship. That cooperation introduces viewers to established voices and younger artists testing different approaches.

The festival also connects the experience of walking among sculptures with a broader support network for the art form in Korea. Workshops, academic programs and city initiatives sit behind the finished works, linking artistic practice with places used by the public.

Visitors can make, listen and contribute

Families and students have several ways to take part. Hands on studios and guided sessions are intended for different ages and interests, allowing visitors to move from observing a finished sculpture to trying some of the decisions involved in making one.

Sculpture Playground gives young visitors a designated space to build and move around invented forms. Simple materials and clear prompts encourage experimentation. Becoming a Sculptor offers more focused sessions for teenagers and adults, introducing structure, balance and materials before participants make small pieces to take home.

Those activities help explain the construction behind larger public works. A small piece must stay upright and hold together; an outdoor sculpture applies similar concerns on a different scale. The workshops give participants a practical starting point for understanding what they see elsewhere in the park.

Veteran actress Go Doo shim, who serves as an honorary mayor of Seoul, has recorded audio commentary for selected works. The recordings guide attention toward fabrication, placement and themes, offering an introduction for visitors unfamiliar with sculpture without relying on dense specialist language.

Daily busking adds music to evening walks. The Sculpture Talk Concert brings artists and critics into conversation about materials, site selection and public art in a dense city. Artists explain their choices, while critics connect those decisions with discussions about contemporary sculpture in Korea and abroad.

A collaborative installation built with citizen messages provides another route into the festival. Together, the workshops, recordings, performances, talks and contributed messages make participation part of the event rather than limiting visitors to viewing completed objects.

Seoul Art Week links 107 museums and galleries

Seoul Art Week runs from September 1 to 7, 2025, linking major art events and museums during the festival's opening week. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has detailed more than 100 exhibitions and programs involving 107 museums and galleries.

Its anchor events include the Seoul Sculpture Festival, Frieze Seoul, Kiaf Seoul, the Seoul Mediacity Biennale and Seoul Light DDP 2025 Autumn. The program connects sculpture in parks with gallery exhibitions, moving image projects, installations and large media facades, giving residents several ways to experience the city's art season.

A stamp tour across 85 venues encourages neighborhood exploration. Visitors who collect stamps from at least five venues can receive small souvenirs. The tour provides a reason to look beyond familiar districts and combine several exhibitions during the week.

VIP itineraries aligned with Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul take international guests to artist residencies run by the city. These visits open studio doors and offer an opportunity to see work in progress, extending the art week beyond finished objects on display.

At DDP, large media facades create a nighttime spectacle. The Mediacity Biennale spreads moving image and installation projects across multiple venues. Sculpture in the parks adds an outdoor option to this mix, connecting prominent events with places residents use to commute, exercise and relax.

Public access sits alongside the art fairs

At COEX, Frieze Seoul hosts more than 120 exhibitors, while Kiaf Seoul presents 175 galleries from 20 countries. These fairs attract collectors and curators, contributing to Seoul's growing appeal for international artists and people who select or buy art.

Frieze and Kiaf require tickets; the sculpture festival is free to view. The difference gives residents and visitors choices within the same art season. A visit to the fairs can be followed by a riverfront walk, while someone who skips the fairs can still encounter contemporary sculpture in public space.

The fairs also bring attention to programs outside COEX. By scheduling the sculpture festival alongside them, Seoul connects events centered on galleries and sales with installations that meet people in their everyday surroundings.

Visitors interested in media and design can add the Mediacity Biennale and the nighttime displays at DDP. During Seoul Art Week, combining park visits with museum shows creates an itinerary that moves between outdoor works, indoor exhibitions and illuminated city spaces.

Autumn follows earlier outdoor art programs

Seoul's effort to bring art into everyday environments began before the autumn festival. Spring and summer display events took place across downtown, from Seoul Plaza to river parks, establishing a sequence of outdoor encounters across the year.

One sculpture showcase ran at Baekje Culture Park in Songpa District from May 23 to August 12. It combined art with seasonal walks and outdoor concerts, providing an earlier example of sculpture sharing space with ordinary recreation.

The calendar connects those earlier displays with September's competition and neighborhood exhibitions under Seoul Sculpture+. A person who encountered a work in May can find another during an autumn outing, making public art a recurring part of open space rather than a single visit.

The key dates across the linked programs are:

• May 23 to August 12, 2025: The sculpture showcase at Baekje Culture Park accompanied seasonal walks and outdoor concerts.
• September 1 to 7, 2025: Seoul Art Week connects major events with exhibitions and programs across the city.
• September 1 to November 30, 2025: The second Seoul Sculpture Festival brings more than 100 works to ten main public sites.
• After the award selection: The grand prize work is scheduled for a three year display at Noeul Park.

Repeated encounters matter in a city where busy schedules and travel distances can limit dedicated exhibition visits. Placing works on existing walking routes gives residents more opportunities to stop without having to organize a separate trip.

What sculpture changes in shared spaces

Parks and riverfronts gain new stopping points when sculptures appear along their paths. Large works can anchor a view, while smaller pieces invite closer inspection and conversation. A routine jog or family walk can include a pause to examine something unfamiliar.

Works placed near plazas and pedestrian routes can draw people toward nearby amenities and encourage them to explore more of a park. Families can discuss a piece together, teachers can use it as a starting point for students, and commuters can stop long enough to scan a voting code.

Free access, clear signage and optional audio commentary make those encounters available to people with different levels of experience. Repeated contact with art in familiar surroundings can build confidence to visit galleries and museums elsewhere in Seoul.

The festival's mix of large installations, smaller interventions and participatory programs gives visitors several ways to engage. Someone can spend time studying a surface, listen to an explanation, make a small sculpture or contribute a message. The shared setting turns individual works into reference points for people using the same public space.

A nationwide arts push meets a difficult market

Across September, the nationwide Korea Art Festival offers discounted tickets to major biennales and fairs and promotes emerging artists through special exhibitions. A biennale is an exhibition held every two years. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Arts Management Service have coordinated efforts to make major shows accessible at lower cost.

Discounted bundles combine rail travel with tickets to events including the Cheongju Craft Biennale and the Gwangju Design Biennale. Airports host joint exhibitions introducing Korean art to travelers, while an international conference brings curators, critics and collectors into discussions about the country's place in the global art world.

Culture Minister Chae Hwi young described the Korea Art Festival as a way to bring artists and the public closer together while connecting Korean arts with audiences abroad:

The Korea Art Festival will go beyond a simple exhibition space to become a powerful starting point for Korean arts to breathe together with the people and communicate with the world.

Korea's art market faces a more complicated picture. Recent reporting has described a contraction in sales and changing competition across Asia as fairs in other countries seek attention. Major galleries still see promise in Seoul, supported by new initiatives, museum expansions and plans for large cultural facilities.

The sculpture festival works differently from the fairs centered on sales at COEX. Its purpose is to bring art to parks and public spaces, widening the audience and building interest over time. That broader participation can support institutions and artists beyond a single period of buying and selling.

Planning a visit across parks and venues

Ttukseom Hangang Park is served by Ttukseom Resort Station on Line 7. Boramae Park connects to Lines 7 and 2, while Seoul Botanic Park is near Magongnaru Station on Line 9 and the Airport Railroad. Dream Forest can be reached from Mia Sageori or Dolgoji stations followed by a short bus ride.

Riverfront parks can be crowded on weekends. Early mornings and late afternoons often provide more comfortable viewing conditions, while sunrise and the light before dusk can reveal texture and surfaces that midday glare makes harder to see. Water, sunscreen, a hat and comfortable shoes are useful on warm days.

Signs at the installations identify QR codes for award voting. The city's official event pages and Smart Seoul Map provide site lists and updates. Some works invite visitors to sit or walk through an element, but interaction should follow the instructions displayed beside each piece.

Children can use Sculpture Playground for active play, while the main installations require more care. Visitors should avoid climbing unless signs permit it and leave space around busking and talk events so performers and speakers can work without interference.

Seoul Art Week information is available through the Seoul Metropolitan Government's English site and official channels. Individual venues should also be checked because some programs require reservations or timed entry. Evening visitors to Ttukseom can look for scheduled drone light shows and seasonal night events, while trips focused on media and design can include DDP.

What to Know

• The second Seoul Sculpture Festival runs from September 1 to November 30, 2025, with more than 100 works across ten main public sites.
• Ttukseom Hangang Park anchors the exhibition, with locations including Seoul Botanic Park, Boramae Park and Dream Forest.
• The Seoul Sculpture Award has 14 finalists selected from a call drawing 98 artists. QR code votes are combined with expert review.
• The grand prize work is scheduled to remain at Noeul Park for three years.
• A curated exhibition presents 22 works, including pieces by Kim Young won and Han Jin seop.
• Seoul Sculpture+ introduces works by 60 artists at ten additional sites, while the One Pyeong Sculpture Museum uses small urban spaces.
• Workshops, Sculpture Playground, daily busking, talks, citizen messages and audio commentary by Go Doo shim extend participation.
• Seoul Art Week runs September 1 to 7, involving 107 museums and galleries. Its stamp tour covers 85 venues.
• The sculpture displays are free to view. Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul at COEX require tickets.