KIAF, Asia’s leading art fair
Launched in 2002 by Galleries Association of Korea, KIAF has grown into Asia’s leading art fair by offering a wide variety of subsidiary programs, going beyond its function as a trade venue for art. This year’s KIAF will see participation by 193 galleries from 16 countries, including Korea. It will be Asia’s largest art festival, showcasing around 5,000 high-quality works of art. The participating galleries will feature a wide range of works, ranging from those created by rising artists who are active all across the globe to the works of world-renowned artists. They will thus attempt to promote the art market and expand the foundation of art.
The UK, a country that is performing leading roles in contemporary art, was chosen as the guest country for KIAF2010. Galleries from the UK and the planned academic program will enable visitors to understand the present of British art and identify its future direction of development. In addition, KIAF seeks to considerably strengthen measures to support promising new artists through its Artist Support Program, which is offered for the development of the art industry and the future of the art market, in addition to performing basic functions as an art fair. It thus seeks to propose new trends in art.
The wide variety of programs KIAF provides, such as the Docent Program and KIDS in KIAF, will allow the audience to take a step closer to modern art. Above all, a special media art exhibition will be held to give more diversity to the event, whose exhibited works will mainly be paintings. The exhibition will further expand the roles of the art fair by showcasing the works of PAIK Nam Jun as well as Korean media artists who are distinguishing themselves in the field of media art by effectively leveraging Korea’s image as an IT power.
This year will mark KIAF’s advancement from Asia’s leading art fair to a global art fair as an arena for learning and an art festival. In 2008, KIAF witnessed participation by 218 galleries from 20 countries and an audience of more than 60,000, thus fully establishing itself as Asia’s largest art fair. In 2009, the number of visitors reached around 56,000 despite the economic downturn. In stark contrast to overseas art fairs that had a poor record, KIAF saw its artwork sales stand at KRW 13.6 billion, and thus received favorable reviews as Asia’s leading art fair. Against the backdrop of the steady recovery of the global economy, there are unprecedentedly high expectations towards KIAF2010. To satisfy such expectations, KIAF will provide an opportunity to take a detailed look at the present art market and to consider the desirable future direction of the art industry. It will also offer a variety of connected programs to demonstrate the great potentials of the Korean art market as a leading art event in Korea. KIAF is going further by strengthening PR and VIP programs through cooperation with other art fairs. It is cooperating with Art Taipei and other art fairs to engage in joint PR activities and to invite VIPs of other art fairs. KIAF2010 will faithfully perform its roles as a ‘sample market’ that shows the art market of today and predicts the market of tomorrow, and also serve as Asia’s leading multifunctional cultural event that focuses on art.
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