Frieze is opening a permanent exhibition space in Seoul called Frieze Seoul House, set to debut alongside Frieze Seoul 2025. Located in a former home in the Yaksu-dong neighborhood, the venue will model itself after Frieze's No. 9 Cork Street in London, offering temporary selling spaces for galleries from out of town. The space will also host non-commercial programming, including exhibitions by architects, film-makers, and fashion designers, as well as talks and lectures. Frieze will relocate its Seoul office to the building, which was designed in 1988 and renovated by local studio Samuso Hyoja.
This move matters because it signals Frieze's commitment to establishing a year-round presence in Seoul, a city that has become a major hub for the global art market since the fair's launch there in 2022. By providing a flexible, low-risk platform for international galleries—especially those from the Asia Pacific region—to test the Seoul market without opening a permanent space, Frieze Seoul House could further accelerate the city's rise as an art-world destination. The initiative also reflects a broader trend of art fairs expanding into permanent or semi-permanent venues to deepen local engagement beyond the fair week.