Fourteen Korean collectors have formed a collective called Arche II to jointly acquire and display works by world-renowned artists in Daejeon, a city 140 km from Seoul. Their exhibition "Tracing the Unfinished" at the multidisciplinary complex Heredium features 30 works, including 14 jointly owned pieces, by artists such as Le Corbusier, Robert Longo, Olafur Eliasson, David Hockney, Yang Hae-gue, Anicka Yi, and Choi Byung-so. The group, founded in 2017 by business leaders including a radiologist and a former prosecutor, contributes a fixed annual budget to purchase three to five works at major art fairs, focusing on emerging artists rather than established names.
This initiative matters because it introduces a collaborative collecting model rare in Korea, inspired by the early 20th-century French collector group La Peau de l'Ours. By pooling resources and making collective decisions, Arche II aims to democratize art collecting and foster deeper engagement with art, challenging the typical gallery-led approach. The group's efforts also highlight the growing cultural ambition in Daejeon, a city outside Seoul, and may encourage the formation of more collector groups, potentially reshaping the Korean art market and supporting emerging artists.