Shinsegae(004170) The group said on the 26th it will operate the "Shinsegae lounge" at "Frieze Seoul 2026" from Sept. 2 to 5 at Coex in Seoul.
Shinsegae Group will participate as the headline partner of Frieze Seoul for five years from this year through 2030. This lounge is the first project in the long-term collaboration.
At the Shinsegae lounge, a special exhibition by French artist Paul Cox, "L'Immensité du Quotidien: The Monumental Everyday," will be presented. The core exhibition is Cox's "Diary" series, which has recorded scenes, light, and colors of everyday life every evening for years using opaque watercolor. Shinsegae will gather 336 of these works in one place and unveil them to the world for the first time. The individual works will be arranged in sequence so they can be appreciated as one large landscape.
Cox's works will also be used on the exterior of the lounge. One of his representative works,
Shinsegae's participation in Frieze Seoul extends the group's long-running strategy for cultural and art spaces. Shinsegae opened the Shinsegae Gallery in 1963 and has showcased domestic and international artworks inside its department stores. On the main store rooftop, it operates the outdoor sculpture park "Trinity Garden," which exhibits contemporary art, and it is also expanding cultural content across affiliates, including Starfield's "Byeolmadang Library," the "Open Art Contest" to discover emerging artists, and Josun Hotels & Resorts' "Art Tour."
The strategy is to transform retail spaces, once focused on product sales, into places where customers spend time and experience culture and content. At this year's Frieze Seoul, Shinsegae plans to showcase the group's space and content planning capabilities by directly curating the exhibition space, rather than putting product or brand promotion at the forefront.
Meanwhile, Frieze Seoul, which began in Asia in 2022, marks its fifth edition this year. This year's event will feature participation by about 130 galleries from 30 countries and regions worldwide. Last year, about 70,000 visitors from 48 countries came to the venue, cementing the fair as a representative international art event for Seoul.
A Shinsegae Group official said, "We hope visitors to this year's Frieze Seoul will take a moment in the Shinsegae lounge to view a familiar day from a slightly unfamiliar angle and enjoy the experience of discovering the beauty within it."