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Hive Art Fair focuses on curatorial prowess for buzzworthy first run

Published: 02 Mar. 2026, 10:07

LEE JIAN
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A digitally rendered image of the upcoming Hive Art Fair, featuring hexagonal clusters that contain booths [HIVE ART FAIR]

Hive Art Fair is set to kick off its inaugural run from May 21 to 24 at Coex Magok in Magok District, western Seoul, the organizers confirmed on Thursday.

By scrapping booth fees — the core mechanism of a typical commercial art fair — Hive adopts an untested approach to an art industry under systemic strain and shifts the focus back to the curatorial strengths of galleries. Rather than lining up their bestsellers and art fair regulars, galleries are urged to do what they do best: selling the exhibition, not just the artwork.

“It is a complete departure from traditional conventions in design and operational principles,” Hive's Head of Operations Kim Dong-hyun told the press at the Somerset Palace in Jongno District, central Seoul. “We hope to become a platform beyond a marketplace that simply buys and sells artworks.”

Director Janice Kim, left, and Head of Operations Kim Dong-hyun speak to reporters about the upcoming Hive Art Fair, at Sommerset Palace Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 26. [YONHAP]

About half of its expected 50 galleries have confirmed their attendance so far, including international galleries Esther Schipper (Berlin, Paris, Seoul), TOKYO Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo, Beijing), Gajah Gallery (Singapore, Yogyakarta, Jakarta), CANADA (New York), CON_ (Tokyo), Tomio Koyama Gallery (Tokyo) and The Drawing Room (Manila), as well as local venues Gana Art Center, Gallery Hyundai and Arario Gallery.

The booth is the primary site of Hive’s reinvention. Organized inside hexagonal clusters resembling cells in a honeycomb, hence the name of the fair, each “cell” is divided into six isosceles trapezoids where galleries will set up their booths — and one center, called “The Core,” where a special exhibition curated directly by Hive will be presented.

A digitally rendered image of a booth of Hive Art Fair [HIVE ART FAIR]

Participating galleries to the fair do not pay to occupy one of these spaces, but the organizers say that doesn’t mean they are giving them away for free.

“In place of a booth fee, we ask galleries to present the best and boldest curated exhibition they have ever attempted before at an art fair,” said Kim, explaining that the fair is fundamentally betting on what it sees as a gallery’s core strength: not the mere display of artworks, but its curatorial vision — a quality that has seldom been recognized or treated as a product in its own right.

“Instead of charging a booth fee, we ask that the equivalent amount be invested into the booth’s curatorial concept.”

Such curatorial excellence in an art fair can also lead to more business-to-business opportunities, organizers said. Positioned in Magok — a core business district, with more than 150 major corporations and midsize companies operating research centers — Hive’s target audience includes not just individual collectors and dealers but also officials from museums and conglomerates.

“For example, many corporations today are interested in art collaborations — it is a growing trend — yet they often do not know where to turn,” said the fair’s director Janice Kim.

The premise of Hive is antagonistic of the traditional art fair structure, where galleries often are forced to prioritize works that are easier to sell over the overall quality of the exhibition, as a strategy to offset the high cost of booth fees that can get up to six figures.

Organizers, too, tend to focus primarily on attracting galleries in order to secure booth revenue, making it difficult in reality to effectively manage the overall standard of exhibition content.

Hive, however, intends to generate revenue by monetizing services that are typically offered free of charge at art fairs.

The fair tickets given to galleries to invite their clients, for example, have to be purchased at Hive. “Promotional lounges” will take place in lieu of fair-run formalistic auxiliary programs like talk shows, where galleries can purchase time slots and utilize the lounge space as a practical platform for promotion and sales.

It will also allow galleries to choose a preferred location of their booth for an extra fee. To prevent booth positions from being determined solely by financial capacity, however, Hive plans to implement a curatorial review process. Thus, in cases where preferred locations are contested, priority will be granted based on the originality and capability of the exhibition proposal.

“If galleries were freed from the burden of booth fees and instead invested that cost into transforming their booths into fully realized exhibitions, we believe it would create an environment where the Korean art market can truly focus on art itself,” said Kim. “While we don’t claim to be the absolute answer to revolutionizing the art market, we do believe we are making a leap to attempt to solve some of those issues and contribute in creating a more sustainable cycle in the industry.”

BY LEE JIAN. [[email protected]]