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Digital exhibit '20!2026 Art Seoul' aims to enhance trust, accessibility in the art market

Published: 04 Mar. 2026, 16:47 Updated: 04 Mar. 2026, 19:29

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Artworks are on display at the "20!2026 Art Seoul" digital exhibit website page, set to open on March 16. [ART SEOUL]

A new digital art exhibit is set to launch on March 16, featuring approximately 1,000 artworks by 65 artists, organizer MANIF announced on Wednesday.

Titled "20!2026 Art Seoul," the exhibit's most notable aspect is its “80 percent guarantee” system, allowing art buyers to request an 80 percent refund of the purchase price within one year of acquiring a work. The new policy aims at increasing trust in art transactions and lowering the entry barrier for new collectors.

“20!2026 Art Seoul” aims to foster a healthy, trust-based art ecosystem through price transparency, guaranteed liquidity, data-driven management and a blockchain authentication system. It is expected to serve as an opportunity to experiment with a new art distribution paradigm suited to the digital age," MANIF Organization Committee's President Kim Young-seok told reporters in Jongno District, central Seoul.

It had a pilot run last year, and the upcoming edition marks its official debut. The exhibit's organizer, MANIF, is behind Korea's first-ever art fair, MANIF Seoul International Art Fair, founded in 1995, where artists — instead of galleries — submitted works directly to the fair. It closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic and has returned in a digital format under its new name, "Art Seoul."

The upcoming exhibit is set to showcase paintings priced at 10 million won or less, by a wide range of artists from veterans to up-and-comers, the latter of whom were selected through a juried competition.

Secure transactions are ensured through an escrow account. After the yearlong 80 percent guarantee period is over, works can still be resold via a dedicated resale channel within artseoul.com.

"The key issues in the art market are an unstable pricing structure and low liquidity," said Kim. “The Art Seoul platform helps art enthusiasts enter the market with greater stability by offering extensive information on artists and an 80 percent price guarantee system."

MANIF is also launching an online "hwagye-do," a term they coined for a genealogical map of artists’ works that provides information on each artist’s oeuvre, effectively serving as a digital catalogue raisonne (an annotated listing of all the known works of an artist).

Blockchain technology is also applied to artwork images and certificates to prevent forgery and tampering. In addition, artwork prices are set under a rational fixed-price system in cooperation with the Korea Art Appraisal Association.

There will also be a "t-MANIF' section, conceived as a digital-based platform designed to serve as an accessible and convenient gateway for enjoying contemporary art. It features limited sale of 12-edition prints, premium pigment prints, blockchain-based certificates of authenticity and a “digital postcard” that allows buyers to input their own text and digital emoticons.

"20!2026 Art Seoul" is set to run through April 13.

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]