Park Seo-Bo Museum Opens in Seoul

The Park Seo-Bo Museum, honoring the late Dansaekhwa (monochrome painting) pioneer, opened on August 21 in Seoul’s Yeonhui-dong neighborhood, Seodaemun District, beside Park’s former home and studio. The 2,000-square-meter, five-story building—two levels below ground, three above—was designed by architect Choi Moongyu, known for projects including Ssamziegil and the Daegu Kansong Museum of Art. One of Korean Dansaekhwa’s foundational figures, Park drew on ink painting and calligraphic traditions to develop a minimalist, meditative visual language across a six-decade career. The museum will house his archive and works alongside rotating exhibitions of lesser-known artists. Its opening show, “Park Seo-bo and Huong Dodinh: Emptiness Fullness,” pairs 25 of Park’s paintings and 17 by Vietnamese French painter Huong Dodinh, tracing the friendship between the two artists formed shortly before Park’s death in 2023. The exhibition is on view through January 3, 2027.

Frieze Abu Dhabi Announces Programming and Lineup

Frieze Abu Dhabi has revealed the exhibitor list and programming for its inaugural edition, running November 19–22 at Manarat Al Saadiyat in the Saadiyat Cultural District. Developed with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the fair—a rebrand of the longstanding Abu Dhabi Art—will bring together 84 galleries from 63 cities. Regional participants include Gallery Isabelle and Iris Projects from the UAE, ATHR Gallery from Saudi Arabia, Experimenter from Kolkata and Mumbai, and Gypsum Gallery from Cairo, joined by international names such as Gagosian, Pace, and Timothy Taylor. Beyond the main Galleries section, the fair introduces Frieze Masters Abu Dhabi, focused on the Indian Ocean’s histories of exchange, and Global Futures, spotlighting artists engaged with the UAE and the wider Gulf region. Focus, Frieze’s platform for emerging galleries, returns with exhibitor bursaries, alongside Frieze Sculpture, an “In Dialogue” exhibition pairing an established Emirati artist with an emerging one, the Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award, and a talks program. “Complementing Frieze’s expansive reach, the [Abu Dhabi] fair amplifies voices from the region in an international context,” said Kristell Chadé, Frieze’s executive director of fairs.

MCA Australia Unveils 2026–27 Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) in Sydney has unveiled its 2026–27 Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission, a new work by Maitland-born, Sydney-based artist Nell. Titled Holding Both (2026), the life-size bronze sculpture on the museum’s fourth-floor terrace renders a woman mid-stride, balancing two glass ghosts suspended from a pole on her shoulders. Drawing on the imagery of a scale and on Buddhist ideas of mindfulness, the commission reflects on the oft-overlooked emotional and physical labor carried by women. “Somehow [women] manage to carry the proverbial weight of the world with poise and grace,” Nell said in a statement, adding that she has wanted to create the piece for more than 15 years. MCA Australia director Suzanne Cotter called it “a powerful and charismatic sculptural presence that speaks to ideas of balance, care, and resilience and the complexity of the female experience.” Holding Both is on view through August 23, 2027. 

Perth to Welcome New Sculpture Park 

Western Australia’s first permanent contemporary sculpture park, Perth Sky Sculpture Park, opens to the public on October 31 at the historic Perth Observatory in Bickley, City of Kalamunda. Run by a nonprofit, community-driven initiative, the park will operate on a biennial cycle, rotating its outdoor display of roughly 50 large-scale works every 22 months, alongside an indoor presentation of smaller sculptures at the site’s Discovery Centre. The inaugural lineup, spread across the Observatory’s bushland grounds, brings together 60 sculptures by regional and international artists. The launch coincides with the debut Perth Sky Acquisitive Awards funded by the City of Kalamunda. “Through a major biennial exhibition and evolving collection, we aim to build a nationally significant cultural destination here in the Perth Hills,” said Johannes Pannekoek, the initiative’s chair and head curator.