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MMCA selects featured artists for 2026's Korea Artist Prize

Published: 19 Jan. 2026, 15:30 Updated: 19 Jan. 2026, 19:35

Artists selected as this year's Korea Artist Prize 2026, from left: Lee Hai Min Sun, Lee Jung-woo, Jeon Hyun-sun and Hong Jin-hwon [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART]

The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) selected Lee Jung-woo, Lee Hai Min Sun, Jeon Hyun-sun and Hong Jin-hwon as the featured artists for this year's Korea Artist Prize, Korea's largest art museum said Monday.

Launched in 2012, the Korea Artist Prize is an annual exhibition and award program run by the MMCA. Each year, four artists are selected to present new works with support from the SBS Foundation, and one final winner is chosen.

This year’s lineup brings together painters Lee Hai Min Sun and Jeon, photographer Hong and artist Lee Jung-woo to offer a snapshot of contemporary Korean art. The exhibition will run from July 24 to Dec. 6 at MMCA Seoul, with the final winner to be announced in October following talks between the artists and the jury.

The jury includes Emma Enderby, director of Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art; Charmaine Toh, senior curator at London’s Tate Modern; Singaporean artist and curator Ho Tzu Nyen, artistic director of the Gwangju Biennale 2026; Jung Hyun, professor at Inha University; Kim Ji-yeon, director of alternative art space D/P; Kim Sung-hee, director of the MMCA; and curator Park Deok-seon.

Last Thursday, the MMCA named Kim Young-eun as the final winner of the Korea Artist Prize 2025. Works by Kim, along with Kim Ji-pyeong, art collective Unmake Lab and Im Young-zoo, are on view at MMCA Seoul in central Seoul through Feb. 1.

Kim Young-eun’s work exhibited in “Korea Artist Prize 2025.” [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KWON KEUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]