Seoul Museum of Art announces that 49 artists and collectives will participate in the 2025 edition of the Biennale, titled Séance: Technology of the Spirit.
Opening on August 26, this 13th edition of Seoul Mediacity Biennale will bring together work that speaks to our historical moment by artists from the mid-nineteenth century through to the present day. Curated by Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres and Lukas Brasiskis, Séance: Technology of the Spirit is a thematic exhibition focusing on the influence of mystical and spiritual experience on the development of modern and contemporary art.
Starting with the revolutionary practice of artists-mediums such as Georgiana Houghton, Hilma af Klint, Onisaburo Deguchi and Emma Kunz, the Biennale will spiral out to encompass the influence of shamanism on Nam June Paik 2 and Joseph Beuys, transcendental experience in the early experimental films of Maya Deren and Jordan Belson and on to the work of contemporary artists engaged with the diverse traditions and thematics of the occult, enchantment and magic.
The curators state that “we sought to create an exhibition in the form of a séance as the word is used in the context of spiritualism, cinema and psychoanalysis. That is to say, an encounter that exceeds our everyday perception of the world and reveals aspects of reality that are often hidden from our conscious experience. It’s very significant that many artists have in recent years gravitated towards ways of understanding the world that might offer an alternative to the prevailing systems, which seem at present to be in crisis. This show offers an opportunity to trace that lineage historically, and to understand these attempts as emancipatory and reparative. We are deeply honored to be working with a group of such gifted artists on this unusual project.”
Expanding on Seoul Mediacity Biennale’s history of challenging existing methodologies and nurturing new forms, Séance: Technology of the Spirit will take place at venues across the city, feature several new commissions and present extensive film and sound programs. Further details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Artists and Collectives include:
Aki Onda
Amit Dutta
Angela Su
Anocha Suwichakornpong
Anri Sala
Byungjun Kwon
Colectivo Los Ingrávidos
Emma Kunz
Ernest A. Bryant III
Georgiana Houghton
Guadalupe Maravilla
Haroon Mirza
Hilma af Klint
Hiwa K
Hsu Chia-Wei
Hyung-Min Yoon
I Ching Systems and Artworks
Jane Jin Kaisen
Joachim Koester
Johanna Hedva
Jordan Belson
Joseph Beuys
Kara Ditte Hansen
Karrabing Film Collective
Kivu Ruhorahoza and Christian Nyampeta
Kray Chen
Laura Huertas Millán
Lucile Olympe Haute
Manuel Mathieu
Maya Deren
Mike Kelley
Minjeong An
Mohamed Gaber
Nam June Paik
Onisaburo Deguchi
ORTA (Alexandra Morozova and Rustem Begenov)
Rafael Queneditt Morales
Rudolf Steiner
Seung-taek Lee
Shana Moulton
Sister Mary Corita Kent
Sky Hopinka
Suzanne Treister
Takamine Go
Tamar Guimarães and Kasper Akhøj
Violette Astier
Wing Po So
Yin-Ju Chen
Zai Nomura
Séance: Technology of the Spirit, the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, will be on view to the public at Seoul Museum of Art from August 26 to November 23, 2025. A press and professional preview day will take place on August 25.
As an initiative of the Seoul Metropolitan Government since 2000, Seoul Mediacity Biennale has earned international recognition for its experimental engagement with contemporaneous changes within the media landscape of the city, redefining what media is and can be over the course of its previous twelve editions. These conceptual approaches were first explored in the Biennale’s precursor exhibition framework, SEOUL in MEDIA, held three times between 1996 and 1999. 4
Featuring approximately 50 participating artists/groups and attracting an average of 140,000 visitors, each edition of SMB mediates various forms of participation through exhibitions and programs held at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) and other satellite venues throughout the city. The pre-Biennale program, operated by SeMA since 2022, explores SMB’s identity through the museum’s permanent collection and digital archives as a means of reinforcing SMB’s foundational characteristics.
Further details of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale will be announced in the coming months through SMB website.
Press release from Seoul Museum of Art
Image: Jane Jin Kaisen. Wreckage. 2024. Video still. Image courtesy of the artist
