Ilmin Museum's 'Vibe Era' Explores Abstraction and Mood

The Ilmin Museum of Art in Seoul is presenting 'Vibe Era,' a group exhibition running from August 26 to October 25, 2026. The show examines contemporary abstraction and its imagery as precursors to a cultural shift where mood and effect supersede aesthetic judgment and form. Featuring artists Park Rim, Park Junghae, Park Hyunjung, and Han Jihyoung, the exhibition positions their work as experiments in abstraction within the continuum between a past that is lost in its making and a future it anticipates. Over the past decade, abstract art has faced challenges from two fronts: one concerning its aesthetic legitimacy, with accusations that it fails to engage with social and political realities and is reduced to decoration or commodity; the other concerning its historical legitimacy, as the text begins to elaborate but is cut off. The exhibition aims to address these critiques by presenting abstraction as a dynamic, evolving practice.