K-Arts Performance & Exhibition Center Joins PAMS 2025

Marking its 21^st anniversary this year, the Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS) is Korea’s leading performing arts platform for international exchange. It is co-hosted by the Korea Arts Management Service and the National Theater of Korea, with sponsorship from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Art Council Korea(ARKO). Every October, producers, presenters, and other professionals from around the world gather in Seoul to experience Korea’s creative performances and explore opportunities for collaboration at PAMS.

PAMS 2025 focused on establishing a sustainable system for the performing arts under the themes of “circulation” and “collaboration.” Held from October 14 to November 9, the events took place at various venues in Seoul, including the National Theater of Korea, Seoul Namsan-Donhwamun Traditional Theater, and the Seokgwan campus of K-Arts among others. This year, the themes of education, production, and market were notably brought together, with K-Arts serving as a key mediator at the center. The K-Arts Performance & Exhibition Center stated, “It is our timely mission to support our students not only in their production stage but also through distribution, leading them to reach their audience.”

The vision was realized through the K-Arts Beyond Art Project (K’BAP). K’BAP is an international arts mediation project organized by K-Arts that distributes experimental works by young artists in the global market. It connects the processes of production, development, circulation, and exchange into a continuous creative cycle. In cooperation with the Korean Cultural Center in New York, artists selected through open-call auditions are given opportunities to present their works in major art spaces in New York. Through K’BAP, artists gain hands-on experience with global art trends and grow as a new generation of creative forces in Korea.

“Creatives in Motion,” showcased at PAMS 2025, embodied the spirit of K’BAP. It presented to the PAMS audience the journey of K-Arts’s young artists expanding abroad. Six productions were featured in “Creatives in Motion.” Gayageum performer Jo Seon-ah’s “La Plante Dasante de Desastres” depicted living plants dancing to music despite the climate crisis, conveying a message of vitality and resilience. Ohelen’s “Greta Oto” engaged in dialogue with the audience, making each performance unique. Ha Yeon-ju’s “Vertebra” transformed physical limitations into a distinctive aesthetic language. The electronic music team Bézier’s “Access” explored the boundary between technology and the senses by integrating digital data and sound. Shin Eun-jeong and Shin’s People “Boisterous Bodies” staged everyday gestures that reflect the rhythm of Korean life. Nolplus’s “Yeonhui-gyeong” reinterpreted the “Legend of Dowonkyung,” expressing the cycle of the seasons through dance. Through these six works, varied in genre and theme, they shared a common thread of expressing Korean emotions and perspectives through artistic languages open to the world.

K-Arts’s participation in PAMS is seen as a part of a broader trend in which Korean art seeks to redefine its ecosystem. By building direct connections with the market, the school is paving the way for emerging artists to engage with the global stage, ultimately pioneering new models of art management and education.