Korea's 2,000 years of art, creativity to go on view in London

From ancient gilt-bronze ornaments to Nam June Paik’s video sculpture, a new British Museum exhibition will trace 2,000 years of Korean creativity through more than 180 works from Korea’s national collection. “Korea: 2,000 Years of Creativity” opens Oct. 1 at the British Museum’s Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery and runs through Jan. 31, 2027. Jointly organized by the National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and the British Museum, it is the final stop of an overseas tour built around works donated to the nation by the family of late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee in 2021. The exhibition follows presentations at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., and the Art Institute of Chicago. It brings together 164 objects from the National Museum of Korea and 15 modern and contemporary works from MMCA, alongside works in the British Museum collection. Arranged chronologically in four sections, the exhibition moves from early Iron Age archaeological objects and Buddhist art to Goryeo celadon, Joseon-era paintings a