Arko, Getty forge partnership to exchange research programs

Partnership comes ahead of 100th birthday of late artist Paik Nam-june in 2032

Choung Byoung-gug (left), chairperson of Arts Council Korea, and Andrew Perchuk, deputy director of the Getty Research Institute, pose for a photo on Thursday at a press conference in Seoul. (ARKO)

Arts Council Korea, a national institution dedicated to promoting arts and culture, and Getty Research Institute, a US-based center for historical art research, conservation and scholarship, announced partnership on Thursday to collaborate on art history research, exchanging research projects and scholars.

The announcement was made ahead of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Korean-born video artist Paik Nam-june in 2032, according to Arko. Starting from fall 2025, a delegation of Arko staff members will visit Getty to learn about their archival holdings, research projects and history of international exchange.

Getty staff will pay a reciprocal visit to Arko and the Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss their next steps, according to Getty Research Institute.

“The Arts Council Korea will put forward full efforts to function as a foothold for Korean art to be heralded globally with diverse international partnerships,” said Choung Byoung-gug, chairperson of Arko, Thursday.

Arko will fund a pilot program in 2026 for Korean guest researchers to embark on a summer residency at Getty to explore the topic of Paik with a focus on his connections with a wider international circle of artists and his legacy in contemporary art.

“Fluxus was an absolutely seminal moment in Paik’s career. We have one of the largest collections in the world of Fluxus art, and it came through the first collector of Fluxus art, named Jean Brown. We also have the archive of David Tutor, who was a frequent collaborator with avant-garde, and he was John Cage’s closest collaborator,” Andrew Perchuk, deputy director of the Getty Research Institute, told The Korea Herald.

Arko is a public institute under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It operates arts platforms including the Arko Art Center and participates in the Korean Pavilion for the Venice Biennale. Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles is a leading international center with special collections and an array of programs. It forged its first official collaboration with a Korean institution, the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, in 2024.