Antony Gormley’s first solo exhibition in Seoul, titled ‘Inextricable’, will be presented across two galleries, Thaddaeus Ropac and White Cube11111. The exhibition investigates the entanglement of humanity and the urban environment, a relationship the artist suggests has evolved to the point that “the world now builds us”2.
The exhibition is predicated on the contemporary reality that over half the global population resides within an urban grid, a figure projected to continue rising significantly3. Within this context, ‘Inextricable’ functions as an inquiry into how the body and its surroundings are co-constituted, using the materials and methods of the city to create a resonance between corporeal and architectural space4444. The presentation in Seoul is particularly relevant, given the city’s rapid transformation and dense infrastructure5.
At Thaddaeus Ropac in the Hannam district, the works interrogate the body’s internal condition and its position within domestic spaces6. Three ‘Extended Strapworks’—
Dwell, NOW, and HERE—utilize looping steel ribbons that follow the recursive logic of a Möbius strip, folding interior and exterior into a single continuous surface7. These sculptures engage with the gallery’s linear geometries, extending to its architectural boundaries8888. The ‘Open Blockworks’ series, represented by
OPEN DAZE and HOME, reconfigures Gormley’s solid block forms into porous, cellular frameworks that remain responsive to their environment9. A group of ‘Knotworks’ in the lower gallery maps body-space through forms that recall the connective infrastructures of the built world, such as plumbing and transit routes10.
The exhibition at White Cube, located in the Cheongdam district, features six sculptures that transform the body through the syntax of the built environment11. The presentation extends into the public sphere with two life-sized cast iron ‘Blockworks’12.
SWERVE IV is placed on the curb to assert a physical presence amid pedestrian and vehicle traffic, while COTCH XIII is perched on a low wall in a contemplative posture13. Also positioned outside is
RETREAT: SLUMP, a fortified, self-contained form confronting pedestrian flow in a narrow corridor14. Inside the gallery, works from the ‘Beamer’ series, including
BIG SLEW and BIG FORM III, are constructed from interlocking steel beams arranged along the three Cartesian axes, translating bodily mass into the linear language of architecture15.
According to the artist, the exhibition “materialises how our bodies are now tethered to the architectures of our habitat”16. The project in Seoul follows Gormley’s major installations at Museum SAN and runs alongside other significant international presentations, including participation in the Bukhara Biennial and a forthcoming museum survey at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas17171717171717.
The exhibition will open concurrently with the fourth edition of Frieze Seoul on 2 September 202518. The presentation at Thaddaeus Ropac runs until 8 November 2025, and the exhibition at White Cube concludes on 18 October 202519191919. Gormley’s other engagements during this period include his installations at Museum SAN, on view until 30 November, participation in the Bukhara Biennial from 5 September until 20 November 2025, and a museum survey at the Nasher Sculpture Center from 13 September 2025 until 4 January 202620202020.
