Galerie Philia Brings Human After All to Seoul
Galerie Philia presents Human After All in Seoul, an exhibition that gathers a new generation of Korean designers within a former bathhouse whose architecture carries decades of transformation.
The project continues the gallery’s ongoing approach of staging contemporary design within buildings that hold strong architectural character. Over the past decade, Galerie Philia has organized exhibitions in iconic buildings by designers such as Jean Nouvel and Le Corbusier, where it composes contemporary objects within spaces shaped by culture.
In Seoul, the gallery returns three years after Surfaces and Cavity at Define Seoul, introducing a new curatorial direction developed by co-founder and art director Ygaël Attali. Humans After All is on view in Seoul from March 5th through March 15th, 2026.
FICT Studio, Human After All, Galerie Philia
‘humans after all’ occupies a historic bathhouse
The Seoul venue shapes the experience from the moment visitors enter Galerie Philia‘s exhibition Human After All. Constructed in the 1980s as a neighborhood bathhouse and later converted into a church, the building carries traces of several lives.
A tall central volume rises through the structure, drawing daylight from a skylight above and casting it across exposed concrete surfaces. The atmosphere feels contemplative, and the architectural framework guides how each object comes into view.
Attali treats the building as an active participant in the exhibition. The gallery’s installations follow the structure’s vertical rhythm, allowing the works to inhabit different levels of light and proximity. Within this setting, objects gain presence through their relationship to surface, scale, and shadow.
Lee Sisan, Human After All, Galerie Philia
Sculptural Design from a New Generation
Human After All introduces works by FICT Studio, Hyungshin Hwang, Lee Sisan, Saerom Yoon, Studio Chacha, and Min Seon Kong. Each designer approaches form through a distinct method while sharing an interest in material exploration and sculptural language.
Hyungshin Hwang’s layered compositions interact with the concrete planes of the building, their stratified surfaces echoing the texture of the walls. Saerom Yoon’s pieces carry saturated color that shifts as daylight moves through the space.
Lee Sisan’s works investigate the relationship between organic matter and fabricated material, bringing a tactile presence into dialogue with the structure around them.
Studio Chacha and Min Seon Kong present objects whose scale invites close viewing, while FICT Studio revisits craft traditions through contemporary fabrication.
Lee Sisan, Human After All, Galerie Philia
material dialogue
Throughout the exhibition, attention stays on material expression and physical presence. Stone, resin, metal, and wood appear as carriers of process. Surfaces hold traces of carving, casting, and shaping. Within the architecture of the Seoul venue, these gestures register with unusual intensity.
‘In Human After All, one senses a subtle dialogue between a certain cold modernity, almost neo-brutalist in its precision, and an organic sensitivity drawn from nature,‘ Attali explains.
‘The works oscillate between control and erosion, geometry and growth, technological processes and tactile presence. This tension reflects a broader condition of contemporary design, where the human gesture persists within increasingly structured and engineered environments.‘
FICT Studio, Human After All, Galerie Philia
Korean Design in a Global Conversation
The exhibition also reflects a wider shift in contemporary Korean design. Many of the designers featured here operate within a global network of galleries and collectors while maintaining strong connections to local craft knowledge and material culture.
Attali describes this emerging generation as one that resists rigid definitions. ‘What distinguishes these designers is their refusal of fixed categories,‘ he says. ‘Their works exist in a threshold between function and sculpture, where material experimentation meets cultural memory and contemporary awareness. They are shaping a vocabulary that remains deeply connected to place while engaging a global conversation on sculptural design.‘
The Seoul presentation forms the opening chapter of a trilogy that Galerie Philia will develop across Asia this year, with upcoming exhibitions planned in Shenzhen and Tokyo.
Saerom Yoon, Human After All, Galerie Philia
FICT Studio, Human After All, Galerie Philia
Hyungshin Hwang, Human After All, Galerie Philia
Saerom Yoon, Human After All, Galerie Philia
project info:
name: Human After All
gallery: Galerie Philia | @galerie.philia
location: 14, Geumho – Roseongdong-Gu, 3-Gil, Seoul, Korea
curator: Ygaël Attali | @ygaelattali
artists: FICT Studio, Hyungshin Hwang, Lee Sisan, Saerom Yoon, Studio Chacha, Min Seon Kong
dates: March 5th — 15th, 2026
photography: © Galerie Philia
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