[News Culture] Seoul Museum of Craft Art is giving visitors more reasons to stay out after work this fall, turning its galleries, rooftop and outdoor spaces into venues for yoga, running, craft-making and late-evening exhibition tours.
The museum’s nighttime program, running from September through December, moves beyond conventional gallery viewing. Visitors can practice yoga and meditation outdoors, run through Bukchon and central Seoul, make mother-of-pearl and glass crafts, or hear directly from curators about the exhibitions they organized.
“Craft Night: Yoga × Meditation” will be held six times from Sept. 19 through Oct. 14, combining guided movement and meditation with sound-based experiences.
The opening session on Sept. 19 will take place across three museum spaces — the Education Building rooftop, the courtyard near the ginkgo tree and the outdoor Craft Courtyard. Participants can choose among “Wind Yoga × Meditation,” “Singing Bowl Yoga × Meditation” and “Headset Yoga × Meditation.”
Later sessions will bring gayageum, singing bowls, handpans and large gongs into the program, changing the mood of each class through different combinations of sound and setting. Around 880 people are expected to take part across the six sessions.
Running takes over the Friday-night calendar from Oct. 9 through Nov. 6. Designed for adults, “Museum Night Run” starts at the museum before heading into Bukchon and downtown Seoul, using the run as a way to look more closely at architecture, history and familiar urban spaces.
The first event, “Museum Night Run with Cass Light,” will bring together about 150 participants across five themed routes: Urban Heritage Run, Trail Run, Sketch Run, Fun Run and Hangul Photo Run.
Each course approaches the city differently. The Trail Run follows natural terrain and wooded paths, while the Sketch Run turns GPS-tracked routes into drawings on a map. The Fun Run combines exercise with conversations around health and self-care. Marking Hangul Day, the Hangul Photo Run sends runners in search of Korean-language signs to photograph along the route.
Four smaller “Urban History Run” sessions will follow from Oct. 16 through Nov. 6. Participants will run with Cho Han, a professor at Hongik University’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning who is also known as the “running architect.”
The route will pass architectural landmarks and craft-related heritage sites, with Cho introducing the stories, design features and historical context behind places that commuters and pedestrians might otherwise pass without a second glance.
For visitors who prefer making to running, the museum is also keeping its workshops open into the evening.
“Najeon Box: Craft in a Container,” held every Tuesday at 6 p.m., introduces adults to traditional Korean mother-of-pearl craft. Participants examine examples from the museum collection, learn basic techniques and then use mother-of-pearl pieces to decorate their own boxes.
Twenty sessions are planned through the end of the year, with about 400 participants expected.
The self-guided “Night Workshop” takes place at 6 p.m. on the final Friday of each month. September and October sessions center on “Autumn Light Glass Art,” with participants creating mood lamps inspired by stained glass and decorative motifs found in the museum collection.
November and December will shift the focus to metal craft for a winter-themed program.
The museum is also extending its exhibition interpretation into the evening. Curator-led tours are offered at 6 p.m. every Friday and every other Sunday, giving visitors a chance to hear about individual works as well as the curatorial ideas behind the shows.
The tours cover the second Yoolizzy Craft Award exhibition and the Chang Eung-bok donation exhibition “Equinox: Spring Equinox–Autumn Equinox.”
Taken together, the programs recast the museum as more than a place to quietly view objects. Visitors can move through it, listen, make, run through the surrounding city and engage with exhibitions from multiple angles — all after the conventional workday is over.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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