Séance: Technology of the Spirit: 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale

In this review of Séance: Technology of the Spirit , the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale (26 August—23 November 2025) at the Seoul Museum of Art, I reflect on the curatorial team’s decision to pursue an exhibition-as-séance model that centres an alternative art history of spiritualism and disavows “nationalism in the biennial context.” Reflecting on the exhibition’s historical precedents and the clear presence of East Asian artists, I consider how the biennale both challenges but also tangles with biennialization.