A groundbreaking traveling exhibition called "Hallyu! The Korean Wave" is revolutionizing how Korean culture is presented in museums worldwide, moving beyond traditional historical artifacts to embrace contemporary pop culture, digital innovation, and interactive experiences. The show, which originated at London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and has toured through Boston, San Francisco, and Zurich, represents a significant shift in how Western institutions engage with Korean art and culture.

In Switzerland, where many people first discovered Korean culture through the hit K-drama "Crash Landing on You" filmed at iconic locations like Iseltwald, Jungfraujoch, and the Munster Bridge, the exhibition at Museum Rietberg in Zurich drew an unusually diverse audience from April to August. On a typical August afternoon, the museum buzzed with activity as elderly subscribers wandered through with catalogs, costume enthusiasts examined intricate hanbok folds, teenagers in K-pop merchandise took selfies with colorful light sticks and idol costumes, and parents followed on-screen dance tutorials for PSY's "That That."

"We saw this exhibition on Instagram," said Stray Kids fans Lena, 17, and Winona, 16, from Germany. "We came for the idols, but we learned a lot more about Korea." This blend of pop culture appeal and educational depth perfectly captures what "Hallyu!" set out to achieve, illustrating how Korean art exhibitions are broadening their reach as global interest in Korean culture continues to grow.

For Rosalie Kim, V&A's curator of the Korean collection and lead curator behind "Hallyu!", the exhibition represented an opportunity to completely reimagine how Korea could be presented in Western museums. Rather than focusing solely on dynastic history or contemporary art that lacks cultural context, Kim wanted to showcase Korea as a vibrant, living culture that speaks directly to today's audiences.

"So far, exhibitions about Korea overseas are all about the glorious past – Goryeo, Joseon... But this is something very difficult. It is quite niche and something difficult that the audience finds relatable," Kim explained. She noted that on the other end of the spectrum, contemporary Korean art is often completely globalized and "fails to offer deeper insight into Korean society."

Kim designed "Hallyu!" to bridge this gap by incorporating K-pop, K-drama, beauty trends, digital fandom, and everyday design elements. "I think the point of the exhibition was really to make Korea accessible and relatable. This is a question that is constantly on my mind as a curator," she said. "We are in a Western imperialistic institution set up in the 19th century [and] have a tiny collection of Korea compared to that of China or Japan."

The exhibition maps Korea's pop culture phenomenon beginning with the country's rapid postwar transformation, using archival photographs, posters, and Nam June Paik's video sculpture to set the historical stage. It then moves through the explosive rise of K-dramas and K-film, featuring costumes from "Squid Game" and a recreated set from "Parasite."

K-pop and fandom culture take center stage with stage outfits worn by aespa and ATEEZ, plus an interactive dance challenge. The final section spotlights Korea's beauty and fashion industries, tracing cosmetics packaging from the 13th century to today and presenting more than 20 looks by contemporary designers from Korea and its diaspora, including pieces worn by celebrities such as RM of BTS.

The exhibition fundamentally overturns the usual cultural script by shifting Korea from the margins to the center of the story. "It was looking at [Korean pop culture] from a non-Western angle and reversing the perspective on the idea that pop culture is something that is the asset of the West," Kim explained. "Most museums with collections of Korean art [are] institutions that have a long historical collection. So I think this exhibition was, for them, something very fresh that took Korea to a different angle, using contemporary content to highlight the past."

At Museum Rietberg in Zurich, "Hallyu!" represented only the second Korea-focused show in the institution's history. "The first one (Korea – The Ancient Kingdoms) was 25 years ago and it was also a traveling exhibition on only traditional Korean art," said Khanh Trinh, curator for Japanese and Korean art at Rietberg. This historical show, organized with the National Museum of Korea, stood in stark contrast to the broad cultural sweep of "Hallyu!"

Trinh saw the exhibition as a rare opportunity to connect contemporary Korean pop culture with deeper historical and social roots. "We thought that the concept is quite interesting, because it shows you Korea from a point of view that is more well-known today – at least here in Europe or in Switzerland, people know now about Korea through K-dramas on Netflix or K-pop," she said.

To customize the Zurich presentation for Swiss audiences, Trinh incorporated uniquely local elements. She reached out to K-pop cover dance teams in Switzerland and included their videos alongside the museum's own playful remake of PSY's "Gangnam Style" music video, filmed in front of its iconic Emerald pavilion. In the K-drama section, she added stills from "Crash Landing on You" to draw in curious local fans and updated the exhibition with magazines featuring newer idols like Stray Kids, who weren't included in the original London show.

Other additions emphasized Switzerland's historical connections to Korea. "Because Switzerland belongs to those four countries [involved in the Korean War armistice monitoring], we have a diary of someone who was stationed in Panmunjeom in the 1950s," Trinh explained. The exhibition also spurred deeper institutional engagement with Korean art at Rietberg, where Korea has historically been underrepresented in the museum's 32,600-object collection.

"This is the first big acquisition of the museum for Korean art," Trinh said proudly, referring to an 18th-century moon jar purchased specifically for the exhibition. While the original V&A show had included a moon jar on loan from the British Museum, Rietberg acquired its own to better anchor the historical narrative. "We are very proud of this beautiful piece of moon jar," she added.

The touring exhibition will make its final stop at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) in Canberra this December. "We can't wait to welcome Hallyu! The Korean Wave in December, in what will be an Australian exclusive for Canberra and a first for the southern hemisphere," said NMA director Katherine McMahon. "Hallyu! is a big, bright and bold exhibition that channels South Korea's incredible creative energy, which has captured the imagination of fans worldwide."

McMahon emphasized Korea's groundbreaking impact across multiple creative fields: "Korea is breaking new ground in fashion, art, music, design, drama, cinema and technology, and the exhibition captures this stunning phenomenon. Previous international blockbusters at the National Museum in Canberra have proved incredibly popular, and we have no doubt that this show and the exciting programming we have planned around it will draw visitors from across the country and the region."

Despite numerous additional requests to extend the tour, given Korea's ever-increasing cultural influence globally, Kim noted that the show must come to an end since artifacts need to return for future projects. "I have to stop the tour because I needed the objects to come back for another project. We continue to have requests, but we can't do," Kim said, hinting at further explorations of Korean culture planned at the V&A. The success of "Hallyu!" has clearly established a new template for how museums worldwide can present Korean culture in ways that are both academically rigorous and genuinely engaging to contemporary audiences.