'DMZ OPEN Festival' to Be Held in Paju and Goyang from October to November
Gyeonggi Province will host the '2026 DMZ OPEN Festival' from October 12 to November 29 at Imjingak Peace Nuri in Paju and throughout Goyang City.
This year's festival is themed "Open the Line, Connect the Life," carrying the message of opening the Line—a symbol of division and border that is the DMZ—to connect people with people, everyday life with the world, and to create a new flow of peace.
Key programs include ▲DMZ OPEN Exhibition, reinterpreting the DMZ through an artistic lens ▲DMZ OPEN International Music Festival, delivering messages of peace and harmony through music ▲DMZ OPEN Eco-Peace Forum, where domestic and international experts discuss peaceful coexistence.
The DMZ OPEN Exhibition begins on October 12 and runs through November 29, centered at Imjingak Peace Nuri in Paju. This year's exhibition reinterprets the DMZ not as a space of control and disconnection, but as a "STAGING"—a complex relationship where narratives of memory, ecology, and coexistence live and breathe.
A total of 14 domestic and international artists, including An Kyou-chul, Seon Moo, Abigail Raphael Collins, Yoon Su-yeon, Dennis Bertschi, Yeon Jinyoung, Choi Jin-wook, Oh Hyung-geun, Park Chan-kyong, and Jung Ga-hee, will present various artworks exploring the history, ecology, memory, and coexistence of the DMZ.
The DMZ OPEN International Music Festival will hold a total of 4 concerts from October 23 to 25 at Aram Concert Hall in Goyang Aram Nuri. This year's international music festival is themed 'PACE: Return to Peace,' presenting a musical narrative that flows through 'Pulse (Pulse of Beginning)', 'Awaken (Awakening Peace)', 'Connect (Connected Hearts)', and 'Eternity (Peace Continues)'.
The KBS Symphony Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler Philharmonic Orchestra, and Millennium Philharmonic Orchestra will participate, with conductors Michael Sanderling, Yeo Ja-kyung, and Jin Sol, as well as pianist Son Se-hyuk and violinist Lim Ji-young taking the stage.
Notably, world-renowned soprano Jo Sumi will perform with the Millennium Philharmonic Orchestra at the closing concert, delivering messages of peace and harmony through music.
International Music Festival tickets can be reserved from October 2 through the Goyang Aram Nuri website and NOL Ticket (Nol Ticket).
On October 28, the DMZ OPEN Eco-Peace Forum will be held at Sonokam Goyang under the main theme "Opening the Path to Peaceful Coexistence."
This year's forum will be jointly hosted by Gyeonggi Province, the Ministry of Unification, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, with approximately 350 participants including domestic and international experts and provincial residents expected to attend.
At the opening session, Professor Valérie Julézio of the French School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences will deliver the keynote address, and will also participate in a discussion with the heads of the three co-hosting organizations. In the afternoon, two peace sessions will be held consecutively, hosted by the Ministry of Unification and the Foundation respectively, to discuss the value of the DMZ and peaceful coexistence. Gyeonggi Province will host an ecology session featuring a 'Northeast Asia Smart Eco-City Seminar.'
Park Hyun-seok, Director of the Peace Cooperation Division of Gyeonggi Province, said, "We hope that through art, music, and international discussions, people will experience the ecological and peace-oriented values of the DMZ in their daily lives, and that these values will extend to the world."