Daegu Art Factory
A former Daegu tobacco building turned into a working contemporary-art center whose residency program has supported more than 250 artists since opening in 2013
Contemporary exhibitions, artist residencies, media projects, experimental programs and occasional open-studio encounters with works in progress
A reused industrial arts center combining public exhibition and media spaces with working residency studios that open to visitors during designated programs
Daegu Art Factory is most convincing as a place of production. The exhibitions matter, but the institution’s longer story is the steady flow of resident artists making work here and periodically opening that process to the public
Character
Since opening in 2013, more than 250 artists have passed through Daegu Art Factory’s residency program. The former tobacco building functions as a working production base, with resident artists developing projects on site as exhibitions and public programs bring their work to visitors
That changes the meaning of the old factory. The industrial shell carries the history, but the important continuity is production: a building once organized around manufacturing now gives artists studios, time and institutional support to make new work
Open-studio programs make that process unusually visible. Visitors have been invited into working spaces containing sketches, storyboards, materials and unfinished projects, with resident artists present to discuss how the work develops before it reaches an exhibition wall
The experience
On an ordinary day, the public side of Daegu Art Factory is exhibition-led. Galleries, media installations, performances and project spaces show finished or publicly presented work from resident artists and invited programs
An open-studio day feels different. The emphasis moves upstream, toward notebooks, experiments, tools and conversations. The building becomes easier to understand as an arts-production institution because the studios reveal the work that normally happens behind the exhibition program
Even when the studios are closed, the residency still explains what the institution is for. Exhibitions are one output of a system that also includes artist support, international exchange, technology-convergence projects and public programs
History
The building belongs to the former KT&G tobacco-manufacturing complex in Suchang-dong. Daegu City and KT&G reached a donation agreement for the site in 2007, and in 2008 the national government selected the project as a pilot for converting regional modern industrial heritage into an arts-creation belt
Remodeling began in 2011. Daegu Art Factory opened in March 2013 with residency studios, exhibition rooms and project spaces built into the reused industrial structure
The residency became one of the institution’s durable functions. By 2026, official Daegu Foundation material said more than 250 artists had participated since opening, turning the building’s adaptive reuse into an ongoing production program rather than a one-time architectural conversion
Before you go
Residency studios function as working spaces and become public during designated open-studio programs. On ordinary days, the exhibitions and media spaces provide the public visit; an open-studio program adds direct access to artistic process and the people working upstairs
Dalseong Park Station is the practical subway stop for the walk to the factory
- Hours
- Open April–October 10:00–19:00 and November–March 10:00–18:00. Closed Mondays, January 1, Seollal and Chuseok
- Admission
- Regular admission is free. Special exhibitions or events may charge separately
- Access
- Residency studios occupy floors 4–5; public access to the studios is provided through designated programs such as open-studio events
- Transit
- Dalseong Park Station on Daegu Metro Line 3 is the simplest subway anchor, about five minutes away on foot