2024-08-02 04:28:50
August 16, 2024 Busan Biennale
Artists who did not follow a set course… Excavated one by one and exhibited in ‘liberated space’
The 15th Gwangju Biennale on September 7th
‘Pan+Sori’ Realized through Art… Unique Theme Attracts Attention from the Art World
The 7th Changwon Sculpture Biennale on September 27th
“Vertical pieces, laid horizontally”… The entire city becomes an imaginary space
《The ‘Biennale’, a contemporary art exhibition held every two years, is about to open in various regions of Korea in the second half of the year. Unlike art fairs where several galleries set up booths for the purpose of trading artworks, the biennale’s exhibition director sets a theme and selects artworks that fit that theme. It is an opportunity to properly appreciate ‘curation’, that is, how artworks are arranged in a given space. We have selected the points to watch for in each biennale presented by domestic and foreign curators.》
The 2024 Busan Biennale, which opens on the 16th, is directed by two curators, Vera May and Philippe Pirot, who are from New Zealand and Belgium and are active in Europe. The two directors were inspired by the book Pirate Enlightenment written by American anthropologist David Graeber (1961-2020). The book attracted attention by revealing that, contrary to the common belief that the 18th century European Enlightenment created peace and democracy, such practices were first practiced in pirate society.
The two directors noted the flexibility of the pirate community, in which the sailor who could best solve the problem became the leader whenever an unexpected problem like a typhoon occurred. As a result, the participating artists included Monk Songcheon, who served as the director of the Tongdosa Seongbo Museum and compiled a 40-volume collection of ‘Korean Buddhist Paintings’; Lee Du-won, who worked with materials he found locally while traveling to places like India and Pakistan without formal art education; and Yoon Seok-nam, who became an artist at the age of 40 after living as a housewife. These are people who became artists ‘like pirates’ rather than following a set path to becoming an artist.
Park Soo-ji, the curator in charge of the exhibition, explained, “There were some reactions asking if we intentionally excluded famous artists when looking at the list of participating artists. We organized the exhibition by discovering each artist who creates their own space of liberation through their work.”
The 15th Gwangju Biennale, ‘Pansori, Everyone’s Echo’, which opens on September 7, is directed by star curator Nicolas Bourriaud, famous for his critical book ‘Aesthetics of Relationships’. It began to receive attention with the 1999 exhibition ‘Traffic’, which consisted of works completed through audience participation, such as a fireplace where the audience can warm themselves, chairs where they can sit, and works where they can write about their own homes.
In this exhibition, Bourriaud used ‘Pansori’ as the theme, but the content focused more on the meaning of the words ‘Pan’ (space) and ‘sori’ than on the traditional Korean play, Pansori. According to what was revealed in the press conference, Bourriaud plans to compose the exhibition centered on ‘sound’, a sense that has not been often dealt with in art. The art world is interested in how he will fill the huge Gwangju Biennale exhibition hall with the theme of sound and how it will be related to the regionality of Gwangju and Korea.
The 7th Changwon Sculpture Biennale, “Big Apple Silently,” which opens on September 27, is directed by independent curator Hyun Si-won, who has operated alternative spaces including “Audiovisual” for over 10 years. “Audiovisual” is a renovated Hanok space that operated from 2013 to 2019 before moving to Yongsan, where it has showcased experimental exhibitions by young contemporary artists. The point of interest is how the regional biennale, which has been centered around sculpture, will fit in with the grammar of alternative spaces in Seoul.
At a recent press conference, the current director metaphorically stated the theme of the exhibition, saying, “I want to see the vertically standing sculptures by laying them down horizontally.” He wanted to talk about works that coexist and blend in with the surrounding area, rather than works of art that stand alone like monuments in important places. Accordingly, the exhibition will feature new works by Kim Ik-hyun and works by Kim Jeong-suk, based on research on the history and industrial history of Changwon.
Reporter Kim Min [email protected]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m so sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog
Hot news right now
2024-08-02 04:28:50