Gwangju Biennale

The Gwangju Biennale, which started in September of 1995 in the city of Gwangju in the South Jeolla province of South Korea, was Asia's first contemporary art biennale. The purpose of Gwangju Biennale is globalization of art and it respect diversity rather than uniformity. More than 500 artists and performers from 60 countries, and a modest contingent of foreign curators and critics descended on this provincial capital, whose 1.3 million citizens had virtually no prior exposure to international contemporary art.

Until the Biennale, Gwangju's claim to fame lay in its having been the scene of the Gwangju democratic uprising of students protesting his military regime (see Gwangju Massacre). Since then the city has symbolised the country's pro-democracy resistance, a movement with special poignancy in light of the political situation that divides the peninsula. The mayor hopes the Biennale will serve "to clarify misconceptions regarding the history of Kwangju...a city of light that uses art to brighten the dark reality of Korean separation."

History

*1st 1995.09.20-11.20 Beyond the Borders
*2nd 1997.09.01-11.27 Unmapping the Earth
*3rd 2000.03.29-06.07 Man and Space
*4th 2002.03.29-06.29 P_A_U_S_E
*5th 2004.09.10-11.13 A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water
*6th 2006.09.08-11.11 Fever Variations
*7th 2008.09.05-11.09 On the Road / Position Papers / Insertions

1st Beyond the Borders (1995.09.20 to 11.20)

At first Biennale 660 artists from 58 countries participated and 817 artcrafts were exhibited. The theme "Beyond the Borders" combined all kind of things that have the characters of distinction and indifference such as ideology, nations, religions, races, cultures, arts, and 'post' festival, that is, 'post' rhetoric. Especially many innovative young artists participated.

The exhibition was composed of six sections by regions.

#West Europe and East Europe
#North America
#South America
#Asia
#The Middle East and Africa
#Korea and Oceania

2nd Unmapping the Earth (1997.09.01 to 11.27)

The main idea of the second Gwangju Biennale was similar to the first biennale's theme and it was developed to overcome National Borders and the prejudice of center-periphery. The theme, "Unmapping the Earth", is from the Korean concept "Yeobaik" which means literally "empty space" - a fundamental motif of Korean art.

The exhibition was composed of five parts : Speed, Space, Hybrid, Power and Becoming.

3rd Man and Space (2000.03.29 to 06.07)

The theme was "to put mankind in its civilization development at the center of the exhibition and to inquire about the human conditions in the past, present, and future." The main exhibit sections were divided by regions.

4th P_A_U_S_E (2002.03.29 to 06.29)

Curated by Charles Esche, Hou Hanru and San Wan Kyung the theme of the fourth Gwangju Biennale, P_A_U_S_E, focused primarily on a moment of critical reflection and dynamic change on the global art scene. Secondary focuses were on the cultural and artistic growth of the host city Gwangju, on alternative art, and on communication among artist groups.

5th A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water (2004.09.10 to 11.13)

The Gwangju Biennale 2004, curated by Yongwoo Lee and co-curated by Kerry Brougher and Sukwon Chang, acted as a cultural forum experimenting with the elevation of the spectator from passive observer to active participant by working collaboratively to produce works of art with the biennale's selected artists. 'A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water' is a vital natural phenomenon and ecological interpretation of order describing the cycle of creation and extinction. Dust suggests noise and cries, covers the objects of our conspicuous consumption that are remains of our industrial society. A drop of water suggests the medium of creation, animates the inanimate thus allowing the cycle of life. Dust, together with water, heals the negative elements of the contemporary society, thus revitalizing the new cultural & aesthetics values in the present world.

Artists included: Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla (Cuba) - El Anatsui (Ghana) - Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan (Philippines) - BUAN People (Korea) - Walterico Caldas (Brazil) - Pablo Cardoso (Ecuador) - Jota Castro (Peru) - Russell Crotty (US) - Jimmie Durham (US) - Asa Elzen (Sweden) - Environmental Artists (Korea) - Bruna Esposito (Italy) - Mounir Fatmi (Morocco) - Nayia Frangouli (Greece) - Kendell Geers (South Africa) - Joong-ki Geum (Korea) - Lyudmila Gorlova (Russia) - Richard Hamilton (UK) - Pierre Huyghe (France) - Koji Iijima (Japan) - Emily Jacir (Palestine) - Joon-ho Jeon (Korea) - Magdalena Jetelova (Czech Republic) - Soo-cheon Jheon (Korea) - Brian Jungen (Canada) - Eduardo Kac (Brazil) - Anish Kapoor (India) - Byoung-jong Kim (Korea) - Jin-ran Kim (Korea) - Seung-young Kim (Korea) - Kyoung-ho Lee (Korea) - Zilla Leutenegger (Switzerland) - Marco Maggi (Urguay) - Malam (Cameroon) - Teresa Margolles (Mexico) - Eva Marisaldi (Italy) - Ilka Meyer (Germany) - Tatsuo Miyajima (Japan) - Zwelethu Mthethwa (South Africa) - Antoni Muntadas (Spain) - Wangechi Mutu (Kenya) - Ibrahim Nasrallah (Jordan) - Francis Ng (Singapore) - Ahmet Oktem (Turkey) - Lucy Orta (France) - Muyiwa Osifuye (Nigeria) - Michael Parekowhai (New Zealand) - Bul-ddong Park (Korea) - Daniel Pflumm (Switzerland) - Marjetica Potrc (Slovenia) - Marc Quinn (UK) - Annie Ratti (Italy) - Kelly Richardson (Canada) - Thomas Ruff (Germany) - Edward Ruscha (US) - SAA (Site and Artists) (Korea) - Jim Sanborn (US) - Tisna Sanjaya (Indonesia) - Raquel Schwartz (Bolivia) - Leonid Sokov (Russia) - Jennifer Steinkamp (US) - Sun Xiaofeng (China) - Sun Yuan & Peng Yu (China) - Nguyen Minh Thanh (Vietnam) - The Kingpins (Australia) - Momoyo Torimitsu (Japan) - Yue Min Jun (China)

6th Fever Variations (2006.09.08 to 11.11)

The word "Fever" denotes passion and enthusiasm, and in particular the energy for change in Asia and the way in which Asia's power, dynamism and cultural abundance is being disseminated across the world.cite web|url=http://www.gwangju-biennale.org/eng/|title=Gwangju Biennale 2006|work=The Gwangju Biennale Foundation|year=2006|accessdate=2008-05-30]

The Artistic Director was Kim Hong-hee, Wu Hung was Chief Curator of The First Chapter and Kim Sang-yun was the Chief Programmer of The Third Sector.

7th On the Road / Position Papers / Insertions (2008.09.05 to 11.09)

Artistic Director: Okwui Enwezor. Co-Curators: Hyunjin Kim and Ranjit Hoskote.cite web|url=http://www.gb.or.kr/2008gb/eng/about/Gwangju_Biennale.html|title=재단법인 광주비엔날레|author=Gwangju Biennale Foundation|accessdate=2008-05-30] The programme is divided into three main strands. "On the Road" is a collection of travelling exhibitions that have been produced elsewhere in 2006/2007; "Position Papers" involves curators talking about art; and "Insertions" are works and events specially commissioned for the biennale.cite journal|author=Ken Pratt|year=2008|month=May|title=So good... It can't happen every year|journal= [http://www.woundmagazine.com Wound Magazine] |volume=1|issue=3|pages=238|location=London|issn=1755-800X]

Artists will include: Bani Abidi, Bingyi Huang, David Adjaye, Tania Bruguera & Arte Conducta, Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Mariana Bunimov, Lara Almarcegui, Gerard Byrne, Area Park, Byron Kim, Stefano Arienti, Chen Shaoxiong, Kaoru Arima, Chen Qiulin, Sadie Benning, Bruce Conner, Huma Bhabha, Thomas Demand, Ursula Biemann, Atul Dodiya, Donghee Koo, Hans Haacke, Lili Dujourie, Haejun Jo, Felipe Dulzaides & Robert Gottardi, Lothar Hempel, Eunji Cho, Jan Henle, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, HwaYeon Nam , Daniel Faust, Chi Young Hwang, Daniel Faust, Iman Issa, Nina Fischer & Maroan El Sani, Peter Friedl, Jewyo Rhii , Gao Shiqiang, Jina Park , Tamar Guimaraes, Jooyeon Park, Shilpa Gupta, Isaac Julien, Hassan Khan, Sonia Khurana, Daniel Medina , Abdoulaye Konate, Luis Molina Pantin, David Lamelas, Matthew Monahan, Sherrie Levine, Movement, Contingency and Community, Glenn Ligon, MY-DA-DA, Reagan Louie, Ken Lum, Oil 21, Kerry James Marshall,Els Opsomer, Mona Marzouk, Jo Ractliffe, The Masked Portrait, Walid Sadek, Gordon Matta Clark, Joachim Schoenfeldt, Fatou Kande Senghor, Jose Toirac, SeoYoung Chung, Taryn Simon, Uijae (Uijae Baek Lyen Heo), Dayanita Singh, Jacques Villegle, Praneet Soi, Alfred Wenemoser, Hiroshi Sugito, Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Catherine Sullivan, Bruce Yonemoto, Sunghwan Kim, Kohei Yoshiyuki, Sungyoon Yang, Zarina Hashmi, Taehun Kang, Dolores Zinny & Juan Maidagan, Koki Tanaka and John Zuriercite web|url=http://www.gb.or.kr/2008gb/eng/artists/Artists.html|title=Artists|author=Gwangju Biennale Foundation|accessdate=2008-05-30]

References