Busan Biennale
The Busan Biennale is a biannual international contemporary art show that integrated three different art events held in the city in 1998: the Busan Youth Biennale, the first biennale of Korea that was voluntarily organized by local artists in 1981; the Sea Art Festival, an environmental art festival launched in 1987 with the sea serving as a backdrop; and the Busan International Outdoor Sculpture Symposium that was first held in 1991. The biennale was previously called the Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival (PICAF) before it launched.
The biennale has its own unique attribute in that it was formed not out of any political logic or need but rather the pure force of local Busan artists’ will and their voluntary participation. Even to this day their interest in Busan's culture and its experimental nature has been the key foundation for shaping the biennale’s identity.
This biennale is the only one like it in the world that was established through an integration of three types of art events such as a Contemporary Art Exhibition, Sculpture Symposium, and Sea Art Festival. The Sculpture Symposium in particular was deemed to be a successful public art event, the results of which were installed throughout the city and dedicated to revitalizing cultural communication with citizens. The networks formed through the event have assumed a crucial role in introducing and expanding domestic art overseas and leading the development of local culture for globalized cultural communication. Founded 38 years ago, the biennale aims to popularize contemporary art and achieve art in everyday life by providing a platform for interchanging experimental contemporary art.
Kim Jipyeong
Read 446
BB2024 2024-12-02 13:51
Pop-up Sansu, 2023, mixed media collage with replica Sansuhwa on album, glass showcase, film, and cemented bricks, 165x46x25cm.
Pop-up Sansu, 2024, mixed media collage with replica Sansuhwa on wood panel, glass showcase, film, and cemented bricks, 156x163.5x43.5cm.
Pop-up Sansu, 2024, mixed media collage with replica Sansuhwa on wood panel, glass showcase, film, and cemented bricks, 159x75x75cm.
Pop-up Sansu, 2024, mixed media collage with replica Sansuhwa on wood panel, glass showcase, film, and cemented bricks, 46x65x113cm.
Pop-up Sansu, 2024, mixed media collage with replica Sansuhwa on wood panel, glass showcase, film, and cemented bricks, 140x56x113cm.
Pop-up Sansu, 2024, mixed media collage with replica Sansuhwa on wood panel, glass showcase, film, and cemented bricks, 160x75x54cm.
Pop-up Sansu (2024) is a series of three-dimensional collages created with landscape painting replicas. The concept of Sansu (the name and aesthetic principle of traditional Korean landscape painting) has reflected East Asian aspirations and ideals since ancient times in philosophy, literature, and art. Contemporary Sansu paintings are mostly mass-produced reproductions, often used as folding screens for household rituals. In recent years, however, even these folding screens have been regarded as obsolete, as household rituals have been simplified or eliminated. Kim cut and stitched these discarded landscape paintings to create a recycled Sansu utopia. Like the East Asian painting tradition, which assigns as much importance to the copy of a famous painting as to the original, the artist reminds us of the ideals of the Sansu and the value of nature that does not easily disappear through multiple reproductions. In particular, whereas its appearance that mixes contemporary pop-up books with the multi-perspective of Sansu painting seemingly moves away from the tradition, it alludes to the artist’s intention to approach closer to its core values. Installing the work in a glass case—like an artefact on display in a museum—enhances the irony of the ideal of the Sansu brought about by waste.
Kim Jipyeong
