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.
2008 Ancestor
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관리자 2009-08-28 11:25
The top horizon of the walls also draws a graceful curve, moving up and down with gentle elegance, mimicking the curvature of the calligraphy and the body of the wall itself. The walls?ifferent heights and distances progress in geometrical pattern; 1/2, 1, 2, 3 meters and so on, presenting a stable sense of balance and proportion. Not monumental in scale, the sculpture is intended to offer a relaxing environment, in which viewers can take a short break from daily stress and worries for a reflection or for an engagement with nature, enjoying the view of the waterfront of the Sculpture Garden.
The choice of the ideogram, the subject matter, Ancestor(cho-sang) indisputably shows that the artist is quite familiar with Korean culture. For the matter, the work could be seen as autobiographical, loaded with the artist? memory of his personal experiences in Korea. The term Ancestor is one of the central signifiers that represent Korean customs and culture deeply rooted in Confucianism.
The core of Confucius? teaching includes remembering ancestors, keeping heritages, and respecting elderly person; being loyal to family, friends and rulers; and treating others like one would like to be treated. The choice of the subject matter is a positive act of acknowledging the traditional culture of the metropolitan city Busan that sponsors the Biennial. But it also comes with a critical edge to it, exposing the potential contradiction of the uncritical ?odern high-rise development of uncontrolled building in no particular style that looms up behind the park.?The artist is concerned ?hat the heritage of Korean ancestors has been forgotten in all of this frantic, mindless ?evelopment?which embraces the worst aspects of modernity.?Thus, he reacts to the issue by choosing the term ?ncestor?for his sculpture. He intends ?he work, being also an ideogram, to remind the visitors that, in spite of being victims of modernity and globalization, they are also heirs to a great, ancient cultural tradition which should… not be forgotten.?ⓒHeng-Gil Han _ Curator of Visual Arts, Jamaica Art Center, NY