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.
Contemporary Art Exhibition
Artistic Director
Manu D. Park
Born in 1971 / Korea
Art Critic and Independent Curator
Education
- 1987. Dctorate course work in theory of art criticism at Universite Paris 1(Pantheon Sorbonne)
- 1984. Graduated Seoul National Univ., Seoul (M.A. & B.A.)
Career
- 2004. Busan Biennale 2004 - Contemporary Art Exhibition
- 2003. The Director of Exhibition for the Gwangju Biennale 2002
- 2000. (Art Sonje Center, Seoul)
- 2005. Board member of the Arts Council at Gwangju
- 2005. Chairperson of Cultural Policy Committee for Gwangju Cultural Action
- 2002. Lecture at various schools and institutions including the Curatorial Training Program at De Appel, Amsterdam
- 2002. Juror as the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
- 2002. Juror as Hermes Korea Art Prize
Author of numerous articles and books including Media Aesthetics, Cinematic
Worldvision and Praxis of Film Language
Curator
Kim In Seon
Born in 1971 / Korea
Independent Curator
Career
- 2005. Curator, Anyang Public Art Project 2005, Anyang
- 2003~2004. Assistant Director, Kukje Gallery, Seoul
- 2001~2002. Exhibition Coordinator, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju
- 2000. Exhibition Coordinator, Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival(PICA), Busan/li>
Jiyoon Lee
Born in 1969 / Korea
Independent Curator
Career
- 2006. Curator, Asia House, London
- 2005. Curator, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen Curator, International media exhibition, British Museum, London
- 2003. Co-Curator, Victoria Miro Gallery project space, London
- 2002. Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei
Lorenzo Benedetti
Born in 1972 / Italy
Independent Curator
Career
- 2005. International art magazine exhibition, ISA, Rome
- 2004. SoundArt Museum, Rome
- 2003. Venice Biennale, Venice
- 2004 ‘Invocazione all'orsa maggione' 기획, 로마
- 2002. De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam
- 2005. Curator, Gunagzhou Trienniale, Guangzhou
- 2004. Curator, Auckland Triennale, Auckland Curator, Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo
- 2002. Curator, 8th Baltic Triennial of International Art, Vilnius
- 2000. Co-curator, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju
- 2002. ‘My Head Is on Fire But My Heart Is Full of Love', Copenhagen
- 2002. ‘Concrete Garden', Modern Art Oxford, England
- 2001. 2th Berlin Biennale exhibition organizer
‘Inside Out', Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen - 2005. Co-Curator, city Gallery Wellington
- 2005. Curator, 51st Venice Biennale Curator for New Zealand Pavillion
- 2004. Curator, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- 2002. Curator, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- 2003. Kulturhuset, Stockholm
Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, Yokohama - 2002. Buenos Aires Biennale, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes,
Buenos Aires Site de Creation Contemporaine, Palais de Tokyo, Paris - 2002. Villa Medicis, Rome
- 2000. Coordinator, Taipei Biennale, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Taipei, Taipei
- 1999. Assistant Curator, Venice Biennale, Venice
- 1991. Graduated Kunst Akademie Stuttgart Univ.(M.F.A)
- 2002. (Supplement Space STONE & WATER, Anyang)
- 2000. , Seoul
- 1998. (Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul)
- 1997. (Stiftung fur konkrete Kunst. Reutlingen, Germany)
- 1996. (Ars Polona Gallery, Poland)
- 1994. (International Arts CenterㆍArt & Business Club Gallery·Galerii Akme Bookshop·Ksiegarmi Naukowj Bookshop, Poland)
- 1993. (Galerie Weises HausleㆍHochenberg BuchhandlungㆍStadtbucherei Hechingen)
- 1992. (vhs Gallery·Rieger & Kranzfelder Bookshop, Augsburg)
- 2010. Creative A Perspective on Asian art Biennial 2009
- 2010. Top 17 Asian artists 2009: Art Radar’s most searched artists
- 2009. Top 5 sites for Japanese contemporary art news by Matthew Larking
- 2009. New York’s first major show of Anime, Manga and Video Games KRAZY! Japan Society
- 2008. Takashi Murakami’s one of a kind art fair Gesai grows in size - September 2008
- School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University
- 2006. INA NOBUO Prize for Photography
- 1998. Multimedia Grandprix Award of MMCA
- 1996. Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities
- 1991. 비평에세이집 Gunshuron (Mass and Image)(Libroport)
- 2007. Japanese Pavilion, Venezia Biennale (Venice, Italy)
- 2002. “Photonesia,” Naha Shimin Hall (Okinawa)
“Yocho Visual Art from Korea and Japan,” The Japan Cultural Institute in Cologne(Cologne, Germany) - 2000. “Anthropology and Museology,” Maison Franco-Japonaise (Tokyo)
- 1999. “Serendipity,” The Japan Foundation (Tokyo)
- 1998. “Spomin,” Museum of Modern Art (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
- 1993. “Voyage,” FOC Galerie (Paris, France)
- 1987. “Eye of Atlantic,” Assisto Gallery (Tokyo)
- Graduated Montclair State Univ., New Jersey, USA
- Graduated Hong-ik Univ., Seoul (B.F.A. & M.F.A.)
- 2004. Busan Biennale 2004-Busan Sculpture Project, Sea Art Festival
- 2003. (Marronnier Art Center, Seoul)
- 1992. (The Center for Art and Culture of Bedford Stuyvesant, New York)
- 1990. (The Center for Art and Culture of Bedford Stuyvesant, New York)
- 1990. (The clocktower Gallery, New York)
- 1998. (Alphine Gallery, New York)
「Impressionism- The First step of Modern Art」, Bookfolio, Seoul, 2004
「Postmodernism 」(Translate), Eleanor Heartney, Yeulwhadang, Seoul, 2003