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.
KOO Jeong A
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관리자 2020-09-05 15:10
Lives and works everywhere
KOO Jeong A, Seven Stars, 2019, Phosphorescent pigment painting on canvas, variable dimensions
Courtesy of KOO Jeong A & STUDIO
KOO Jeong A’s CV begins with the note, “lives & works everywhere,” which comes from KOO’s understanding of an artist as a being whom “exists everywhere and nowhere.” In her practice, “space” is an important element, which she recognizes within both physical and psychological realms. It can either be a presentation of a space of physical experience, or a space within the realm of psychological perception. The addition of architectural elements such as walls, doors and windows, and from time to time sounds, scents, temperature, and lights arouses various senses and infuses life into her space along with other visual elements. Through her exploration of “space” as a part of the practice, she has constructed a visual language on the riddles which associate with the idiosyncrasies of the world and its humorous environments.
KOO recognizes the exhibition venue as more than a presentation platform, and identifies it as a work itself, taking the form and context of venues as elements of her works. By painting the walls of an entire studio green at Ecole National Superieure des Beaux-Arts, or presenting an entire floor of an exhibition hall in fluorescent pink at Art Sonje, KOO attempted to explore physical transformation of space as well as staging an immersion and discernment into a psychologically ‘unseen world.’ In 2004, KOO turned the exhibition hall at her solo exhibition Club Koo into a room, overlapping characteristics of personal and public space. She filled the room with ordinary furniture presenting a commonplace environment and hid devices which audiences could only come across by paying close attention to the space. It presented a perfect balance where one could discover new elements through observing, yet where the visual perception did not interrupt the observation.