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.
LEE Yona
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관리자 2020-09-05 15:18
Born 1986 in Busan, South Korea
Lives in Auckland, New Zealand
LEE Yona, En route home, 2020, Stainless steel, objects, variable dimensions (3D drawing), Yeongdo Harbor
LEE Yona appropriates ready-made stainless-steel pipes into immersive, labyrinthine structures in her sculptures and installations. These large-scale installations are site-specific constructions, and often the works incorporate generic elements such as chairs, tables, lamps, and beds from common domestic spaces. The domestic objects that LEE usually inserts into her structures appear uncanny. Although such objects are reminiscent of a space like room or a house, their neat presentation does not generate a homely atmosphere.
The stainless-steel pipes function as tentacles in exhibition spaces, they reach out and create networksthat stretch from floor to ceiling, bend around corners and produce walkways and platforms. The installations become an integral part of the space and architecture they are situated in, and no matter how subtle LEE Yona’s structures appear to be, they somehow tend to own the space. Within the captivating installations, dead-ends, barriers, and handrails are used to demarcate space and direct the movement of the audience.