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.
Green Is for Sorrow
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관리자 2020-09-15 18:09
Green Is for Sorrow
This story deals with the issue of ‘Comfort Women’ sex slaves by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. Two months after World War II and the Japanese surrendering, the main character is heading to Busan to find friends she met at the ‘comfort facilities.’ For some reason, they choose to wound up at the restaurant, called Midorimachi in Nampo-dong area of Busan, a red-light district filled with restaurants. The main character came back to her family and they believe she has been working as a nurse for the past 7 years; she cannot reveal her truth that in fact, she had to sleep with Japanese soldiers. While walking, Midorimachi is reminded of her of her friend called Green, and what she had to go through. Finally, she finds her friend but it feels very distant. Her friend is making living by cooking and serving drinks.
KIM Soom, Novelist
KIM Soom is a novelist born in Ulsan, Korea in 1974. In 1997, she won the Daejeon Ilbo New Writers’ Award for On Slowness and the Munhakdongne New Writer Award for Time in the Middle Ages in 1998. She has published full-length novels including, Iron, To Abandon the Yellow Dong, Women and Their Evolving Enemies, Sewing Woman, L’s Sneakers, One Left, Flowing Letter, When Has a Soldier Wanted to Be an Angel?, Sublime is Looking Inward and Are you living as you, and short story collections including Bed, Liver and Gallbladder, Your God, I’ve never seen a goat and Could I Ever Touch a Tree. She received numerous awards including, the Dong Ri Literary Award, Yi Sang Literary Award, Hyundae Literary Award, Daesan Literary Award, and Heo Gyun Literary Writer Award.
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