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.
1st
- Date December 22-24 (Wed-Fri), 2021
- Location Changbi Busan / 2F, 16, Jungang-daero 209beon-gil, Dong-gu, Busan, Korea, Busan Biennale 2022 website, Busan Biennale official YouTube channel
- Contents
Busan Biennale is launching the first official program to share how the upcoming edition of the Busan Biennale is prepared with the public. The program will be an opportunity to look back on the change in the landscape as Busan has been shaped and grown as a modern city, allowing the public to familiarize themselves with the placeness of Busan as the background of the Biennale.
The transformation that Busan has gone through as it evolved from an agricultural community into the first port city of Korea, the peculiar residential areas, and the changes in places brought about by the rapid urbanization will be discussed and looked into through historical records and photographs, and documentary films. A hybrid approach will be taken for lectures and talks over the course of three days, which will be featured virtually as well as in person. An edited version with English subtitles and sign language translation will be uploaded to the Busan Biennale 2022 website. The second Warming-up Program will be held in February 2022
2nd
- Date February 24-25 (Thur-Fri), 2022
- Online Zoom webinar (pre-registration)
- Contents
Busan Biennale 2022 attempts to look back on the stories engraved or hidden in Busan’s history and the transformation of its urban structure since the modern era and connect this with the global reality. The second warm-up program, to share how Busan Biennale 2022 is prepared, explores Busan focusing on migration, women labor, and nature and considers various elements that form We, on the Rising Wave, the theme of the upcoming edition of the Biennale. The two-day program, covering lectures and discussion, will be presented via the Zoom platform on February 24th and 25th. In addition, an edited version with English subtitles and sign language translation will be uploaded to the Busan Biennale 2022 website (www.busanbiennale2022.org).