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.
WHAT HAPPENS AT SEA (KIM JOON X KIM SAGANG X KIM CHANG-IL)
2/25 (FRI) 17:00
- Sea is the very foundation of the life of Busan and the natural conditions which have brought about its transformation as a city. In addition to the industry based on the massive port and the commodities brought in through the port, Busan accommodates fishing villages, the labor in and around those villages, and the diverse marine ecosystem. What Happens at Sea discusses the work, labor, and incidents at sea, from seaweed to migrant labor, port construction, and the story of Gadeokdo island, where an airport will soon be established.
- Lecture 1: Sea, Humans, and Seaweeds, the Function of Coexistence Humanity began to settle down with the start of farming. While agriculture boasts a long history of agriculture, aquaculture has been around only for a short while. We might be witnessing a moment when humanity is getting ready to reside at sea in earnest. At the center of the preparation is seaweed such as dried laver, sea mustard, and sea tangle. Adding shellfish, including oyster, and manila calm, to this, we can get a glimpse into the elements of a mudflat or life in a mudflat. Its traces are hard to find today other than what we can see in Dongsam Shell Midden Museum in Yeongdo. The tidal bed in the estuary of Nakdong River offered the best clamshell field, dried laver farm, and habitat for sea trumpet in the past, and Myeongji-dong was home to one of the most famous salt ponds during the Joseon Dynasty. These were all attributable to tidal beds. Today, the dried laver of Myeongji and the sea mustard of Gijang continue the reputation of Busan’s seaweed. The lecture looks into the conditions for the coexistence between sea and humans through seaweed.
- Kim Joon (senior researcher, Gwangju Jeonnam Research Institute)
Thirty years of living in a fishing village, interacting with fishermen, and visiting countless fishing villages have instilled him with confidence in his hypothesis that the alternative to land lies with the sea. Although the logic of capital cannot be a solution to build sustainable earth, blind pursuit of a community is not down to earth, either. The clue might be found in reviving the coast and embracing life on an island. The book Seashore Village Humanities puts together these thoughts. The journey for the book to be born was supported and assisted by Essay on the Travel to the Taste of the Sea (three-volume book), Life on an Island, Record of Exploration into Islands’ Culture (out of eight volumes, five have been published), What Happened to Fish?, Which Salt Shall We Eat?, and Kim Jun’s Mudflat Story. Kim continues to visit and keep record of mudflats, sea, islands, and fishing villages as well as their values. While working at Gwangju Jeonnam Research Institute, he has taken part in the Slow Fish Campaign. Kim is working on his new book titled Sea Humanities.
- Lecture 2: The Story of Migrant Sea-Farers at Namhang Port Behind the famous Jagalchi fish market in Busan is Namhang Port, where the largest amount of seafood is brought in. Fishing boats departing from Namhang Port sail across an ocean to catch mackerel, Japanese Spanish mackerel, croaker, cutlassfish, and squid for weeks or even months. Those who let down and pull up a net day after day to fill the fish storage at sea are mostly migrant workers from Indonesia or Vietnam. Without these migrant workers who fill in the place of Koreans in the boat to work at sea, we wouldn’t have Namhang Port, Jagalchi fish market, and even a fish dish on the table anymore.
- Kim Sagang (research fellow, Migration and Human Rights Institute)
Kim Sagang received her doctorate in 2010 with a thesis addressing the migrant labor policy of the Korean government and migrants challenging such policy. Since 2011, she has investigated and studied the human rights status of migrants at Migration and Human Rights Institute in Busan and worked on institutional improvement in safeguarding migrants’ human rights. Kim holds special interests in protecting the labor and human rights of the migrant workers in the fishing industry and making their voices heard.
- Lecture 3: The Passage of Busan’s Maritime Culture, Gadeok Waterway Gadeok Waterway is the passage for migratory fish such as cod, mullet, and gizzard, a strategic point, and the future of Busan. The sea off the island is the passage for migratory fish, container vessels, warships, and submarines, and Geogadaegyo Bridge and Gadeokdaegyo Bridge form a large land transportation corridor. Gadeokdo island will offer overland, maritime, and airborne routes if a new airport is built. The lecture keeps record of the lives of the fishers in Gadeokdo island who are going through these massive waves of change.
- Kim Chang-il (curator, National Folk Museum of Korea)
Working at the National Folk Museum of Korea, Kim Chang-il has studied the maritime culture of Korea, living in Yeonpyeongdo island, Gangwhado island, Namhaedo island, Samcheok, Ulsan, Yeongdo island, Gadeokdo island, and Jeju island over the last decade. Kim authored nineteen volumes on the maritime folk culture, including The Passage of Fish, Gadeokdo’s Maritime Culture (2021), Busan’ Maritime Culture in the Eyes of Yeongdo, and The Ports of Gangwha, Yeonpyeongdo – From the Island of Croakers to the Island of Blue Crabs. He also published over ten research papers, including The Comparison of Wild Sea Mustard Collection and Income Distribution Methods among Fishing Villages along the East Sea and The Pattern of Net Use in Fishing Villages in Korea. His recent research focus is on the women divers in the mainland of Korea whose culture and pattern are different from those of the women divers of Jeju island.