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.
FUNDAMENTAL RECORDS FOR DISCUSSING BUSAN (SIDUK KIM)
12/23 (THU) 15:00
- This event seeks to introduce those who are interested in Busan – especially those working in the cultural, artistic context – to the fundamental records of Busan that would aid the understanding of the history and context of the place. Out of the two elements that form Busan – the agriculture based Dongnae and the port based Busan – the lecture will focus on the latter, especially dealing with the temporal strata of Busan as a port city accumulated over the past hundred years or so as the key to understanding the city.
- Siduk Kim Siduk Kim is a philologist who applies the methodologies of researching historical documents of East Asia to studying modern and contemporary cities of Korea. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from and took a doctorate course at Korea University, and received his doctorate from the National Institute of Philology in Japan. He worked as a researcher and HK research professor at the Institute for Japanese Studies at Korea University as well as HK professor (Humanities Korea) at the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University.