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.
Pier 1 of Busan Port (Kang Dongjin)
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관리자 2022-12-19 10:32
Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Engineering, Kyungsung University
Pier 1 of Busan Port finished construction on March 7, 1911. It was put to use by Japan for the plundering of its Korean colony, along with passenger transport between Korea and Japanese cities such as Shimonoseki. In the post-liberation period beginning in 1945, it saw an influx of returning overseas Koreans; during the Korean War, it played a key role in transporting both refugees and military and relief items. With its use as a headquarters for the arrival of UN forces and transportation of various goods, it played a decisive part in turning the war around. It remained an important pier facility for UN aid and national reconstruction through the 1950s. By the 1960s, its trade and passenger transport role began to fade due to changes in the Busan Port pier management system and issues with the lack of available space. For a roughly 10-year period starting in 1963, it was used as a site for the Busan Cooperative Fish Market. It subsequently went through a golden age with international trade revitalization policies in the 1970s, which included the extension of jetties to construct the International Passenger Terminal in its upper section. Due to the relocation to the New Port in the 2000s, along with factors such as outdated facilities, Pier 1 was included in Stage 1 of the North Port redevelopment project in 2008. The plan involved putting a road through the area, after which it would be filled in, effectively wiping it off the map. Busan residents responded by pleading for its preservation, and officials relented: the highway route was revised, and the reclamation plan was downscaled. This paved the way for Pier 1 to survive with the people of Busan as a history park attesting to the various developments in South Korea’s modern history.