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.
Provisional Capital (Park Hwalsung)
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관리자 2022-12-19 10:34
Workroom Press Editor
Image courtesy of National Museum of Korean Contemporary History.
During the Korean War, Busan became South Korea’s provisional capital. It held the status for 1,023 out of the war’s 1,129 days, meaning that it was the capital essentially throughout the conflict. The Seokdang Museum at Dong-A University was used during the war as the government complex for the Republic of Korea’s provisional capital. The political, economic, social, and educational institutions that had been in Seoul also began relocating to Busan in their turn. As provisional capital, Busan was additionally the setting where a POW camp was established. Just before the war erupted, Busan’s population was around 400,000; as refugees arrived en masse, that number swelled to over one million. But the city at the time was not equipped to accommodate such a large population, and many of the refugees were forced to live in shacks under crude conditions. Having relocated to Busan, the government of then-President Rhee Syng-man conspired to stay in power by orchestrating the Busan Political Crisis of 1952: it forced through an amendment of the Constitution and had the National Assembly surrounded by police and soldiers, effectively holding the members prisoner in order to pass what became known as the “excerpt amendment.” Rhee ended up re-elected as South Korean president in the election on August 5, 1952. The Armistice Agreement was reached on July 27, 1953, and while the Rhee administration returned to Seoul, many of the refugees ultimately settled in Busan permanently.