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.
Gadeokdo (Young June Lee)
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관리자 2022-12-19 10:09
Machine Critic
Located in Busan’s Gangseo District, Gadeokdo may have undergone greater changes than any other island in South Korea. As recently as the early 2000s, it was populated by quiet fishing communities. But the arrival of the huge southern pier of Busan’s New Port on the landfill at its northern end, along with the building of Nulcha Bridge, ushered in enormous transformations to the island’s landscape and role. The road passing over Nulcha Bridge emerges from Gadeok Tunnel and connects directly to Geoga Bridge, turning Gadeokdo into a midpoint linking Busan with Geoje Island. Even bigger changes lie in store with a new Busan airport scheduled to open on the island in 2030. Current plans involve trimming down Guksubong Peak and Namsan Mountain on the island’s southern end to build hinterlands for the new airport. With the September 2021 enactment of a special law for the new Gadeok airport’s construction, its arrival on the island appears to be more or less a matter of time. Once that happens, Gadeok will be an island perceived only in terms of its utility. However, it is an island with quite a long history: shell mounds attest to people inhabiting the area as far back as 7,000 years ago, and tombs there date back to the Gaya era. It was also the site of a Japanese fortress built during the Imjin War and the command of the Japanese forces in the Russo-Japanese War—part of a rather tumultuous history.