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.
2012 Yeongdo Bridge
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관리자 2013-03-25 09:27
BUSAN, YEONGDO BRIDGE
Busan’s urban texture reads like a book, or – given the city’s spread –like a scroll-painting diligently documenting Korea’s modern period.Aside from the relatively few historical sites and buildings leftover from the days of Japanese colonial rule, Busan’s architecture is characterized mostly by structures from the aftermath of the Korean War (when the city became a haven for refugees from all over Korea), by the hundreds of anonymous high-rises built to accommodate the army of peasants-turned-factory workers during Korea’s industrialization boom, and by futurist developments (particularly in the area around Haeundae) which are destined to attract Asia’s middle class.Inmi Lee has been following Busan’s rapid transformation for some years now. “Garden of Learning” displays works from two of her series. While Another Frame shows the rigidly cropped view from the inside of a typical apartment complex, Yeongdo Bridge deals with the fate of a historical monument. Built by the Japanese in 1931-34 to span the Busan harbor, the Yeongdo Bridge was a technical masterpiece. A vertical lift bridge that opened twice a day for larger ships, it soon became a popular attraction that drew people from all over Korea.
When hundreds of thousands of people fled to Busan during the Korean War (1950-53), the bridge became an important meeting place for war-torn families. It was also the site where many learned the bitter truth that they would never meet their loved ones again. By the mid-1960s, the mechanics of the bridge had been exhausted. Later it was decided to dismantle the old structure and replace it with a new, bigger one (the new Yeongdo Bridge is currently under construction).Lee’s camera carefully dissects the bridge or the fragments that remain of its construction, seemingly amazed by the fact that a technological beast can, over time, take on a soul of its own.