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.
2018 Concrete Tears 3451
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관리자 2018-08-21 11:55
Concrete Tears 3451, 3451 Concrete tears and mirrored stainless steel structure , 470 x 300 x 300 cm, 2006-2012, Courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris and the artist
BORDERLAND - I Walked a Far Piece, 4 UHD Video synchronized with surround sound, 54min 30sec, 2017, Courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris and the artist
Melik OHANIAN
Concrete Tears 3451
BORDERLAND - I Walked a Far Piece
A similar conversion of the ephemeral into the concrete characterizes Ohanian’s contributions to the Busan Biennale—albeit in a more pained key. Concrete Tears 3451 (2006–12) finds 3451 cast tears hanging via wires, from a silhouetted metal armature that echoes a traditional carpet motif. The number 3451 references the distance in kilometres between Erevan, the hometown of Ohanian’s family, and Paris, thus lending the sculpture intense personal resonance. The artist’s film BORDERLAND—I Walked a Far Piece(2017)—also presented in Busan—addresses the same theme, while testifying to the artist’s dexterity across media. On multiple projections around the gallery space, viewers see a theatrical play unfold atop a dark Brooklyn rooftop. The performance’s subject is the arrival of migrants, which is not always welcomed by Ohanian’s dramatis personae. Before long, Ohanian folds his story into a meta-narrative about the socio-political conditions of storytelling. As the piece progresses, it is in fact the allowance of these migrants stories into the very script of the play that his characters take issue with.