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.
2014 Drawn to the Rainbow
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관리자 2014-09-17 21:26
Gesso on wooden panel, Color pencil
120x203cm
Drawn to the Rainbow
Before the Unification of Germany, After the Division
There were suddenly various biennales coming up around the world and exhibition styles were greatly changed in 1990s. Exhibitions were mainly planned beforehand and it felt like working styles were not actually fit into new circumstances. For changing circumstances in 1990s, I thought of how I could adapt to this new format. I had my first solo exhibition in 1992 and that exhibition was of typically selecting and displaying my works made in my atelier for a long time. Another solo exhibition in 1996 was the same. But there was Gwangju Biennale in 1995. I think the emergence of biennale in Korea and alternative space around that time had a great impact on changing the world of Korean modern art in late 1990s and 2000s. Working for Gwangju Biennale with exhibition proposals to fill up huge space all of a sudden, I realized 'Something different from how things were done in the past is a must to adapt to this new environment.'