스킵네비게이션

- 5 PM, November 21, the Closing Ceremony Will Be Held

at the Auditorium of the Busan Museum of Art -

Ending the 64-day-long exhibition, the Busan Biennale 2014 will close on November 22.

The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee will hold its closing ceremony at the basement auditorium of the Busan Museum of Art on the coming 21st, a day before its closing.

Drawn from the past 18th (the 60th day of the exhibition), a total number of the visitors of the Busan Biennale 2014 has been counted as 220,051 (303,775 in 2012), and of the visitors of the paid exhibition as 129,502 (185,131 in 2012). The Organizing Committee estimates the grand total of the visitors to be approximately 240,000 (140,000 of the paid exhibition). Various negative factors, including slowing down of the group visitors due to the major accidents, such as the collapse of the roof of the resort’s auditorium in Gyeongju and the Sewol ferry tragedy, and the concerns over the Ebola virus, have overlapped, and the boycott movement of the Busan Biennale that has been happening since the end of the last year is seen as one of the factors in the low numbers of the visitor count as well.

Even in the presence of the negative factors, the Busan Biennale 2014 has achieved a number of accomplishments.

From the press opening, which was held a day before the public opening, throughout the exhibition period, the Busan Biennale 2014 was visited and covered by over 160 newspapers, broadcasters, and art magazines from in and out of Korea. In particular, there was an increased number in the foreign press covering the Busan Biennale, including the art magazines such as Bijutsu Techo (Japan), Monthly Art (Japan), Artlink Magazine (Australia), and Artforum (US), and the daily newspapers and the websites that are more easily accessed by the public, such as Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan), Yachang Art Network (China), Arts Sohu (China), the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), and Le Monde (France), which led to the attraction of the foreign visitors.

In this year’s exhibition, a total of 484 artworks of 161 artists from 30 countries were showcased, and in addition to the refined, mature main exhibition, varied special exhibitions were prepared, such as the young and experimental special exhibition and another special exhibition that refocused on the history of contemporary Korean art, seeking to communicate with the public. The reviews said that the exhibitions well served the biennale’s intention to show a broad spectrum of exhibitions and artworks. However, there were also the reviews that said the exhibition theme and the text describing the curatorial direction were too abstract and difficult.

Through hosting the Asian Biennale Representatives’ Conference, the biennale also established a platform for more substantial collaborations between the biennales and triennales representing Asia. Its significance and effectiveness have been proved through the realization of the exhibition co-curated by the young curators recommended by the Singapore Biennale, the Shanghai Biennale, and the Yokohama Triennale.

This year’s exhibition utilized various spaces, including the KISWIRE Sooyoung Factory and Art Village Promotion Hall of Busan Citizen Park, which expanded, through contemporary art, the premise of everyday spaces in the city and narrowed the distance between the biennale and the general public.

Finally, the biennale also narrowed its distance with the general audience through a variety of programs. Invitation programs, conversation programs, and student programs, which were first tried in the past Busan Biennale 2012, were designed to help the general audience’s understanding, and over 8,000 visitors participated in the docent programs, which were held three times during the weekdays and five times during the weekends. Also, the Biennale Lounge introduced various performances to be enjoyed along with the exhibition and education programs, and is remembered as the event that well suited the nature of the public-friendly contemporary art festival the Busan Biennale has been advocating.

The Busan Biennale 2014 is about to end its 64-day-long journey. It had to struggle through numerous rumors and issues during the preparation, and even after the opening of the exhibition, it failed to attract the attention of the public due to a number of negative factors. However, all the achievements accomplished by the Busan Biennale 2014 and the problems occurred during the preparation do not belong only to the Busan Biennale 2014. All of these will give clearer direction to the Busan Biennale in terms of how to go forward, and its result will be evidenced in the Busan Biennale 2016.