Busan and Gwangju biennials take a deep dive into resistance and change

This year, Korea's two most prominent art biennials, Busan and Gwangju, are delving into themes of resistance and change. The Busan Biennale, concluding on November 1st, highlights cultures of resistance through the exhibition Dissident Chorus. Meanwhile, the Gwangju Biennale, running from September 5th to November 15th, addresses upheaval with the title work, You Must Change Your Life.

Evelyn Simons, co-director of the Busan Biennale alongside Amal Khalaf, emphasizes the extensive collaboration with artists to delve into Korea's history of protest, encompassing democracy movements, student uprisings, and labor activism. Simons notes that these stories of dissent are often entwined with ongoing injustices and collective trauma.

The exhibition features artists closely linked to these movements, such as The House of Korean Protest Songs, whose Eunji Cho draws inspiration from Busan's labor history via a communal fishing song.

In Gwangju, the central exhibition is inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's poem, Archaic Torso of Apollo, whose final line serves as the biennial's title: "You must change your life." However, the curators caution that change in both Korea and Asia is complex and multifaceted. Artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen, alongside curators Che Kyongfa, Park Gahee, and Brian Kuan Wood, invites 43 artists and groups to explore various scales of change.

The exhibition encompasses works that are politically charged but not overtly so, reflecting the festival's aim to commemorate the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and Massacre while addressing contemporary global issues.

One such exhibition, named after Taiwan's autonomous island, explores imagined borders and the strained relationship between North and South Korea as well as global migration and identity tensions. The Gwangju Biennale also expands beyond the central exhibition, incorporating 27 national and independent pavilions. This broader context underscores the exhibition's intention to showcase diverse trajectories and histories, both locally and globally.