Gwangju Biennale opens with call for change across time, scale
JEONNAM-GWANGJU METROPOLITAN CITY — The 16th Gwangju Biennale began its opening events Friday, ahead of its public opening Saturday, with an exhibition that invites visitors to see change not as a sudden break, but as a gradual process shaping individuals, communities, landscapes and the planet. Titled “You Must Change Your Life,” the biennale's main exhibition runs through Nov. 15 at the Gwangju…
The 16th Gwangju Biennale commenced its opening events on Friday, with the public inauguration scheduled for Saturday. The biennale's main exhibition, "You Must Change Your Life," opens at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall on November 15. Curated by Ho Tzu Nyen, Che Kyong-fa, Park Ga-hee, and Brian Kuan Wood, the exhibition features 43 artists and groups across five galleries.
The biennale's title, taken from the closing line of Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "Archaic Torso of Apollo," serves as an open-ended invitation rather than a directive. Ho Tzu Nyen, the exhibition's curator, explained during a press conference that the phrase implies change is necessary, but leaves the specifics of how, why, or what to change up to the viewer.
This ambiguity resonates particularly strongly in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, a city marked by its pivotal role in the 1980 pro-democracy movement and its ongoing quest for transformation.
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