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.
- Date 2024. 8. 15. – 10. 20.
- Venue Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, 2F
- Content HongLee Hyunsook has been designing numerous audience-participatory performances that aim to activate non-visual senses such as touch, smell, and hearing, moving away from human-centeredness towards non-human sensations. To complement the exhibition title of the Busan Biennale 2024, Seeing in the Dark, which is a metaphor for visuality, the audience-participatory performance Blackout Journey provides a time to experience the transformation of senses through liberating our reliance on sight. Participants will completely step away from the world of bright rationality reliant on sight in a specially created dark space for this workshop, perceiving the world through other senses and experiencing temporary connections with unfamiliar others.
HongLee Hyunsook, Blackout Journey
- Date 2024. 8. 16. – 8. 25.
- Venue Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, 1F Lobby
- Content The workshop Continuous Cities by Golrokh Nafisi with Ahmadali Kadivar is a visual representation of the unique history, geography, and culture of the Busan area, which the artists have explored. This project aims to capture the process of meeting and communicating with the local community. During the exhibition, visitors to the Busan Biennale 2024 will directly participate in the artwork, collaborating with the artists.
Golrokh Nafisi with Ahmadali Kadivar, Continuous Cities
- Date 2024. 8. 16.
- Venue Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, 1F Lobby
- Content A workshop on sharing 'Shinni,' a traditional Bangladeshi dessert and offering to the goddess 'Bonbibi.' 'Shinni,' made from rice, milk, and sugar, is an essential element of worship rituals and one of the offerings to the forest-dwelling goddess 'Bonbibi' in Bangladeshi mythology. Sharing Shinni symbolises communal altruism and acts as a bridge between the haves and the have-nots. It also reflects the responsibility of a compassionate society to care for those in need. In Muslim tradition, ‘Shinni’ signifies collective solidarity and is a declaration against oppression.
Ashfika Rahman, Sharing Shinni
- Date 2024. 8. 17.
- Venue Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, 2F Lab
- Content Douglas R. Ewart is a multidisciplinary artist who showcases a range of works, from designing and creating his own instruments to performing with woodwinds such as saxophones and flutes. In this workshop, participants will bring grains like rice or beans from their own homes to create their own handmade instruments called 'Shakers.' They will have the opportunity to freely play and share their sounds with each other.
Douglas R. Ewart, Hand-made instrument making
- Date 2024. 8. 17. – 8. 18.
- Venue Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, 1F
- Content Audience members who wish to participate should bring their own T-shirts to have woodblock prints made on them.
Taring Padi, Woodcut Printing Workshop
- Date 2024. 8. 21. – 8. 22.
- Venue Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, 2F Lab
- Content 'Wayang Kardus,' which means recycled cardboard puppets in Indonesian, is a part of Taring Padi's artistic practice and is used to support those fighting for social justice. The life-sized cardboard puppets that Taring Padi primarily uses as political tools serve various purposes, including expressing aspirations during protests, 'amplifying' the crowd, boosting morale, and providing protection from the hot sun and police violence. In this workshop, participants will learn how to make cardboard puppets alongside the artists.
Taring Padi, Workshop cupboard puppet “wayang kardus”
