The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Garbage collector mistakes sex doll for corpse

  • 3

    Netflix announces password sharing crackdown in Korea

  • 5

    Samsung unveils new Galaxy S23 smartphone

  • 7

    Retailers return to Myeong-dong as more foreign tourists visit

  • 9

    4 South Korean activists arrested for executing orders from Pyongyang

  • 11

    Japanese comic series 'Slam Dunk' enjoys resurgence on back of animated film

  • 13

    President pledges support for Korean chipmakers to overcome crisis

  • 15

    Income gap widening among workers

  • 17

    Korea's presidential couple celebrates recovery of Cambodian boy who received heart surgery

  • 19

    Retired actress Shim Eun-ha denies rumor of return

  • 2

    Free subway rides for elderly emerge as headache for Seoul mayor

  • 4

    Korea seeks measures to better protect foreign workers

  • 6

    Seoul city council under fire for sexual conduct guidelines for teachers

  • 8

    Major webtoon platforms' fight against piracy

  • 10

    Is non-consensual sex not rape?

  • 12

    ENHYPEN-inspired webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Blood Altar' surpasses 100 million views

  • 14

    $120,000 banana, praying Hitler: Infamous art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan's first Seoul outing

  • 16

    INTERVIEWA touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene

  • 18

    China imposes mandatory virus tests for arrivals from Korea only in latest protest over curbs

  • 20

    Space industry takes off in South Jeolla Province

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
Fri, February 3, 2023 | 10:38
Fortune Telling
2016 Gwangju Biennale not spectacular but thoughtful
Posted : 2016-09-04 17:17
Updated : 2016-09-04 18:12
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Celine Condorelli's 'On the Right and on the Left (Without Glasses)' is on display at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale
Celine Condorelli's "On the Right and on the Left (Without Glasses)" is on display at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale


Celine Condorelli's 'On the Right and on the Left (Without Glasses)' is on display at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale
Maria Lind, 2016 Gwangju Biennale artistic director
By Kwon Mee-yoo

GWANGJU ― People might expect large installations and visual spectacles at contemporary art biennales, but some of organizers take the opposite approach, and the 11th Gwangju Biennale (GB11) has fresh food for thought instead of eye-catching attractions.

Titled "The Eighth Climate (What does art do?)," GB11 employs emptiness and imagination instead of spectacle to unleash contemplation on contemporary art.

GB11's artistic director Maria Lind from Sweden re-imagined Asia's largest contemporary art festival based on a kaleidoscopic nature.

Celine Condorelli's 'On the Right and on the Left (Without Glasses)' is on display at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale
Dora Garcia's reconstruction of "Nokdu Bookstore" / Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale

"I am not particularly interested in spectacle for the sake of spectacle," Lind said during the press conference for GB11, Thursday. "If I engage with it, it has to be smarter than a normal spectacle."


The spectacle Lind prepared for GB11 could look plain at first sight, but it creates a kaleidoscopic world of diversity and complexity coming from an inner spectacle. Different encounters with artwork may be meditative, but they can be more confrontational.

The title eighth climate is a notion borrowed from the 12th century Persian philosopher Sohravardi and modern French philosopher Henry Corbin, Lind said. "It indicates an inter-world, a zone between material and material and a sphere full of imagination. The way they imagined this zone is similar to contemporary art ― not about what art is but what it does," Lind said.

Celine Condorelli's 'On the Right and on the Left (Without Glasses)' is on display at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale
Gunilla Klingberg's "Lunar Cycle," "Bamboo-Curtain" and "Sun-Prints" installed at Uijae Museum of Korean Art on Mudeungsan Mountain in Gwangju

Lind created her team for GB11, led by curator Choi Binna and assistant curators Azar Mahmoudian, Margarida Mendes and Michelle Wong. When asked why she had the all-woman team, Lind simply said "Because they are the best and women are the future."


As an attempt to reinforce stronger connections to the city, Lind invited artists to come and visit Gwangju ahead of the festival instead of just commissioning them to create works of art. As a result, 25 artists among the total 120 from 37 countries produced works related to the city's history, such as the political turmoil that peaked during the 1980 Gwangju Uprising.

Celine Condorelli's 'On the Right and on the Left (Without Glasses)' is on display at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale
An installation view of the Gallery 1 at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale / Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale

Not-to-miss artwork


The 66-day contemporary art festival kicked off Friday. There are over 250 pieces on display throughout the main exhibition hall and other locations in Gwangju and it would take at least a full day to appreciate all of them.

The artistic director picked a handful of works that resonate well with the biennale's theme of seeking the role of art in society covering a variety of themes from the environment, labor, human rights and politics. "Each artwork has its reverberations depending on where, when and how it is presented," Lind said.

Upon passing through colorful chain curtains to enter the biennale's exhibition hall, which is Ruth Buchanan's "Split, Splits, Splitting," visitors encounter a replica of a bookstore.

Spanish artist Dora Garcia's installation "Nokdu Bookstore for the Living and the Dead" is an example of how an artist feels, engages and unravels history into art. The Nokdu Bookstore was a gathering place during the Gwangju Uprising in 1980 and Garcia re-created the community bookstore in Gallery 1, filled with donated books. Lind elaborated that Garcia wanted the bookstore to live beyond being just a monument of the uprising.

Gallery 2 is darkened to mainly feature artwork using light ― moving images, still projections and light installations.

"You can watch videos without being isolated in a black box. It is about navigation and it creates a dynamic viewing experience from multiple viewpoints, at the same time with other people," Lind said.

Korean artist Jung Eun-young's video "Act of Effect" questions traditional gender roles by exploring the long-forgotten style of female-only theater, while Jun So-jung's "The Habit of Art" discovers the raison d'etre of art in everyday life.

Works related to labor issues are on view in Gallery 3. Julia Sarisetiati's "Indo K-Work" is based on the artist's research on Indonesian migrant workers in Korea

New York-based artist Doug Ashford presents a set of photos featuring people holding a green canvas at politically important places in Korea in "Photographs of Paintings Carried to Places where the Movement for Democracy in South Korea Happened, and Four Examples of what was Produced" in Gallery 4. The artwork presents Ashford's way of combining politics and aesthetics in historical context.

Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz's video works "Toxic," "Opaque" and "To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of Their Desperation" are screened in Gallery 5.

Art galore throughout the city

Lind wanted people to engage with art in many different ways through this biennale and she expanded the exhibit from the main exhibition hall in eastern Gwangju to eight other venues in the city from a roundabout in front of the station to art museums in mountains.

Architect Apolonija Sustersic joined hands with Bae Da-ri to create a community-based collaboration project, "Master Plan for Duamdong" at a neighborhood in northern Gwangju. The result of the project seeking performative ways of urban planning is on display at Nuribom Community Center in Duam-dong, Gwangju.

At the 5.18 Archives commemorating the Gwangju Uprising, three artist teams, Cooperativa Crater Invertido, Christian Nyampeta, and Jasmina Metwaly & Philip Rizk present their works inspired by the significant event, giving it a contemporary context.

At the Daein Market, Michael Beutler opened "Daein Sausage Shop" where the artist makes sausages from recycled paper.

Three museums in the Mudeungsan Mountain area are also featuring artists as part of the biennale ― Gunilla Klingberg at the Uijae Museum of Korean Art, Bernd Krauss at the Mudeung Museum of Contemporary Art and Saskia Noor van Imhoff at the Woo Jaeghil Art Museum.

At the Asia Culture Center, Christopher Kulendran Thomas's project "New Eelam" is on view. Eyal Weizman's site-specific installation "The Roundabout Revolution" near Gwangju Station is also not to be missed.

GB11 runs through Nov. 6 at various venues in Gwangju. Admission is 11,000 won in advance and 14,000 won at the door for adults. For more information, visit www.gwangjubiennale.org or call 062-608-4114.

Emailmeeyoo@ktimes.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
Top 10 Stories
1Samsung unveils new Galaxy S23 smartphone Samsung unveils new Galaxy S23 smartphone
2Seoul city council under fire for sexual conduct guidelines for teachers Seoul city council under fire for sexual conduct guidelines for teachers
3[INTERVIEW] A touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene INTERVIEWA touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene
4Pyongyang threatens eye-for-eye response as US B-1B bombers join drills in South KoreaPyongyang threatens eye-for-eye response as US B-1B bombers join drills in South Korea
5Gov't announces measures to cope with shortage of surgeons Gov't announces measures to cope with shortage of surgeons
6Police to introduce new measures to better handle intoxicated people Police to introduce new measures to better handle intoxicated people
7[INTERVIEW] 'Extended deterrence is best option to ensure peace on Korean Peninsula' INTERVIEW'Extended deterrence is best option to ensure peace on Korean Peninsula'
8[INTERVIEW] US-NK summit is unlikely in 2023: Korea Society INTERVIEWUS-NK summit is unlikely in 2023: Korea Society
9[INTERVIEW] IMF expects no recession for Korean economy INTERVIEWIMF expects no recession for Korean economy
10Taxi passengers in Seoul taken aback by fare increase Taxi passengers in Seoul taken aback by fare increase
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Major webtoon platforms' fight against piracy Major webtoon platforms' fight against piracy
2ENHYPEN-inspired webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Blood Altar' surpasses 100 million views ENHYPEN-inspired webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Blood Altar' surpasses 100 million views
3$120,000 banana, praying Hitler: Infamous art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan's first Seoul outing $120,000 banana, praying Hitler: Infamous art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan's first Seoul outing
4PULL UP: VIVIZ returns with new song about gossipers PULL UP: VIVIZ returns with new song about gossipers
5Park Hyung-sik to play crown prince in tvN series 'Our Blooming Youth' Park Hyung-sik to play crown prince in tvN series 'Our Blooming Youth'
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group