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| An installation view of Taipei Bieenial 2016 at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum / Courtesy of Taipei Biennial |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
TAIPEI ― The 10th edition of the Taipei Biennial shedding light on a pan-Asian vision in the international contemporary art scene opened Saturday at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) in Taipei, Taiwan.
The history of the Taipei Biennial goes back to 1998, making it one of the oldest ones in Asia, following Korea's Gwangju Biennale.
Ping Lin, director of TFAM, emphasized that the Taipei Biennial is organized by an art museum, not an independent body for a biennial.
"We asked the question of what a biennial is and the role of museum as an organizer. It is not just a breakthrough, but an extension," Lin said. "This is the 10th edition of Taipei Biennial and in Chinese culture, 10 is an important number symbolizing roundness."
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| Ham Kyung-ah's "Needling Whisper, Needle Country," "Big Smile" and "SMS Series in Camouflage" |
Among some 150 biennials across the globe, the Taipei Biennial seeks to position itself and establish a new lexicon and French curator Corinne Diserens collaborated with the biennial as a guest curator.
This year's theme is "Gestures and Archives of the Present, Genealogies of the Future," as the biennial "explores the museum's catalytic role in navigating between knowledge systems and in the experience of trans-artistic practices and research in societal configurations that take into consideration cultural paradigm shifts."
"I personally hope that (this biennial) will support Taiwanese contemporary art and become a platform for Taiwanese artists to be seen in the world," curator Diserens said.
Diserens visited the country three times ahead of the biennial to organize the event. "(The visits) introduced me to the many different facets of this country. This rich experience is only the beginning," Diserens said. "Small but powerful works came out of residence at the Taipei Artist Village."
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| A scene from Park Chan-kyong's "Citizen's Forest" / Courtesy of the artist and Kukje Gallery |
Inter-Korean relations in spotlight
Among over 80 participants, four Korean artists have been invited to the 10th edition of the Taipei Biennial. Their works explore the subtlety of relationships between South and North Korea as well as its forgotten modern history.
Ham Kyung-ah presents her signature embroidery projects weaving the two Koreas in an artistic way.
Ham creates digital images reflecting modern capitalist society in the era of the internet and sends the design to textile workers in North Korea through brokers. The artist includes phrases taken from social media or popular songs in the design such as "Are you lonely, too?" or "Big smile."
This conceptual art works as a means of communication across the physical border.
Im Heung-soon, the winner of the Silver Lion award at 2015 Venice Biennale, screens two video pieces "Bukhansan (North Han Mountain)" and "Bukhangang (North Han River)" at the Taipei Biennial.
The video captures a North Korean defector K's journey and life in the South, depicting how South Korea plays on fear politics with regard to North Korea.
Lim Min-ouk's "The Promise of If ― Cave" consists of archives, performances, videos and installations. The namesake video work explores North-South division of Korea and the consequent issues of the dispersed families using footage from the 1983 live broadcast of "Finding Dispersed Families."
Artist and filmmaker Park Chan-kyong reveals a long-awaited new work at the Taipei Biennial. Titled "Citizen's Forest," the 27-minute video sheds light on modern Korean history, especially colonial rule which is inextricable in Korean history.
The video allegorically explores various episodes in Korean history such as the Donghak Peasant Revolution, the Gwangju Uprising and most recently the sinking of Sewol Ferry.
The biennial runs through Feb. 5, 2017. For more information, visit www.taipeibiennial.org.
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