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 Biennale Exhibition Hall. Curated by Ho Tzu Nyen with Che Kyong-fa, Park Ga-hee and Brian Kuan Wood, the exhibition brings together 43 artists and groups in five galleries within the venue.

The title, drawn from the final line of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” serves less as an instruction than an open-ended provocation, according to Ho.

“It tells you that something must change, but it does not tell you how, why or what you should become,” Ho said during a press conference. “It is a demand without a program.”

That ambiguity takes on a collective meaning in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, a city defined by the 1980 pro-democracy movement and its continuing legacy, he explained.

“In Gwangju, the question is no longer how I might change my life,” he said. “It also becomes: How do our lives change one another? How does one individual transformation connect to collective transformation?”

The main exhibition is structured as a passage through five chambers — “Molecules and Me,” “Bodies and Bonds,” “Landscapes and Learning,” “Cosmos and Change” and “Air and Articulations.” Each creates a distinct sensory environment while tracing change at different speeds and scales, from microscopic to cosmic.

Jeju volcanic rocks, presented throughout the exhibition in collaboration with Jeju Stone Park, embody that approach. Formed through eruptions and pressure accumulated over millennia, the rocks are described by the curatorial team as among the exhibition’s “oldest participating artists.”

“Change does not exist in one speed,” Ho said. “We tend to think of change as rupture, and change can certainly be explosive, but it can also be slow and continuous that we barely perceive it.”

The biennale marks a notable departure from the sprawling, multi-venue format associated with many previous international biennales. This year’s edition is concentrated entirely in the exhibition hall, an approach Ho characterized as a conscious move away from an “inflationary” model of more artists, sites and works.

“By confining everything to one site,” he said, “we are able to have the luxury of time to give everyone the attention it deserves.”

Gwangju’s own histories of care, learning and democratic struggle are embedded in that journey.

The May Mothers House presents 322 paintings made by women whose lives were profoundly affected by the May 18 Democratic Movement. Created through ongoing workshops since 2022, the works trace memory, grief, resilience and solidarity across decades.

The biennale also puts its theory of change into practice through works that require time rather than instant consumption.

Every night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., James T. Hong’s “Apologies” (2012-), a nearly 11-hour compilation of public apologies by political leaders, will be projected on the exterior of the Biennale building, making viewers confront the language of power, remorse and accountability.

Meanwhile, Sunik Kim’s 496-hour sound work “The Light in the Factory” (2026) unfolds over the exhibition’s entire public run, suggesting that transformation is not a singular spectacle but an uneven, ongoing process.

“This biennale invites us to rethink change in our own lives and societies, opening up new perspectives and possibilities for the future,” said Youn Bum-mo, president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation.