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| Nicolas Bourriaud, artistic director of the 15th edition of the Gwangju Biennale, speaks at a press conference in Seoul, June 26, to illustrate its theme, "Pansori ― a soundscape of the 21st century." Newsis |
By Park Han-sol
Next year's edition of the Gwangju Biennale will use "pansori," a Korean musical tradition of storytelling featuring vocals and arrhythmic drumming, as a gateway to the festival's journey into human relation to contemporary space, according to artistic director Nicolas Bourriaud.
Literally defined as "the sound of public place," the musical storytelling will be the framework that brings together artists whose works reflect humanity's evolving spatial conditions influenced by the pressing climate crisis and ongoing struggles against social injustice such as feminism, decolonization and the LGBTQ+ movement.
During a press conference in Seoul on June 26, Bourriaud, the acclaimed French curator and art critic known for pioneering the concept of "relational aesthetics," announced that the overarching theme of the 15th iteration of the biennale will be "Pansori ― a soundscape of the 21st century."
"Space is a fairly broad but universal concept that can address a variety of issues faced by humanity today ― from the planetary to the intimate," Bourriaud said.
On the one hand, it deals with global climate change as the sea level rise and desertification continue to shrink the habitable area on Earth. But it can also prompt a discussion on a more intimate subject of social space, he added.
"For instance, Virginia Woolf's 1929 essay, 'A Room of One's Own,' uses the idea of space to explore feminism. And the notion of space cannot be left out when approaching the subjects of social minorities, including immigrants and refugees."
The exhibition is set to be structured in three sections, each in tune with a particular sonic phenomenon.
The "Larsen effect," or audio feedback, occurs when a sound source and a receptor are placed too close to one another. The resulting howling noise is "produced by crowding and lack of space," the director noted. This section will therefore embody a saturated world dense with human activities and interspecies strife.
"Polyphony" will steer away from industrialized countries' tendency to overlook the existence of other living creatures ― "like an opera whose musicians have been muted, leaving the singer alone" ― and instead bring attention to multiple voices in the universe.
And finally, the "primordial sound" ― the sound of the origins compared to the likes of the Chinese Qi, the Buddhist Om and the first noise of the Big Bang ― will be an entryway to both the vast cosmos and the molecular world.
These sections will be curated in the form of an immersive linear narrative, the director explained. "The biennale should not be an exhibition where the works of art are hung and installed throughout the venue in random order. Rather, I want to structure the show in a set sequence so that viewers can experience it like a movie."
While the Gwangju Biennale has been held in even-numbered years until 2018, its 2020 edition was pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This affected the schedule of the ongoing 14th edition as well, prompting it to open in April 2023.
After the 15th iteration, slated for September 2024 in commemoration of the biennale's 30th anniversary, the exhibition will return to its regular biyearly schedule, according to the Gwangju Biennale Foundation.
The ongoing 14th edition, helmed by artistic director Lee Sook-kyung under the theme, "Soft and Weak like Water," runs through July 9.
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