The 12th Gwangju Biennale announces full list of participating artists and new Pavilion program for ‘Imagined Borders’

The Gwangju Biennale Foundation is delighted to announce the full list of participating artists for the 12th Gwangju Biennale taking place in September 2018, titled Imagined Borders. The Biennale will see 153 artists from 41 different countries participate in a series of seven exhibitions exploring the political, cultural, physical and emotional concepts of borders in today’s global community. For this edition of the Gwangju Biennale, a collective of 11 curators from around the world will devise a program of thematic exhibitions, in addition to a monumental new program, the GB Commission and a series of Pavilion Projects taking place across the city of Gwangju from 7 September - 11 November 2018.

Confronting critical issues surrounding globalization, cold wars, asylum seekers, migration and development, Imagined Borders will seek to amplify contemporary political and social issues through the representation of artists and collectives from around the world. This year will see the launch of a series of institutional partnerships for the Gwangju Biennale, titled The Pavilion Project. Occupying historic and cultural locations across the city of Gwangju, The Pavilion Project will present a series of satellite exhibitions from leading international institutions including Palais de Tokyo, the Helsinki International Artist Programme and the Philippine Contemporary Art Network. The Pavilion Project will be a forum for exchange and debate between countries, as these institutions present the work of emerging artists from their home countries and Korea.

Following the Gwangju Biennale’s tradition for showcasing the best in contemporary Asian art, this edition will see the greatest number of Korean artists including the exhibition of contemporary Chosunhwa paintings from North Korea, becoming a platform to discover new artists and to challenge the divisions across the region. Curated by B.G. Muhn, professor of painting and drawing at Georgetown University, the North Korean art section will feature works produced in the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyeonyang by 31 painters in the Chosunhwa style, combining modern and traditional techniques. The exhibition will examine the current division of the Korean peninsula, opening a forum for discussions on socialism and realism within the arts.

The 12th edition of the Gwangju Biennale will also see the launch of a monumental new program, the GB Commission which will bring together four international contemporary artists including Adrián Villar Rojas and Mike Nelson to devise site specific artwork exploring the history of the city of Gwangju and advocating for democracy, human rights and peace to a global community. The GB Commission will expand on the history and spirit of Gwangju through the visual arts.

Multiple curators from the UK to LA, Singapore to Seoul have brought their diverse perspectives and expertise to the Biennale and collaborated on projects inspired by the concept of Imagined Borders. Based on their expertise in sociology, politics, migration and the refugee experience, the curators confirmed a list of 153 participating artists within seven thematic exhibitions and the GB Commission which will reflect contemporary society and amplify the level of diverse voices in the cultural community. Highlights of the presentation will include the Cuban artist collective Los Carpinteros; Belgian-born and Mexico-based artist Francis Alÿs, Jordan-based curator and artist Ala Younis who devised the first Kuwait Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, and French artist based between Berlin and Algeria, Kader Attia, whose work explores the legacy of migration, colonialism and trade to interrogate the idea of a collective cultural memory.

Reflecting its position as the largest Asian Biennale to explore the history of Asian identity and values, this year’s edition of the Gwangju Biennale will see the greatest number of Asian artists participating so far, with 66% of the artists coming from Asia. Artists from South America and the Middle East are also represented, continuing the Gwangju Biennale’s founding ideologies of breaking away from Eurocentric discussions and presenting issues from regional and marginal borderlines to trigger a shift from the central axis of contemporary art.

The increase in global visibility for Asian artists is represented through this expanded program of artists from across the continent; including Thailand-born filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival; Shilpa Gupta who explores Asian identity in his work; Ho Tzu Nyen whose Singapore Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale brought an immersive, panoramic view of pre-colonial Singapore to the Italian island; and Yoshimoto Nara, pioneer of Japanese pop art will participate in this year’s Gwangju Biennale.

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Notes to Editors:

Press Contacts:

Bella Jung

Gwangju Biennale Foundation

bellajung@gwangjubiennale.org /  +82 62 608 4221 /+82 10 4277 9997

International Press:

Fiona Russell

Sutton PR

fiona@suttonpr.com / +44 (0) 20 7183 3577

The 12th Gwangju Biennale, Imagined Borders

September 7 - November 11 2018  / Opening Ceremony:  6 September 2018

The Gwangju Biennale

The Gwangju Biennale, which was founded in September 1995 in the city of Gwangju in South Korea, is Asia's first and most prestigious contemporary art biennale. Founded in memory of spirits of civil uprising of the 1980 repression of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, the Gwangju Biennale presents a global perspective on contemporary art. Under the helm of a progression of international curators – including Maria Lind, Jessica Morgan, Massimiliano Gioni, Kerry Brougher, Sukwon Chang, Okwui Enwezor, Charles Esche, Hou Hanru, Honghee Kim, Yongwoo Lee, Youngchul Lee, Kwangsoo Oh, Fatos Üstek, Wankyoung Sung and Harald Szeemann - the Gwangju Biennale has established itself as a highlight of the international contemporary art biennale circuit. Centered in Gwangju's 8,100 square meter Biennale Hall in Jungoe Park, the Gwangju Biennale's presence has elevated the city of 1.4 million to become a cultural hub of East Asia. The Gwangju Biennale is co-hosted by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and the Metropolitan City of Gwangju.

The curators of the 12 Gwangju Biennale, Imagined Borders are:

Clara Kim, the Daskalopoulos Senior Curator of International Art, London’s Tate Modern; Christine Y. Kim, associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Rita Gonzalez, curator and acting head of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Gridthiywa Gaweewong, artistic director, the Jim Thompson Art Center; Chung Yeon Sim, an associate professor of Art Theory and Criticism, Hongik University; Yeewan Koon, associate professor of Chinese and Japanese Art and Architecture, University of Hong Kong; David Teh, associate professor, National University of Singapore; B.G. Muhn, Professor at Georgetown University and artist; Man Seok Kim, curator and archivist; Sung Woo Kim, curator, Amado Art Space; Chong-Ok Paek, curator, Research Institute of Art Ecology, Korea. 

The Pavilion Project

Participating institutions include the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, the Helsinki International Artist Programme, and the Philippine Contemporary Art Network. The Pavillion Project will be a forum for exchange and promotion between countries, as institutions present emerging artists from their own countries alongside Korean artists. 

●        Palais de Tokyo’s exhibition for the Pavillion Project will be held in the Gwangju Civic Center, located in Gu-dong, Nam-gu, Gwangju. The Gwangju Civic Center, which was remodeled and reopened in 2015 is a historic location and symbol of the ‘Gwangju spirit’. It was used by the civilian militia fighting against the martial law military army during the Gwangju Democratization Movement which took place on May 18^th, 1980. The project will form part of an external program between Palais de Tokyo and the Institut Français, seeking intersections within the theme of Imagined Borders.

●        The Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP), celebrating their 20^th anniversary this year, is a nonprofit union of artists launched in 1998, providing residencies for art professionals from around the world. The location of the HIAP project will be announced at a later date.

●        The Philippine Contemporary Art Network, a network of contemporary art institutions in the Philippines, is planning an exhibition with both Korean and Filipino artists. The director of the Philippine Contemporary Art Network, Patrick D. Flores is currently a curator at the Vargas Museum, and previously served as the curator of the 2015 Venice Biennale Philippine Pavilion, as well as a curator of the 2008 Gwangju Biennale. The Philippine Contemporary Art Network is the only institution that has devoted itself to the art history and contemporary output of artists within the Philippines.

The GB Commission

The GB Commission will feature newly created artworks from international artists Adrián Villar Rojas, Mike Nelson, Kadar Attia and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, enhancing and expanding on the Gwangju spirit through contemporary visual art.