Press Release
Resource Center
13th Gwangju Biennale postponed to April 1
The decision to shift the exhibition dates, now scheduled for April 1 to May 9, was made at the 173rd meeting of the Board of Trustees in order to “make the safety of our society our top priority”
Due to the continued spread of COVID-19, the opening of the 13th Gwangju Biennale — scheduled for February 26 — will be postponed once more to April 1, 2021.
The Gwangju Biennale Foundation announced today that the decision to postpone the 13th Gwangju Biennale — to a 39-day run from April 1 to May 9 — was made during an emergency meeting of the Board of Trustees held on the morning of February 1.
In the 173rd meeting of the Board of Trustees, the decision to change the exhibition dates was made in light of current circumstances and crises unfolding in the Gwangju region due to recent outbreaks of COVID-19, and the board’s agreement that the health and safety of the public is the organization’s top priority.
The board explained that during this global crisis, large-scale cultural events have been postponed or canceled in Korea and abroad, and that the decision to push back the Biennale takes into account the inevitable shifting variables that arise when organizing major international exhibitions in these times.
Accordingly, the 73-day edition of the 13th Gwangju Biennale that was scheduled to open from February to May 9 will now be held as a 39-day exhibition from April 1 to May 9, 2021.
As the exhibition period has been shortened, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation will further strengthen its offerings through online programming so that visitors can continue to enjoy arts and culture.
The 13th Gwangju Biennale had already been postponed to February 2021 from September 2020 in consideration of many factors during the onset of the pandemic last year, including the difficulties of organizing an exhibition of high caliber and international status, and the challenges of ensuring a safe working environment for participating artists and the safety of the viewing public.
In the interim, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation has established an exhibition operations manual for the 13th Gwangju Biennale that includes timed-entry admission, maximum capacity limits, as well as other policies to thoroughly ensure the prevention of the spread of the virus. The Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall will be closed every Monday and will open at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. as part of further preventative measures.
Notes to Editors
National press contact: Elisa Lee, elisa.lee@gwangjubiennale.org
International press contact: Sam Talbot, sam@sam-talbot.com