16th Gwangju Biennale Closing Program

While an exhibition unfolds within a defined period, artistic practices take shape and continue over much longer durations—through repetition and rehearsal, research and learning, relationships and collaboration. What we encounter in an exhibition may be only one part of these ongoing practices, or one form they take at a particular moment.

Ahead of its closing on November 15, the 16th Gwangju Biennale, You Must Change Your Life, presents a Closing Program from November 6–8. Through performances and walks in and around the exhibition hall, workshops, screenings, and conversations, the program explores how artistic practices are sustained and shared over time, while reflecting on the experiences and questions that emerged in the making of the Biennale. It asks what an exhibition leaves behind and what kinds of change these experiences might make possible for us.

🗓 Dates: November 6 (Fri)–8 (Sun), 2026

📍 Venues: Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, Geosigi Hall, and surrounding outdoor areas

📮 Registration: https://forms.gle/M7yXqqEK1t5DBGNL6

※ Registration requirements and capacities vary by program. Some programs require advance registration, and an exhibition ticket may be required for programs held inside the galleries. Please refer to the individual program details below and the registration form for more information.

Notice

• Registration is open until Thursday, October 29.

• Confirmed participants will be notified individually by email.

• The following programs have limited capacity and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration may close before the deadline once all places are filled.
  - Geumhyung Jeong, Rehab Training
  - Exploring “o to da te” at Gwangju Biennale 2026 (Suzuki Akio, Che Kyongfa)
  - Christian Nyampeta: Workshop with École du Soir

• An exhibition ticket is required for certain programs held inside the galleries. Please refer to the individual program details.

Inquiries

• E-mail: exhibition@gwangjubiennale.com

• Tel: +82 62-608-4234 / +82 62-608-4235

Nam Hwayeon, 빌 공 Bodiless (空)

November 6 (FRI), 7 (SAT), 8 (SUN) 9:00-9:40 

Yongbong-je Pond to Gallery 4

• Meeting Point: In front of Gwangju Biennale Office Building “Jemunheon” (Address: 115 Biennale-ro, Buk-gu, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City)

Angela Goh, Craft

November 6 (FRI), 7 (SAT), 8 (SUN) 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00

Bridge between Gallery 2 and Gallery 3

• Performed by Angela Goh, Youha Kwak, Minjin Lee

• No registration is required. This program is open to anyone with an exhibition ticket. 

Performance by Suzuki Akio and Miyakita Hiromi

November 6 (FRI), 8 (SUN) 13:00-13:30

Gwangju Biennale Plaza

Geumhyung Jeong, Rehab Training

November 6 (FRI), 7 (SAT) 15:00-18:00

Gallery 2

• Capacity: 20 people per session

• Viewing of the installation work will be limited from 1 PM to due to preparations for and the presentation of the performance.

• Participants may leave after the performance begins, but late entry and re-entry are not permitted.

• This program takes place inside the gallery. Confirmed participants must also purchase an exhibition ticket.

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Exploring “o to da te” at Gwangju Biennale 2026

Suzuki Akio’s “o to da te” invites us to listen to sounds already present in a place. Rather than adding new sounds, he marks selected locations with symbols resembling ears and footprints. For the Biennale, he placed one such marker on a manhole cover inscribed with 光 (“gwang,” meaning “light”) that he discovered in Gwangju. Join Suzuki Akio and curator Che Kyongfa on a walk following these markers and listening anew to the sounds and rhythms of everyday surroundings.

November 7 (SAT) 13:00-14:00

Outdoor Areas Around the Gwangju Biennale Hall

• Meeting Point: Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall Exit (Plaza side)

• Suzuki Akio (Artist), Che Kyongfa (Curator, 16th Gwangju Biennale)

• Capacity: 20 people

• Languages: Japanese, Korean, and English (consecutive interpretation)

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Christian Nyampeta’s École du soir is a practice of collective learning through informal education, screenings, and study groups that bring people together to share knowledge and culture. On November 6, a conversation with Sooyoung Leam, initially held as part of an École du soir workshop, will be revisited and opened to a wider audience. On November 7, a workshop draws on an approach developed at the Gwangju Citizens’ Art School (1983–1992), using scriptwriting as a way of learning and working together.

Christian Nyampeta in Practice, with Sooyoung Leam

November 6 (FRI) 14:00-16:00

Geosigi Hall

• Christian Nyampeta (Artist), Brian Kuan Wood (Curator, 16th Gwangju Biennale), Sooyoung Leam (Independent Curator)

• Language: English-Korean Simultaneous Interpretation

Christian Nyampeta: Workshop with École du Soir

November 7 (SAT) 14:00-16:00

Gallery 3

• Host: Christian Nyampeta (Artist)

• Capacity: 8 participants

• Language: English

• This program takes place inside the gallery. Confirmed participants must also purchase an exhibition ticket.

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Initiated by Saodat Ismailova, DAVRA is a collective of artists and researchers exploring the histories and contemporary realities of Central Asia. The November 6 screening presents three films that examine the region’s histories and cultural memory through archival materials and moving images. On November 7, a conversation introduces a forthcoming publication on the Syr Darya that brings together artistic research and diverse forms of knowledge, and explores the collective practices behind the project.

Screening with DAVRA

November 6 (FRI) 17:00-19:00

Geosigi Hall

• DAVRA (Jazgul Madazimova, Dilda Ramazan), Gahee Park (Curator, 16th Gwangju Biennale)

• Language: English-Korean Simultaneous Interpretation

• A conversation and Q&A will follow the screening.

• Screening Works 

• Zumrad Mirzalieva, Tashkent 58-88, 16 min. 50 sec.

Tashkent 58-88 is a short film combining archival footage from the Tashkent Film Festival of African, Asian, and Latin American Cinema with excerpts from films programmed during almost its three decades of existence. At once a colonial Soviet project and a stage for anti-colonial solidarity, the festival embodied a paradox – positioning itself as a champion against imperial forces while operating within the structures of Soviet cultural power. 

• Daria Kim, 1937, 16 min. 15 sec.

The work addresses the forced deportation of ethnic Koreans from the Russian Far East to Central Asia under Stalin in 1937. The video animates paintings by Koryo-saram artists Anatoly Ligay (1941-2001) and Khristofor Kan (1934-2019), whose works are part of the Nuron Collection - a private archive of Korean artists of Uzbekistan based in Tashkent. 

• Paintings courtesy of the NURON Collection. Commissioned by The Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) for Bukhara Biennial 2025.

• Dana Iskakova, Whose voice is this?, 13 min. 51 sec.

This work explores the evolution of sound, speech, and music in local cinema from the 1960s to the 1990s. By listening to characters’ concerns through dubbed voices in addition to soundscapes and soundtracks, we can trace the impact of Soviet ideology, its gradual weakening, and the rise of Perestroika’s freedom.

In Conversation with DAVRA: A River Carries Time and Knowledge

November 7 (SAT) 17:00-18:30

Geosigi Hall

• DAVRA (Jazgul Madazimova, Dilda Ramazan), Gahee Park (Curator, 16th Gwangju Biennale), Wong Binghao (Tanoto Art Foundation)  

• Language: English-Korean Simultaneous Interpretation

Programs with DAVRA are presented in partnership with Tanoto Art Foundation.

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Curators’ Closing Talk

A biennale takes shape through countless decisions, negotiations, and unexpected turns. The curatorial team of the 16th Gwangju Biennale looks back on the process of making the exhibition together, sharing the questions, lessons, and stories that may not have been visible along the way. What remains after an exhibition comes to an end? And what new possibilities might emerge from the experience?

November 8 (Sun) 14:00-16:00

Geosigi Hall

• Ho Tzu Nyen, Che Kyongfa, Gahee Park, Brian Kuan Wood, moderated by Kiyoung Peik (Gwangju Biennale Foundation)

• Language: English-Korean Simultaneous Interpretation