Built in 1994 for the 1st Gwangju Biennale in 1994, the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall has played a pivotal role as the central venue for the most significant contemporary art biennale in Asia over the course of the past thirteen editions. For the 14th edition, the Biennale Hall serves as a point of confluence for numerous threads of narratives that inform the Biennale and connects the four thematic “nodes” of the exhibition. Luminous Halo brings together works that engage with democratization movements in such nations as Cuba, Myanmar, and the Philippines, as well as projects that address a range of inequalities and injustices, from discrimination based on race, gender, and sexuality to new forms of economic and class inequity that surfaced during the global pandemic. Ancestral Voices sheds light on transnational artistic practices that re-interpret local traditions, such as indigenous cultures from around the world, thereby challenging Western notions of modernity. Transient Sovereignty concentrates on the ways in which postcolonial and decolonial thinking developed in relation to artistic practices that engage with such issues as migration and diaspora. Planetary Times considers the possibilities and limitations of artistic perspectives that propose a ‘planetary vision’ to such issues as ecological preservation and environmental justice.

Established in 1978, the Gwangju National Museum is the first museum in the broader Jeolla Province, as well as the first national museum outside of Seoul that was built after the National Liberation of South Korea. The Museum collects and conserves a range of cultural artifacts from the broader Jeolla Province, including those found in the ocean surrounding Sinan County. For the 14th Gwangju Biennale, the Museum hosts numerous site-specific projects that respond to historical and local specificities of the region. In addition to the displays in the Museum’s lobby, Special Exhibitions Gallery, and the Multipurpose Exhibition Room, the Museum will also feature a series of public sculptures in the garden that engages with its myrtle trees.

Located in the May 18th Memorial Park, which is considered one of the eight beauties of Gwangju’s Seo-gu District, the Buddhist temple Mugaksa provided a site of meditation and practice for the citizens of Gwangju after its establishment in 1971. It also played an essential role in locating and supporting local artists by running a cultural space for the local community. In the newly renovated Lotus Art Space and the Meditation Room nearby, the 14th Gwangju Biennale presents works of art that reflect on the cyclical nature of life from multiple perspectives.

Horanggasy Artpolygon is a community art space located on the foothill of Yangnim mountain that bears the histories of Japanese colonization, anticolonial resistance, and Christian evangelization in Korea. For the 14th Gwangju Biennale, the venue will feature a number of works that contemplate on climate change and environmental concerns, including but not limited to a series of painterly interpretations on the Amazon landscapes, a site-specific sound installation that was inspired by novelist Han Kang’s The White Book (2016), and a series that explores the relationship between humankind and nature through tracing disposed objects floating in the ocean.

Artspace House has been hosting artist-run workshops and projects over the past decade in close collaboration with local artists. An exhibition space that preserves the welcoming features of Hanok architecture of the original building, Artspace House is transformed into a screening space for the 14th Gwangju Biennale, introducing a dreamlike film that ruminates on love and loss.