Busan Biennale to open in early September with theme of port city's history

Busan Biennale 2022 will kick off Sept. 3 across Busan with the theme of “We, on the Rising Wave,” exploring the history of the port city located at the southeastern tip of the country.

The 65-day biennale will be led by artistic director Kim Hae-ju, a former deputy director of Art Songe Center, who participated in Busan Biennale 2006. The biennale will look into how the country’s second largest city has evolved, according to the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee on Wednesday.

“Busan has been formed as it is today after going through modernization, liberation from Japanese colonial rule and industrialization. We can present Busan as a reference to universal circumstance based on the understanding of the port city’s history of immigration, industry, lifestyle and labor structure,” Kim said in a press statement.

“You will see how the story of a small alley in Busan can be linked to the world’s metropolitan cities and how different people see ways to live together in the rapidly changing environment,” she added.

The title of the biennale “We, on the Rising Wave,” refers to people who immigrated into Busan or left the city, as well as the turbulent history of the port city, according to the organizing committee.

The committee will host two Zoom seminars on Thursday and Friday at 5 p.m. where experts will share history, nature, gender and labor issues. The contents will be shared on the biennale’s official YouTube channel and homepage.

Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Yeongdo-gu, located on the southern edge of central Busan and Jungdang-dong, also known as the “original downtown,” will serve as the main venues of the biennale.

Inaugurated in 1982 as the Busan Youth Biennale formed by young Korean artists, the Busan Biennale is a leading art biennale in the country, along with the Gwangju Biennale, which is to take place next year.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)