Lee named president of Intl. Biennial Association

The founding director and current president of the Gwangju Biennale Lee Yong-woo is now president of the International Biennial Association.

On March 15, the IBA held a conference meeting in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where Lee was appointed to serve a three-year term as the association’s president.

The International Biennial Association was established last October at the first World Biennial Forum that took place in Gwangju. The forum saw an initiative to link 150 bienniales around the world for global exchange, collaboration and research.

Lee was a professor of art history and visual culture at Korea University until 1998 and served as the executive director of the New York Center for New Media Art. He was also a Korean commissioner for the Venice Biennale’s special exhibition “Tiger’s Tail” in 1995 and the curator of “Electronic Maple,” an inaugural exhibition at the New York Center for Media Arts.

Lee is also a contemporary art critic, focusing on media art. He has published several books on new media art, including audience studies. His works include “Paik Nam-june,” “On Video Art” and “Information and Reality.”

By Bae Soo-min  (soomin623@heraldcorp.com)