Screening for Korea’s artistic director for Venice Biennale to start over

The screening for the artistic director of the Korean Pavilion in the upcoming 59th Venice Biennale will start over, after a complaint emerged over an unfair screening process.

A complaint alleged a conflict of interest between an applicant and selection committee member, according to the Arts Council Korea, the commissioner of the Korean Pavilion for the International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale slated for April 2022.

“There was a complaint submitted that one of the applicant is closely related to an institution that a committee member works for,” an official from the Arts Council Korea told The Korea Herald Thursday. “It turned out that the applicant failed to specify the information in their applications. This is an unprecedented case.”

The selection for the role among 12 applicants was scheduled to be announced by mid-July, but has since been pushed to the end of the month. The committee members, except for the member who was involved in the issue, will remain.

The document review will take place from Monday to Friday and the second round of interviews will take place from July 12 to 16, according to Arko.

As commissioner of the Korean Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, the Arko arranges the screening committee for the artistic director and manages the Korean Pavilion.

The 59th International Art Exhibition of Venice Biennale will take place from April 23 to Nov. 27, 2022 and is curated by Cecilia Alemani, an Italian curator based in New York.


By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)