15/9/2006
Busan Biennale 2006
Different venues, Busan
71 days of contemporary art. The exhibitions seek to discover a constellation of conflicts between urban life and society composed of politics, economics, environment, education, culture, etc. and propose to approach the issue with artistic imaginatio.
The Busan Biennale 2006, which will be open from Sept. 16 to Nov. 25 under the theme
of ‘Everywhere’, comprises the Contemporary Art Exhibition and the Sea Art Festival.
About 280 artworks from 40 countries will participate this year. The exhibitions
seek to discover a constellation of conflicts between urban life and society
composed of politics, economics, environment, education, culture, etc. and propose
to approach the issue with artistic imagination.
The Contemporary Art Exhibition, directed by independent curator Manu Park, will
present about 140 artworks from 40 countries. The artworks will be displayed in
places as diverse as Busan Museum of Modern Art, the measurement room in Busan
Yachting Center, Regional Cable TV, and Mini FM radio. Under the theme of ‘A Tale of
Two Cities: Busan-Seoul/Seoul-Busan’, the exhibition addresses through narrative
artworks the phenomenon of centralization, common in countries in Asia and Latin
America, which underwent colonial modernization. This practical attempt of
contemporary art aims to stimulate urban imagination. This year’s exhibition is
composed of 5 CAFEs (Contemporary Art For Everyone), seeking to embody contemporary
art for the public.
CAFE' 1, which is held in Busan Museum of Modern Art, presents 63 artworks of
pictures, paintings, photographs etc., including 8 large-scale installation works.
These works form the main artery in the context of exhibitions by raising
fundamental questions on the social functions and roles of contemporary art in
dealing with the matters of centralization and imbalance. CAFE' 2, jointly
prepared by 9 co-curators, unfolds in the Busan Yachting Center. It features a total
of 31 works under the theme of ‘Non-Place’. They depict unique natural environments
in specific locations and public spaces stripped of historical memories. Most
artworks exhibited are artistic attempts to make new interpretations of mass media
culture under the concept of Culture Jamming. CAFE' 3 is held at Oncheoncheon,
an ecological stream similar to a project implemented in Seoul.
The CAFE features 20
works comparing the reality of Busan with the way Busan is perceived in the capital
Seoul
. It also presents methods to address the differences in this image. Lastly,
CAFE' 4 and 5, whose motif is ‘Radioscape’, pursues a new form of exhibition
combining contemporary art with mass media. Having “Public Access" as a topic for
discourse, the two CAFEs experiment with the public acceptance of contemporary art
by using mediums such as TV, radio, and the Internet. CAFE' 4 enables the
public to be able to appreciate contemporary moving picture works at home through CJ
cable, a cable company based in Busan. CAFE' 5 is a unique multimedia project
combining small output FM radio with web-based podcasting, thus making the Busan
Biennale 2006 available anywhere in the world.
The Sea Art Festival, directed by Byoung-Hak Ryu, a Germany-based independent
curator, proposes the intervention of art in our living space under the theme of
‘Art in Life’. Composed of ‘Public Furniture’, ‘Living Furniture’, etc., the Sea Art
Festival presents 120 works from 16 countries. Public Furniture attempts an artistic
transformation of public areas. Through artistic intervention in existing Street
Furniture such as observatory towers, benches, crosswalks, trashcans, etc., the
Festival seeks to transform Haeundae Beach, a special tourism zone of Korea, into an
artistic space throbbing with contemporary art. An indoor exhibition, ‘Living
Furniture’, provides a unique chance to experience art in living space and everyday
life by inspiring artistic imagination into the household furniture. In Living
Furniture, which consists of artworks created by 60 artists from Korea, China and
Japan, our living space such as the bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom,
gets transf
ormed into art pieces, reflecting human desire to dream of ideal living space. The
exhibition spot will be the Busan Biennale 2006 Pavilion, constructed under the
sponsorship of SK E & C CO., LTD
The Contemporary Art Exhibition and the Sea Art Festival, the main exhibitions of
the Busan Biennale 2006, are not exhibitions confined to fixed frames prepared by
exhibition planners, but rather a new forum for the contemporary art where
participants, artists, curators, officials in the field, and most importantly, the
viewers are involved in the creation of exhibits. These are festivals all of us can
enjoy anywhere and in any social situation.
Busan Biennale 2006
Sep.16 - Nov.25, 2006, Busan Museum of Modern Art, Haeundae Beach, Busan Yachting
Center, etc.
Press Opening
Sep. 15. 2006, Auditorium at the Busan Museum of Modern Art
Opening Ceremony
Sep. 16. 2006, Auto-free Zone (next to the Busan Museum of Modern Art)
For inquires contact:
Busan Biennale Organizing Committee
23rd floor. Busan City Hall. YeonSan 5-dong Yeonje-gu Busan
Tel. 82-51-888-6691~9 / Fax 82-51-888-6693
Busan MOMA
1413 Woo 2 dong, Haeundae-gu - Busan