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The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee (hereinafter referred to as the committee, executive director Seong-Youn Kim) named Jacob Fabricius as artistic director for the Busan Biennale 2020 scheduled for September of next year.
Busan Biennale 2020 seeks new turning point with open recruitment for 20th anniversary of official launch
To reinforce the unique identity of youthfulness, dynamism, and openness it has established over the years and develop Busan Biennale 2020 into an exhibition that brings a new perspective to contemporary art, the committee has been in a process of exploring different internal and external changes, including a search for a new location. As part of this, in-depth prior discussions took place on the selection process for the Busan Biennale 2020 artistic director, leading to a decision to once again hold an open recruitment process for exhibition curators from all around the world.
Jacob Fabricius: exhibition curator staking out a position through experiments with diverse artistic methodologie
Jacob Fabricius, the individual selected as Busan Biennale 2020 artistic director, is a Danish-based exhibition curator who currently serves as artistic director for Kunsthal Aarhus in the Danish city of Aarhus. Established in 1917, Kunsthal Aarhus is the city’s sole art center and one of the oldest such institutions in Denmark and Europe. Fabricius is also active as a board member of the Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Visual Arts. His career includes stints as associated curator at Cneai in Paris, France (2015–2016), artistic director at Copenhagen’s Kunsthal Charlottenborg (2013–2014), artistic director of Malmö Konsthall in Malmö, Sweden (2008–2013), and curator of CASM in Barcelona, Spain (2006–2008).
Fabricius has established his career as an internationally acclaimed curator with over two decades working at art institutions throughout Europe, including Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and France. In particular, he has experimented with diverse artistic methodologies combining art, culture, and communities, regularly organizing exhibitions reflecting societal contexts and projects that involve themselves in public spaces. Some of the major exhibitions he has planned recently include SUPERFLEX's We Are All In The Same Boat, Miami, USA (2018), Gillian Wearing's A Real Danish Family, Copenhagen, Denmark (2017), and the 6th Biennale of Moving Images, Mechelen, Belgium (2013).
Despite having little time for preparations, Fabricius excited interest and expectations among the selection committee members with an exhibition proposal rooted in a profound understanding of Busan’s local character and history. He also drew overwhelming support for proposing a boundary-broadening concept actively applying literature and music. Fabricius is scheduled to visit Busan in early August to broaden his research on local identity through visits to the exhibition venue and various sites while meeting with artists from Busan and other parts of South Korea to further flesh out his exhibition proposal.
About Busan Biennale
An international contemporary art exhibition held every even-numbered year, the Busan Biennale has its origins in the Busan Youth Biennale, which was established in 1981 through independent efforts by young Busan-area artists. Emerging out of these independent origins, the Busan Biennale has shared experimental and richly dynamic exhibitions that set themselves apart from other biennial while expressing Busan’s identity as a city. Busan Biennale 2020 is scheduled to take place in September 2020.
