The time has almost arrived for the Busan Biennale 2008, international art festival’s grand opening.
September 6 – November 15
Busan Museum of Modern Art
and other venues
South Korea
This year, from September 6 to November 15, the Busan Biennale 2008 unfolds its three exhibitions under the theme ‘Expenditure’. The Contemporary Art Exhibition, the Sea Art Festival, and the Busan Sculpture Project will show 190 artworks by artists from 40 countries.
‘Expenditure’, which is ‘Depense’ in French, is part of the theory that started from French philosopher George Bataille.
Artists manifest the passion in them through endless effort and consuming their psychological energy, and rising above themselves. In this sense, spending and expenditure could also mean purification and catharsis. In the end, expenditure is the process of construction and production through purification, and meaning relaxation and comfort.
The three exhibitions of the Busan Biennale 2008 will elaborate this concept of expenditure. The theme of the Contemporary Art Exhibition is ‘EXPENDITURE-as it is always and already excessive’. It will be housed in the Busan Museum of Modern Art and the spaces in the two Busan Yachting Center’s Measuring Buildings. These exhibitions focus on the right structure that can show the unity and analysis that today’s biennales miss.
The theme of the Contemporary Art Exhibition represents the actual foundation of the general theme of expenditure, in historical, social, and artistic aspect. Today’s world is characterized by excessive orders and power, from regulations in the cyber space to microscopic daily events that govern society. The overflowing life energy of human beings inevitably breaks down the orders in this world, and expressed as ‘always excessive’.
The Busan Museum of Modern Art is taking the role as the main exhibition space, and showing 79 artists, while the Busan Yachting Center is showing 14 artists’ works. This year’s Contemporary Art Exhibition has less video and installation works, and more traditional genres like paintings and sculptures with contemporary vision.
The Sea Art Festival shows more spectacle and various art forms. A total of 77 artists from 27 countries are being shown at Gwangalli Beach and the nearby street galleries. Sculptures and installation works will be established on the beach and the street area, along with the Minlakdong Me World exhibition space, ‘Subway Art Gallery’ at the Geumryunsan subway station, the container box galleries, and the shops near Gwangalli Beach.
‘Voyage Without Boundaries’ is the title of the Sea Art Festival. It is about the un-measurable territory inside the realm of ‘excess and residue’. The ‘Voyage without Boundaries’ is thus the exhibition that manifests how recognition and meaning pursue the impossible excess, and the wise way of consuming superfluous energy. This un-measurable territory will display new meanings through free imagination.
Twenty-three artists will display their works in the Gwangalli Beach area, four at Geumryunsan Subway Station, and 50 at Minlakdong Me World. The Me World exhibition will show a multitude of distinguished video works to stimulate experiences for audiences.
The Busan Sculpture Project is especially different from two years ago. Internationally renowned sculptors such as Robert Morris and Dennis Oppenheim are showing with many other sculptors, and a total of 20 sculptures will be displayed at the Busan Sculpture Project.
The theme is ‘Avant Garden’, ‘Avant’ taking the meaning of ‘proceeding’ and ‘Garden’ meaning ‘personal space’. This year’s Busan Sculpture Project enters into the metropolis area and extends the scope of public art and public sculpture realm. Moreover, it will attempt the avant-garde change through a closer approach to the public.
Four special exhibitions are also being prepared during the Busan Biennale 2008 along with the three main exhibitions. The day before the opening of the biennale, the ‘Art is Alive’ and the ‘Art is Now’ exhibitions are opening at the Exhibition Halls of Busan City Hall and the Busan Cultural Center.
‘Art is Alive’ will provide a great opportunity to view the works of senior artists in Korea, China, and Taiwan. The exhibition, ‘Art is Now’, will show more experimental works of artists who are in the early and midlife of their career’s as artists. Thirty artists in ‘Art is Alive’ and 80 artists in ‘Art is Now’ are being shown.
A parallel exhibition that opens along with the biennale is with the use alternative spaces that will encourage progressive art culture in Busan. Alternative space ‘Bandee’ and ‘Open Space Bae’ are participating in this exhibition with 30 artists’ works and various art related functions like “artists talk”.
The Gallery Festival will also be opening during the Busan Biennale 2008. Thirty-two galleries throughout the city will be part of this festival and will be providing some fabulous additional exhibitions and places to visit during the biennale.
