The 14th Gwangju Biennale soft and weak like water closed its doors on Sunday, with over 500,000 visitors throughout its 94-day run.
Gwangju Biennale Foundation President Park Yang-woo stated, “Bringing together 79 local and international artists and collectives, and harnessing our experience as a leading global biennale, we have welcomed a diverse influx of visitors. From the general public to seasoned art professionals and esteemed dignitaries, from Gwangju, Korea, and around the world. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who visited us. Your continued support and engagement bear testament to the enduring power of art and community.”
Curated by Artistic Director Sook-Kyung Lee, who will be heading The Whitworth Art Gallery from August, soft and weak like water set out to reimagine our planet as a place for resistance, coexistence, and care, using water’s transformative potential as a metaphor. Divided into four “nodes”, works embodying potent messages of resistance and coexistence were displayed at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall and four external venues each reflecting their unique architectural and cultural contexts. Lee was supported by Associate Curator Kerryn Greenberg and Assistant Curators Sooyoung Leam and Harry C. H. Choi.
Confluences: Stories of Art and the Planetary, a two-day symposium jointly hosted by the Foundation and Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational, took place on the public opening day. Featuring artists, moderators, and lecturers from diverse backgrounds and practices, the symposium became a multidisciplinary space for discussion on contemporary topics such as solidarity, friendship, community, and ecology. Throughout the Biennale, public programs ranging from small activities to workshops, artist talks and forums were offered to deepen visitors’ understanding of the theme and engagement with the artworks.
Beyond the main exhibition, the Gwangju Biennale Pavilion welcomed a record nine nations since its inception in 2018, fostering intercultural art exchange between esteemed international institutions and local public art museums, alternative spaces, and private art galleries. Organizations from Canada, China, France, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and Ukraine, explored contemporary discussions on climate, cultural heritage, and marginalized communities in response to the main exhibition’s theme.
soft and weak like water has been covered in various international media such as The Guardian, El Mundo, Xinhua News, ArtReview, Frieze, and ArtAsiaPacific among others.
In ARTnews, Andrew Russeth said, “[soft and weak like water] is a stirring and original show, surpassing its stated aims. It shows artists fighting to keep traditions alive, passing on knowledge via art and ritual, and digging through wreckage to try to make something new. [...] often, they succeed.”
Vivienne Chow wrote in Artnet, “[...] the beautifully installed exhibition proved more than just a show to impress, but a platform for important dialogues that aim to inspire. [...] The biennale set in the South Korean city known for its struggle for freedom and democracy might not be overtly political at first glance, but there’s no lack of politically charged yet poetic works that question and respond to urgent issues related to resistance, decolonization, and the environment.”
Stephanie Bailey wrote in Ocula, “[I]deas of alternative, planetary globalisms have informed biennials for years[...]soft and weak like water seems to have pre-empted that critique by curating an impeccable show, whose relational flow is defined by an arrangement of artworks by 79 artists and collectives that feels measured to the millimetre.”
The Gwangju Biennale Foundation wishes to thank all the curators and participating artists, collectors, institutions, partners, and supporters who helped make this edition a success.
Press contact
Elisa Lee, elisa.lee@gwangjubiennale.org
