Somewhere Over the Yellow Sea

Jeonnam International Sumuk Biennale is the only biennale in the world dedicated to exploring East Asian identity through the contemporary language of Sumuk (ink painting). Launched in 2018, the biennale takes place in the southwestern province of Jeollanam-do, Korea, and reimagines Sumuk, rooted in the aesthetics of East Asian brush and ink traditions, not as a static cultural heritage, but as a living, evolving medium for global artistic dialogue.

Rather than simply preserving tradition, the biennale invites artists from across the world to engage with Sumuk as a conceptual and material practice that resonates with questions of memory, place, temporality, and transformation. By bridging past and present, local and global, it aims to shape a new aesthetic discourse grounded in the cultural sensibilities of East Asia while speaking to the urgencies of the contemporary world.

Jeonnam International Sumuk Biennale 2025
Now in its fourth edition, the Jeonnam International Sumuk Biennale 2025 is the world’s only biennale dedicated to exploring East Asian identity through the evolving language of Sumuk (ink painting). Since its inception in 2018, the Biennale has reimagined Sumuk not as a static cultural heritage but as a dynamic, living medium for global artistic dialogue.

The 2025 edition—Neighbors in Civilization: Somewhere over the Yellow Sea—turns its gaze to the maritime cultural networks of East Asia, particularly those shaped by the Yellow Sea. Traversing tradition and experimentation, philosophy and materiality, the Biennale weaves past and present into a multilayered exhibition unfolding across Korea’s southern coastal region.

Theme—Neighbors in Civilization: Somewhere Over the Yellow Sea
The 2025 edition of the Jeonnam International Sumuk Biennale reimagines East Asia not as a monolithic cultural block but as a fluid, multinuclear civilization—a network of distinct yet interconnected centers shaped by maritime exchange across the Yellow Sea.

Departing from land-based civilizational hierarchies, this theme foregrounds the sea as a site of movement, proximity, and mutual influence. Rather than seeking a singular axis of identity, it embraces plurality, hybridity, and co-existence as grounds for rethinking East Asia and the global contemporary. It asks not only what it means to consider “the West as the other,” but also how East Asia itself may be reconsidered—not as a singular cultural origin, but as a constellation of neighbors in motion.

Venues & sub-themes
(1) Mokpo Culture & Arts Center: 102, Namnong-ro, Mokpo-si, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
Sub-theme: The New Nature and the Contemporaneity of Sumuk. Exploring how contemporary artists reconfigure nature through the language of Sumuk.

(2) Mokpo Indoor Gymnasium: 286, Daeyang-ro, Mokpo-si, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
Sub-theme: Expanding the Contemporary Value and Thought of Sumuk. A large-scale platform for interdisciplinary dialogues that reinterpret Sumuk in the context of global art and philosophy.

(3) Sojeon Museum of Art, Jindo: 29, Cheolma-gil, Jindo-eup, Jindo-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
Sub-theme: Blurring the Boundaries Between Script and Image. Focusing on the intersection of calligraphy, text, and painting in Sumuk’s conceptual evolution.

(4) Namdo Traditional Art Museum, Jindo: 315, Ullimsanbang-ro, Uisin-myeon, Jindo-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
Sub-theme: Experiments in Color and Abstraction in Sumuk. Revisiting the ink tradition through vibrant palettes and non-figurative expressions.

(5) Gosan Yun Seon-do Museum, Haenam: 130, Nogudang-gil, Haenam-eup, Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
Sub-theme: Masters of Sumuk: A Legacy of Ink Painting. A tribute to historical ink masters, anchoring the philosophical and formal roots of Sumuk.

(6) Land's End Literary Museum, Haenam: 130, Nogudang-gil, Haenam-eup, Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
Sub-theme: The Dance of the Brush and the Expansion of Materiality. Engaging with brushwork's tactile and performative nature and the contemporary reinvention of traditional materials.

This triangular path across Haenam, Jindo, and Mokpo becomes a living map of Sumuk’s past, present, and speculative futures, where brush, body, and thought converge across time and place.

Curatorial team
Artistic Director: Yun Cheagab (Korea), former Director of HOW Art Museum (Shanghai); Artistic Director of Busan Biennale 2016 and Korean Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2011.

Curator: Hur Yurim (Korea), independent curator and lecturer, active in East Asian contemporary and philosophical aesthetics.

Assistant Curator & Coordinator: Choi Da Jeong (Korea), arts and culture educator (certified by the Korean Ministry of Culture)

Artists—82 artists and collectives from 20 countries
Historical Figures: 19 foundational artists from Korea:  Yun Du Seo, Jeong Seon, Jeong Yak Yong, Kim Whanki, Chun Kyung Ja, Kim Jeong Hui, Yi Haeung, Son Jae Hyung, Lee Kiwoo, Lee Don Hung, Lee Ungno, Park Saeng Kwang, Suh Se Ok, Song Soo Nam, Hwang Chang Bae, Ha Dong Chul.

Contemporary Artists: 32 Korean artists and 33 international artists: Koo Seong Youn, Kim Minjung, Kim Eunjin, Kim Jiana, Kim Hyunho, Moon Joo hye, Park Kwang Soo, Park Grim, Park Wunggyu, Park Jieun, Son Bunam, Oh Sook Hwan, Oh Youn Seok, Lee Kang-so, Lee Sea Hyun, Lee Ye Seung, Lee Jin Kyung, Lee Chang Jin, Yi Insun, Lee Hun Chung, Yoon Jun Yeong, Jang Jae Rok, Chun Kwang Young, Jeon Jong Ju, Jung Bocsu, Jeong Jea Kyung, Chung Hyun, Ji Min Seok, Cho Se Rang, Choi Jun Kun, Han Young Sub, Whang, In Kie, Hong Purume. 

Robbie Cornelissen (Netherlands), Aline Thomassen (Netherlands), Lee Yung-Chih (Taiwan), Jameson Yap (Malaysia), Jarrod Beck (USA), Le Phi Long (Vietnam),  Donna Ong (Singapore), Sadik Kwaish Alfraji (Iraq-Netherlands), Parastou Forouhar (Iran-Germany), Fabio Roncato (Italy), Mithu Sen (India), Maryanto (Indonesia), Lintalow Hashiguchi (Japan), Kakinuma Koji (Japan), Sawamura Sumiko (Japan), Kotobuki Shiriagari (Japan), Team Lab (Japan), Lan Hang (China), Shan Fan (China-Germany), Chen Xi (China),  Xietian (China), Zhang Yu (China), Jin Yangping (China), Gan Haoyu (China), Peng Wei (China), Fung Ming-chip (Hong Kong), Laurenet Grasso (France), Roberto Huacaya (Peru), Tatiana Wolska (Poland), Przemysław Jasielski (Poland), Nana & Felix (Korea-Finland), Hannah Quinlivan (Australia), Sancintya Mohini Simpson (Australia).

Contact: 2025jiib@gmail.com, T +82 61 280 5867, F +82 61 2 80 5865

Host: Jeollanam-do
Organized by: Jeonnam Cultural Foundation