Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall. Image courtesy Gwangju Biennale Foundation
14th Gwangju Biennale
soft and weak like water
https://14gwangjubiennale.com
The 14th Gwangju Biennale soft and weak like water closes its doors on Sunday, with an estimated 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, ArtAsiaPacific, ARTnews, Artnet, and Ocula among others.
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.
