Organizers of the Gwangju Biennale have revealed the seventy-nine artists who will be participating in the fourteenth iteration of the event. Titled “soft and weak like water,” the 2023 edition of the Biennale is curated by curated by Sook-Kyung Lee and runs from April 7 through July 9. More than forty new works and projects have been commissioned for the event, some responding directly to the exhibition’s title, and others developed from ongoing research interests and projects in an attempt to shift focus away from relentless modes of production.
Those contributing new works that respond to the Biennale’s theme are Paris-based Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui, who collaborated with Korean artisans and musicians to create an ensemble of instruments and sound objects for the Biennale; Yokohama-based artist Meiro Koizumi, whose new five-channel projection installation Theater of Life investigates Gwangju’s marginalized communities, focusing on the Koryo-in, ethnic Koreans who were forcibly relocated from Russia’s Far East to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s; Bangkok-based filmmaker Taiki Sakpisit, whose The Spirit Level examines the lives of Mekong River farmers and fisherpeople who respond to ecological and social crises through practices including animism and shamanism; and Seoul-based artist Seung-ae Lee, whose mural and animation project, presented in the Biennale Hall, will take as its theme purification rituals found in Korean folk religions, which aim to wash away the grief and sorrow of the deceased.
Among those creating new works for the Biennale from existing practices are Berlin-based artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan, who will debut a suite of interactive robots withing immersive installations that reflect her continued fascination with marine life, technology, sexuality, nutrition, and ecology. San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala–based artist Édgar Calel will present new work from an ongoing installation series that explores indigenous Mayan culture through the rituals of the Kaqchikel people, from whom he is descended.
The Biennale will be spread across five venues comprising the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall; Gwangju National Museum; Horanggasy Artpolygon, a community art space; the Buddhist temple Mugaksa; and Artspace House.
A full list of participating artists is below.
Larry Achiampong
Abbas Akhavan
Farah Al Qasimi
Mamma Andersson
Tarek Atoui
melanie bonajo
Bakhyt Bubikanova
Hera Büyüktaşcıyan
Édgar Calel
María Magdalena Campos-Pons
Chang Jia
Huong Dodinh
Latifa Echakhch, Cheol-woo Gu
Taloi Havini
James T. Hong
Hong Lee Hyun Sook
Sky Hopinka
IkkibawiKrrr
Arthur Jafa
Tess Jaray
Jeoung Jae Choul
Anne Duk Hee Jordan
Yeon-gyun Kang
Naiza Khan
Yuki Kihara
Christine Sun Kim
Kira Kim
Kim Kulim
Minjung Kim
Soun-Gui Kim
Kim Youngjae
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Meiro Koizumi
Abdoulaye Konaté
Chila Kumari Singh Burman
Lee Kun-Yong
Seung-ae Lee
Seung-taek Lee
Kim Lim
Candice Lin
Tanya Lukin Linklater
Liu Jianhua
Taus Makhacheva
Guadalupe Maravilla
Noé Martínez
Mataaho Collective
Mayunkiki
Alan Michelson
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas
Naeem Mohaiemen
Yuko Mohri
Betty Muffler
Aliza Nisenbaum
Lucia Nogueira
Suk-kuhn Oh
Oh Yoon
Oum Jeongsoon
Pan Daijing
Pangrok Sulap
Sopheap Pich
Abel Rodríguez
Taiki Sakpisit
Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi
Angélica Serech
Thasnai Sethaseree
Dayanita Singh
Buhlebezwe Siwani
Emilija Škarnulytė
Vivian Suter
Yuma Taru
Charwei Tsai
Judy Watson
Alberta Whittle
Santiago Yahuarcani
I-Lann Yee
Yu Jiwon
Robert Zhao Renhui
David Zink Yi