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The Busan Biennale is a biannual international contemporary art show held in Busan, South Korea. Busan Biennale is held in even-numbered years, and is hosted by Busan metropolitan city and Busan Biennale Organizing Committee.^[1]^[2]

Exhibition history

The Busan Biennale is a biannual international contemporary art show that integrated three different art events held in the city in 1998: the Busan Youth Biennale, the first Biennale of Korea that was voluntarily organized by local artists in 1981; the Sea Art Festival, an environmental art festival launched in 1987 with the sea serving as a backdrop; and the Busan Outdoor Sculpture Symposium that was first held in 1991. The Biennale was previously called the Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival (PICAF) before it launched.

Furthermore, rather than simply adhere to the white cube but chose unexpected places including culturally backward regions and old industry facilities as exhibition halls, Busan Biennale illuminates Busan city and contributes balanced development within Busan.^[3]

In the example at the top, KISWIRE Suyeong factory (it is called ‘F1963’ currently) being used for special exhibition hall and main exhibition hall for Busan Biennale 2014 and Busan Biennale 2016 respectively. As of today, F1963 branded itself as one of the most famous culture complexes in Busan.^[4] Also, it is considered as a model case of urban regeneration.^[5]

From October 16, 2021, the "2021 Sea Art Festival" will be held at Ilgwang Beach in Gijang-gun for 30 days. In the 2021 exhibition, led by Indian director Ritika Biswas, more than 20 artists from home and abroad will participate in the production and programming in cooperation with institutions and organizations in various fields.^[6]


Year	Period	Venue	Director	Theme	Note
2002	Sep.15~Nov.22 (69days)	Busan Museum of Modern Art, Haeundae Beach, Asiad Sculpture Plaza, etc	Airyung Kim (Independent Curator)	Culture Meets Culture
2004	May 22~Oct.31 (163days)	Busan Museum of Modern Art, Haeundae Beach, Eulsukdo Sculpture park, etc	Tae Man Choi (Professor, Kookmin University)	Chasm
2006	Sep.16~Nov.25 (71days)	Busan Museum of Modern Art, Haeundae Beach, APEC Naru park, etc	Manu D. Park (Art Critic & Independent Curator)	Everywhere
2008	Sep.6~Nov.15 (71days)	Busan Museum of Modern Art, Gwangalli Beach, APEC Naru park, etc	Won Bang Kim (Professor, Hongik University)	Expenditure
2010	Sep.11~Nov.20 (71days)	Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan Yachting Center, Gwangalli Beach, Busan Cultural Center, etc	Azumaya Takashi (Independent Curator)	Living in Evolution
2012	Sep.22~Nov.24 (64days)	Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan Yachting Center, Gwangalli Beach, Busan Cultural Center, etc	Roger M. Buergel (Independent Curator)	Garden of Learning	Separated from the Sea Art Festival and became an independent festival.
2014	Sep.20~Nov.22 (64days)	Busan Museum of Art, Busan Cultural Center, KISWIRE Sooyoung Factory, etc	Olivier Kaeppelin (Director, Fondation Maeght)	Inhabiting the World
2016	Sep.3~Nov.30 (89 days)	Busan Museum of Art, F1963 (KISWIRE Suyeong Factory)	Yun Cheagab (Director, the How Art Museum)	Hybridizing Earth, Discussing Multitude	Launched an online platform in collaboration with Google
2018	Sep.8~Nov.11 (65 days)	Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, former Bank of Korea in Busan	Cristina Ricupero (Independent Curator), Jörg Heiser (Art Critic)	Divided We Stand^[7]
2020	Sep.5~Nov.8 (65 days)	Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Yeongdo Harbor, Old town (Jungang-daero)	Jacob Fabricius (Artistic Director of the Kunsthal Aarhus, Board member of the Danish Arts foundation's committee)	Words at an Exhibition - an exhibition in ten chapters and five poems
2022	Sep.3~Nov.6 (65 days)	Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Pier 1 of Busan Port, Yeongdo, Choryang	Haeju Kim (Deputy director at Art Sonje Center, Researcher at National Theater Company of Korea, Assistant curator at Nam June Paik Art Center)	We, on the Rising Wave
2024	Aug.17~Oct.20 (65 days)	Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum, HANSUNG1918, Choryang House	Vera Mey & Philippe Pirotte	Seeing in the Dark