2018 Busan Biennale Artists, Theme And Title Announced

*Last updated August 16, 2018. 

On May 7, the executive director of the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee, Choi Tae Man, announced the title, theme and partial list of artists for the 2018 Busan Biennale, which will take place between September 8 and November 11. 

Under the title “Divided We Stand,” the biennale will showcase the works of 65 international artists and collectives from 34 countries who are responding to today’s global political climate, shaped by the segregation of territories, transnational political interests, and the international exchange and obstruction of information. The focused selection of artists is intended to provide an alternative to the grandiose scale of blockbuster exhibitions that are proliferating worldwide, instead giving a comprehensive yet concise show that encapsulates and further sparks critical discussions around the biennale’s themes. 

Helmed by the 2018 Busan Biennale’s joint artistic directors Cristina Ricupero and Jörg Heiser, who were appointed to their roles in early February this year, the announcement states that “the focus of the exhibition is not just on the documentary of fictional responses artists have made to [the issues addressed by the exhibition]. Crucially, it looks at how souls are inspired, or haunted, by these political divisions.” 

Departing from its routine practice of using the Busan Museum of Art as its main venue, the 2018 edition will take place in two sites that will branch out into their own themes. The Museum of Contemporary Art Busan—the main location of this year’s biennale, a 29,900-square-meter site opening this June on Busan’s Eulsukdo Island—will reflect on the Cold War era and its aftermath, while the former Bank of Korea building will house works by artists who use science fiction to shed light on contemporary socio-political realities. 

The participating artists are:

Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme

Bani Abidi

Chantal Akerman

Dora Longo Bahia

Maja Bajevic

Khaled Barakeh

Yael Bartana

Jean-Luc Blanc

Oscar Chan Yik Long

Onejoon Che

Mina Cheon

Chin Cheng Te

Sunah Choi

Phil Collins

Christoph Dettmeier

Mauricio Dias and Walter Riedweg

Smadar Dreyfus

Eva Grubinger

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige

Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian

Flaka Haliti

Kiluanji Kia Henda

Andy Hope 1930

Hsu Chia-Wei

Young Zoo Im

Joo Hwang

Yunsun Jung

Nikita Kadan

Wanuri Kahiu

Amar Kanwar

Hayoun Kwon

Oliver Laric

Minwhee Lee and Yun Choi

Gabriel Lester

Minouk Lim

Laura Lima and Zé Carlos Garcia

Lin + Lam

Liu Ding

Marko Lulic

Fabian Marti

Augustin Maurs

Metahaven

Nástio Mosquito

Henrike Naumann

Marcel Odenbach

Melik Ohanian

Ferhat Ozgur

Kelvin Kyung Kun Park

Susan Philipsz

Adrian Piper

Min Jeong Seo

Bruno Serralongue

Tayfun Serttas

Hito Steyerl

Jan Svenungsson

Tamura Yuichiro

Javier Téllez

The Propeller Group

Suzanne Treister

Lars von Trier

Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas

Jane and Louise Wilson

Ming Wong

Ulrich Wüst

Zhang Peili

Julee WJ Chung is the assistant editor of ArtAsiaPacific.

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