A Fluid Era, A Space to Seek Alternative Knowledge

The 14th Gwangju Biennale’s symposium, Confluences: Stories of Art and the Planetary, co-organized by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational on April 7–8

Confluences: Stories of Art and the Planetary, held in parallel with the opening of the 14th Gwangju Biennale, is jointly hosted by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation (president Park Yang-woo) and Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. Operating as a multidisciplinary space, the symposium aims to expand and deepen the discourse around this year’s exhibition theme, soft and weak like water, and will run for two days at the Gwangju Biennale’s Geosigi Hall (Gwangju Biennale Conference Hall).

Structured across three panels, two performances, a keynote lecture, and a round table, the 14th Gwangju Biennale’s symposium will center on alternative models that envision new ways of coexisting and art’s participation in such practices. Speakers in each panel will share rich and captivating stories related to the process of submitting new works and commissioned projects as participating artists of the 14th Gwangju Biennale.

In other words, through the participation of artists, moderators, and lecturers, all of whom have diverse backgrounds and work approaches, the symposium is expected to become a multidisciplinary space which ignites and activates the discussion on contemporary topics such as solidarity, friendship, community, and ecology.

The first day of the symposium, April 7, will begin with welcome speeches from Park Yang-woo, president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, Frances Morris, Tate Modern director, followed by an introduction to the symposium by Artistic Director Sook-Kyung Lee. Finally, the three panels titled “Source: Artistic Activation,” “Undercurrents: Ambiguous Narratives,” and “Estuaries: Navigating Boundaries” will take place at Exhibition hall ‘Encounter’ and the day will conclude with a performance by Buhlebezwe Siwani.

Speakers in “Source: Artistic Activation” include Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, Yuki Kihara, Guadalupe Maravilla, David Zink Yi, and Judy Watson, with Hera Chan as moderator. Examining how artmaking relates to world-making, they will demonstrate how their own individual artistic languages relate to shared histories and collective experiences.

In the second panel, “Undercurrents: Ambiguous Narratives” Jia Chang, Hong Lee Hyun Sook, Seung Ae Lee, and Suk-kuhn Oh will be participating as speakers, with Assistant Curator Sooyoung Leam as moderator.

The panel will focus on artistic practices that, while being subjective, still resonate with larger social and historical factors. It discusses how participating artists have continued their work within the relationship that exists between specific local contexts and broader cultural narratives.

The panel “Estuaries: Navigating Boundaries” features Aliza Nisenbaum, Meiro Koizumi, Taus Makhacheva, and Abbas Akhavan as speakers and is moderated by assistant curator Harry C. H. Choi.

This panel enquires into how artists have navigated, questioned, and challenged dominant systems and established narratives. It will also provide time to discuss and debate alternative models as well as collaborative, research-based, and community-engaged artistic approaches.

The second day of the symposium, April 8, will begin with a performance by Noé Martínez, followed by a keynote lecture by Professor Macarena Gómez-Barris, a scholar and writer studying the various uses of postcolonial theory, queer feminist politics, the environment, and art.

This lecture, titled “Decomposition at the Sea’s Edge,” will discuss artistic practice and future climate change with Odessa Warren as moderator.

Lastly, the roundtable will reunite all panelists to explore collaborative thinking, with and through art, as well as address the planetary crises currently faced by communities. Ming Tiampo will participate as moderator.

Admission is free of charge for all 14th Gwangju Biennale ticket holders. Pre-registration can be completed via the Gwangju Biennale website.

Meanwhile, the 14th Gwangju Biennale exhibition, soft and weak like water will run for a total of 94 days from April 7 to July 9, throughout the city of Gwangju.

Inquiries: Education and Event Team 82-62-608-4232