15th Gwangju Biennale
D-

Artistic Director

Nicolas Bourriaud has consistently explored art practices based on human relationships and communication, often intersecting with technology, media, and networks through his works such as “Relational Aesthetics” (1998), “Postproduction” (2002), “The Radicant” (2009), and “Inclusions: Aesthetics of the Capitalocene” (2020). The discourse of relational aesthetics, which deals with concepts of relationships, mediation, participation, and interaction, is often cited as one of the defining concepts in contemporary art. Bourriaud founded and co-directed the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (1999-2006) and was Gulbenkian Curator for Contemporary Art at Tate Britain in London (2007-2010). He has helmed large-scale exhibitions such as Tate Triennial 2009, Taipei Biennale 2014, and Istanbul Biennale 2019. In 2022, he curated PLANET B. Climate change and the new sublime, Palazzo Bollani, Venice for Radicants, an international curatorial cooperative which he created earlier the same year.


Curators

Barbara Lagié, a curator based in Paris, founded the "Belem" project space in 2018 where she curated a two-year exhibition program. Subsequently, she managed an art gallery, overseeing diverse global projects both indoors and outdoors. Barbara also curated projects for Espace Niemeyer, la Nuit Blanche, various galleries, and prestigious events. Since 2021, she has served as the Exhibition Director at Radicants, supervising exhibitions for the Venice Biennale, supporting curators, and contributing to Parisian space programming. Her research focuses on curating exhibitions that delve into personal and collective memory, while also examining the emergence of new narratives through the dynamic interplay of fiction and identity.


Kuralai Abdukhalikova, born and raised in Kazakhstan, has been living in Paris for many years. After managing artists and projects with Galleria Continua across the world, she was invited to join Radicants, an international curatorial cooperative. Leading publications and research, Kuralai participates in the programming of space and works on outdoor projects, notably in the Middle East. She also serves as a scientific advisor for several cultural institutions. Aside from her artistic research activities, Kuralai is involved also with more or less obscure circles, such as advising vinyl perfume for Space Oddities, a series dedicated to library music compiled by Alexis Le-Tan & Jess, or practicing Dombyra, the rhythms of which are based on different horse paces.


Sophia Park is a writer and curator based in Brooklyn, NY. Her current research investigates how everyday rituals, sticky feelings, and intimacy influence gathering and communal knowledge production. She is part of the curatorial duo slow cook (NYC) and was a co-curator of Jip Gallery (2018 - 2022). She also works as the Director of External Relations at Fractured Atlas and teaches at New York University. She has participated in curatorial projects and programs with Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons (Netherlands), Gyopo (Los Angeles), 2022 Singapore Biennale (Singapore), Asian American Arts Alliance (NYC), and others. She holds a Masters in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts.


Jade Barget is a curator based in Paris and Berlin. She investigates atmospheres after nature, a theme central to her recent multi-chapter and ongoing program, The well tempered, with performances at Espace Niemeyer (Paris) and soft power (Berlin), as well as exhibitions at Frac Île-de-France and Fondation Fiminco (both in Romainville). Her curatorial B-side features Fatal & Fallen, a programme conceptualising the figure of the ultra-bad fighting girl as techno-mystic interface and martial device depicted in East Asian grindhouse and arthouse cinema from early silent films to contemporary production. Fatal & Fallen was presented at Asian Film Archive (Singapore), Sinema transtopia (Berlin), and Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (Taipei). Jade was part of the curatorial team of transmediale (Berlin) for the 2021-22, 2023, and 2024 editions.


Euna Lee, born in South Korea, studied traditional Asian arts before moving to France, where she spent over a decade exploring various fields such as art plastique, art theory, and experimental video and working in galleries. In 2023, she coordinated the 14th Gwangju Biennale's French Pavilion with the Cultural Affairs Department of the French Embassy. She has organized exhibitions with national cultural foundations and has shown her work in both solo and group exhibitions. She is deeply interested in the relationship between the individual and society based on cultural and linguistic identities and the interrelationship between artists and curators, as well as historical aspects ranging from traditional to contemporary art. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Fine Arts at Hongik University while working as an artist and curator.