I'm a Journalist in Korea 19: 13th Gwangju Biennale 2021 - Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning; Reviving Artistic Expression

 

13th Gwangju Biennale 2021 - Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning; Reviving Artistic Expression

Review by Kim Miso aka Rahel Limor, April 1, 2021

Programs continue until May 9, 2021

Website: 13thgwangjubiennale.org

Journal: 13thgwangjubiennale.org/minds-rising

The most important element to living a joyous life is the presence of the arts. Artists share their innate talent to create, document, uplift and bring joy into what may be otherwise regarded as routine and mundane. In spite of the restrictions imposed upon us since the outbreak of the Corona virus (aka COVID-19), the city of Gwangju revels in bringing the arts to life again with the 13^th Gwangju Biennale. Artistic directors Ms. Defne Ayas and Ms. Natasha Ginwala overcame tremendous obstacles to bring forth an impressive array of artists and their works. The main Gwangju Biennale Hall offers free entrance for visitors of all ages to enjoy exhibitions that are beautiful-to-the-eye, thought-provoking and inspiring to the spirit.

Sixty-nine participating artists including forty-one new commissions are represented at a number of Biennale exhibition venues around Gwangju. The artistic directors note that these creative works “delve into a broad set of cosmologies, activating multitudinous forms of intelligence, planetary life-systems, and modes of communal survival as they contend with the future horizon of cognitive capitalism, algorithmic violence and planetary imperialism”.

What does that mean? This year the artists have been asked to explore the theme of “Intelligence” and to respond creatively to the questions: “What constitutes intelligence? What is the relationship between organic and cybernetics, artificial and organic, and between human and non-human intelligence? What role does intelligence play in human resistance, productive realities and renewal?”

How do we perceive our brain, our heart, where are we thinking, how are we imagining, where are we speaking from and how are we contending with the volatile presence of this world? What kind of vocabularies are we using? Is it visual, theoretical or perhaps based on words that we use as we face the realities of our world today?

Ayas and Ginwala note: “So as to engender and invoke channels of affiliation, solidarity, friendship and renewal, both in South Korea, which has demonstrated her resilience during this pandemic, as well as globally...we are committed to artists with mind-expanding and ever-inclusive practices, those that act beyond the binary framing of insider and outsider, legal and illegal, masculine and feminine, that are each invested in interdisciplinary frameworks traversing ancestral knowledge, augmented intelligence, and healing systems. The Biennale integrates broader cultural ontologies of health and curative systems within the gradient of life and death. We also recognize that calling upon the wisdom of ancestors is a mode of both witnessing and processing inter-generational violence and traumas. We are grateful to each of them for their responsive approaches.”

In other words, the Biennale features artists from around the world who, through their work, have addressed, created, integrated and mapped ideas, traditions, history, religion, spirituality and multitudes of cultures. We see the manifestation and fusion of the historical and contemporary as well as the roles and lasting impact of the woman and men who have lived through struggle, resistance, recovery and renewal. The event, which also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the May 18, 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, asks us to remember the past but to always know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Biennale promotes the “Gwangju spirit of sharing and coalition building” which has turned it into a massive global event.

Due to the ongoing pandemic this year the Biennale is being held both online and offline. Let’s have a closer look...

Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Main Hall * The ground floor is free to the public!

Each of the five large-scale galleries feature impressive thought-provoking works by the majority of the sixty-nine participating artists. Included are archival and historical gems, major collections and folk paintings from the Shamanism Museum collection and the Gahoe Museum. Did you know that the first shaman was conceived from the union of an eagle and a human? The story is told in a media presentation of beautiful moving visuals woven though nature’s landscapes.

The displays on this floor tell stories from ancient history, by storytellers and through sacred emblems of protection and recovery. They give us a glimpse into community and “lay bare the groundwork of collective intelligence in a networked society. By revisiting the past they envision a future that holds a more equitable relationship between humans and the landscape upon which we thrive as long as it is left intact”.

Gallery 2, “Kinship of mountains, fields and rivers” focuses on human communal practices around the world and to the fragility of the human condition should our earth be abused.

Gallery 3, “Bodies in Desire, Beyond the Disciplinary Fold” asks the question, “What forms of intelligence become dominant formations – technocratic or hetero-normative – in today’s globalized societies?” We are invited to examine how our bodies react to social issues, feminism, wars, and government; how we follow and resist authority, how we survive, heal and restore life after experiencing the horrors of tyrannical suppression, persecution and other unimaginable atrocities. There is a cold, harsh and painful aura on this floor that is necessary for us to see and feel in order to realize the need to create a better future.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Candice Lin’s “Verdant Curtain”. Her concept of the DMZ border between North and South Korea draws attention to the untouched flora and fauna surviving and thriving in the open space, the no-man’s-land between the two sides. If only our world could be like this!

Memories of having lived in that era came flowing back into my consciousness as I watched the media presentation of the struggles and role of women in Vietnam and Chile during their tragic wars.

Another display highlights the inequality and discrimination experienced even now by female developers in today’s gaming communities. There is also a space devoted to the LGBTQ communities that in some countries are hidden from the public eye.

Gallery 4, “Matters of Mutation” takes a look at the changing concepts on beauty, race and western constructs of nature. We witness and perhaps question the development and use of robotics and artificial intelligence for healing, repair and evolution; “What future body awaits us? How might collective ways of being and being held together and apart affect our understanding of where the body begins and ends?”

Gallery 5, “Matriarchy in Motion” is devoted to female artists who have responded to “matriarchal cultures and the knowledge acquired though feminine wisdom. The maternal body acts beyond reproductive duties, moreover it processes and vanquishes societal rupture”. We are enlightened about feminism, female collectives, “dissident goddesses” such as dragon queens in Korean mythology and the unique powers of women and matrilineal connections.

I was in awe of the exhibit inspired by and about the female divers collective of Jeju Island. Dutch artist Femke Herregraven “places us underwater and in the larynxes” of the women. We hear the sounds and calls of the female divers’ voices as they emerge from the dive. They sound hauntingly reminiscent of the sea creatures themselves!

Gwangju National Museum

A subject I find fascinating is that of death. This is exactly the theme of the exhibitions at the Gwangju National Museum. Death, the afterlife, the reparation of spirit objects, the corporeal limits of the body, rights of the dead, the detachment of the spirit from the flesh, and acts and rituals of mourning are all represented in fascinating visuals. There is a sound display in the gazebo in the garden in which one can sit and relax while listening to the sound-piece.

Gwangju Theater

Korea’s oldest cinema is still in operation today. See the evolution of film and film production in this vintage cinema. For some it might trigger memories of the good old days!

Horanggasy Artpolygon

This venue is located at the base of the sacred Yangnim Mountain, a symbol of Korea’s resistance against Japanese colonization, Christian evangelization and more.

Entering the Artpoygon building one immediately senses a variety of smells emanating from the unique fragrant stones from Jeju Island. In the second building you can watch a short film installation by Korakrit Arunanondchai entitled, “Songs for the Dying”. The film “investigates the idea of sovereignty, ancestral storytelling, the ongoing pro-Democracy protests in Thailand, and the transit of distressed spirits, involving shamanic and animist rituals fostering resilience and commemoration in Jeju, Philippines and Thailand”.

The Former Armed Forces’ Gwangju Hospital

The outbreak of the Corona virus / COVID-19 has brought our attention to the important role of hospitals in our lives. However this hospital, established in 1964 and left to ruins in 2007, was far from inspiring. In fact I was moved to tears as I walked through the dilapidated halls of the building. This is the place where students and civilians who had been tortured during the May 18, 1980 Democratization Movement uprising were held. Some were treated and saved while others were treated only to be returned again for continued torture. The artists were given the task to use the empty spaces to “give shape to what we can see, or to what we could see if we did not turn a blind eye. Moreover to give voices to the things we can speak about, or to the things we could articulate but kept silent.”

As I walked though the building I could sense the sadness and pain of the people who had spent time here. Yet there was a haunting beauty and evolving bittersweet energy from the artists’ creations that gave us hope. Each and every item now used in the artists’ work, all those the rusty relics, tell a human story.

I was particularly moved by artist Moon Seonhee’s work; She transformed a walkway that had once led to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) into a beautiful garden path with daisies planted on each side. The daisy is a medicinal plant used in herbal treatments. As you walk down the path you can hear the voices of children sharing their childhood memories of an era that refuses to be forgotten. The children were not central subjects of the May18 uprising and so their testimonies as witnesses were never acknowledged as legitimate accounts of the past. With this installation their voices can now be heard and witness testimonies finally acknowledged.

A walk-though at this site is certainly not one for the faint of heart. Yet in my view it is one that will force us to realize humankind’s ability to carry out evil agendas. It also hopes to inspire us to make greater efforts towards improving our world.

Rest and Relaxation

There is so much to see and to learn about in Gwangju. You may want to take a few days to visit all the sites. I recommend the Utop Boutique Hotel for a comfortable stay. Take a coffee break at the Leeleenam cafe located in the M.A.M Media Art Museum. You might need a few extra hours to visit the installations at the Gwangju Cultural Center, Asia Cultural Center and an installation by Swiss choreographer Anna Anderegg at the Swiss Pavilion. Her work, “Alone Together” is a response to the questions; “What does it mean for a society to be constantly in a fragmented state of consciousness? How do our bodies evolve and endure in a condition of physical isolation and permanent digital connection?”

Don’t let COVID-19 stop you from enjoying life. There is much to see and experience this year at the 13^th Gwangju Biennale, “Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning”. You won’t be disappointed!