2026 Busan Biennale to open Saturday for 65-day run

The Busan city government and the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee will jointly host the 2026 Busan Biennale from Saturday through Nov. 1 — a 65-day run — under the theme "Dissident Chorus," they announced Tuesday.

The Busan Biennale is an international contemporary art event co-hosted by the city and the organizing committee every two years. It traces its origins to the Busan Youth Biennale, launched in 1981, and took its current name when the organizing body was incorporated in 2000.

This year's edition will unfold across three venues on two islands — the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Space Wonji and the former Busan Namgo High School, located on Eulsukdo and Yeongdo respectively. Visitors can move between the three sites, each with its own distinct history and atmosphere, for a layered experience of diverse voices and sensory perspectives.

The theme "Dissident Chorus" explores nonverbal communication and collective solidarity through sound and the body, drawing on Busan's own acoustic archive to examine the social roles of labor, migration and resistance.

The exhibition will feature 46 artists from 22 countries, led by co-directors Evelyn Simons of Belgium and Amal Khalaf of Britain and Bahrain, selected through an international open call that drew more than 70 applicants. The two directors have prepared the exhibition drawing on wide-ranging curatorial practice across contemporary art, performance, sound and community-based work. Through installation, sound, performance, video and sculpture, the show examines how sound and the body have connected people and given shape to resistance and solidarity, addressing questions facing contemporary society through artistic language.

International participants include Joshua Serafin, a performance artist from the Philippines; Julien Creuzet, who represented France at the 2024 Venice Biennale and hails from the French territory of Martinique; and Eric Baudelaire, who works across film and installation. Korean participants include Kang Seo-kyung, Dew Kim, Ryu Seong-sil and Lim Minook, along with Busan-based artists Park Hyun-sung, Lee Dong-geun and the folk-song archive collective Minjung Gayo Jeojangso.

The biennale will be open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission to the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan is 16,000 won ($12) for adults, 8,000 won for teenagers and military personnel, and 5,000 won for children. Tickets are available online through the NOL ticketing platform or at the first-floor box office of the museum. Entry to Space Wonji and the former Busan Namgo High School is free.

The opening ceremony will be held Friday at 5 p.m. at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan. The city will operate a free shuttle bus connecting all three venues.