16th Gwangju Biennale opens with 43 teams of artists from home and abroad

Installation work continues at the Taiwan Pavilion of the 16th Gwangju Biennale at the Asia Culture Center (ACC) in Dong-gu, Gwangju, on Thursday, ahead of the opening. The Chinese exhibition team that day declared it would withdraw from the event in protest over the approval of the "Taiwan Pavilion" name. <Yonhap> — Installation work continues at the Taiwan Pavilion of the 16th Gwangju Biennale at the Asia Culture Center (ACC) in Dong-gu, Gwangju, on Thursday, ahead of the opening. The Chinese exhibition team that day declared it would withdraw from the event in protest over the approval of the "Taiwan Pavilion" name.

The 16th Gwangju Biennale opens Friday with an inaugural ceremony before running from Saturday through Nov. 15 — a 72-day run.

The opening ceremony, held at the Gwangju Biennale exhibition hall and its outdoor stage, will feature electronic music performances by musicians Kim Seon-ik and Ryu Han-gil.

"Bulrim" (2026), a GB Commission work created by Kwon Byung-jun and Park Chan-kyong with support from the Gwangju Biennale, will also be unveiled.

The program includes an outdoor performance by Haepari, a duo blending Korean traditional music with electronic music, as well as a techno live set by electronic musician Rrose.

The exhibition takes its theme from a line by Rainer Maria Rilke — "You must change your life" — with 43 teams of Korean and international artists exploring the possibilities of transformation, from the microscopic world of atoms and molecules to individual lives, society and history, and the cosmos.

The exhibition is co-curated by artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen alongside curators Park Ga-hee, Brian Kuan Wood and Choi Kyung-hwa. To sharpen its focus, the main exhibition will be presented exclusively at the Gwangju Biennale exhibition hall.

sij@heraldcorp.com