First Look: Gwangju Biennale 2016
By HG Masters
“It is not about what art is, but what art does,” said Gwangju Biennale 11 (GB11) artistic director Maria Lind on September 1, during the event's press conference. Entitled “The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?),” in reference to the 12th-century Iranian mystic Sohrevardi’s idea of a zone full of imagination beyond earthly geography, the 2016 Gwangju Biennale engages with the world in all its natural and social ecologies. Anchored by 28 newly commissioned works that were created in Gwangju itself, the Biennale explores a wide range of subjects, from past political histories to urgent environmental and social issues, while also reserving for artists what Lind called “the right to opacity.” Each of the four large exhibition halls have its own climate and logic of display: from a brightly lit and spacious area for works that deal with abstraction, to a pitch-black hall for 17 video works and self-illuminated sculptures. With around 100 artists in the Gwangju Biennale Hall and at off-site projects around the city, the “The Eighth Climate” is an ambitious curatorial undertaking—Lind was aided by curator Binna Choi and assistant curators Azar Mahmoudian, Michelle Wong and Margarida Mendes, and the local artist collective Mite-Ugro—with many challenging artworks that resist being quickly consumed. From a chaotic day when the finishing touches were still being put on many projects, here’s a first look of Gwangju Biennale 11.
HG Masters is editor at large of ArtAsiaPacific.
