By Tom Phillips
Art and protest are inseparable at the Gwangju Biennale, a unique and celebrated arts festival in South Korea. It commemorates the Gwangju Uprising of 1980, when students here led a revolt against a military coup. The uprising ended with a military crackdown and the massacre of hundreds of civilians. But it did not end the movement for democracy, which culminated in 1997 with the election of the once-imprisoned opposition leader, Kim Dae-Jung.
The Ninth Biennale now underway in Gwangju is a playful, audience-friendly show that sprawls through five huge galleries and spills out into the courtyard, where passersby are invited to play ping-pong on 14 stainless steel tables with mirror-like surfaces. The exhibition has many themes, but running through all of them is the subversion of power. The purpose of art here is to undermine all forms of oppression, and it does this best through the subtle, irresistible force of entertainment.
The Ninth Biennale now underway in Gwangju is a playful, audience-friendly show that sprawls through five huge galleries and spills out into the courtyard, where passersby are invited to play ping-pong on 14 stainless steel tables with mirror-like surfaces. The exhibition has many themes, but running through all of them is the subversion of power. The purpose of art here is to undermine all forms of oppression, and it does this best through the subtle, irresistible force of entertainment.
