Gwangju Biennale Opens Artistic Director Search With New Open Call
The Gwangju Biennale is changing a process that has defined its leadership for years. For the 17th edition of the South Korean exhibition, the artistic director will be chosen through an open call, a move the organizers describe as a significant shift in how the biennial selects its curators.
Applications for the 2028 edition opened on June 8 and will remain open until August 3. After an initial review in August, short-listed candidates will be interviewed in September, with the final appointment announced in October.
The call is open to exhibition professionals and curators from around the world, regardless of nationality, gender, or age. It also welcomes both individual applicants and teams of two or more co-artistic directors, including collaborative proposals that bring together domestic and international professionals.
Until now, the biennial relied on a recommendation-based system in which a small group of advisors nominated candidates for consideration before a final director was selected. The new approach is being framed as a way to honor the event’s 30-year history while widening access to the role.
The change arrives as the next Gwangju Biennale, scheduled to open in September, is being led by Ho Tzu Nyen, the artist who organized the Asian Art Biennale in 2019. That appointment was unusual for an exhibition that has previously been shaped by internationally prominent curators including Okwui Enwezor, Nicolas Bourriaud, Harald Szeemann, and Massimiliano Gioni.
Founded in 1995, the Gwangju Biennale has long held a distinctive place in Asia’s exhibition landscape, balancing local significance with international reach. By opening the selection process more broadly, the institution is signaling a willingness to rethink not only who leads the biennial, but how such leadership is imagined in the first place.
