The 14th Gwangju Biennale: soft and weak like water

The 14th Gwangju Biennale, from 7 April – 9 July 2023, proposes to imagine our shared planet as a site of resistance, coexistence, solidarity and care by thinking through the transformative and restorative potential of water as a metaphor, a force and a method. soft and weak like water celebrates an aqueous model of power that brings forth change, not with an immediate effect but with enduring and pervasive gentleness, flowing across structural divisions and differences.

Embracing contradictions and paradoxes—as “there is nothing softer and weaker than water, and yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things” (Dao De Jing, Chapter 78)—the Biennale’s theme highlights the capacity of art to permeate deep into the individual and the collective, which enables us to navigate through the complexities of the world with a sense of awareness and direction.

The Biennale is divided into 4 nodes: Luminous Halo, Ancestral Voices, Transient Sovereignty and Planetary Times.

With works by 79 artists on display, from South East Asia and further afield, many of which have been commissioned for the occasion.

It takes place across 5 exhibition venues, including a Buddhist temple: Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, Gwangju National Museum, Horanggasy Artpolygon, Mugaksa and Artspace House