Course dates:
August 13–September 8, 2012
Host: Gwangju Biennale Foundation & Gwangju Metropolitan City
Principal: Yongwoo Lee (President, Gwangju Biennale Foundation)
Application submission:
April 24–May 15, 2012
Since its inception in 2009, the course has been recognized as a platform for open discussions on curatorial practices and theoretical discourses of contemporary art with special emphasis on the strategic and aesthetic approaches of biennales. In addition, as the program provides a unique opportunity to work closely with the biennale’s co-artistic directors, visiting curators and participating artists, it is quickly turning into a gathering hub for young curators from all over the world. This year, under the main topic, “Biennale as Social Media,” the course will focus on in-depth discussions of the cultural and aesthetic politics of international biennales, which has been on a steep rise since the 1990s.
In the course of the program, the participants will take part in the preparation of the 2012 Gwangju Biennale under the supervision of the co-artistic directors. During the final week, participants will be asked to make a group presentation. Visits to museums, galleries, and artists’ studios in Gwangju and Seoul are also scheduled.
The Biennale will grant tuition and accommodations to all participants during the entire course. However, participants will be responsible for their round-trip airfares and living expenses during their stay. This course is designed for young curators to receive in-depth training. Thus the age restriction has been set to 35 and under. The entire course will be conducted in English.
Visiting Professors: Jens Hoffmann (Director of Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, 2011 Istanbul Biennale Co-Director) and Carol Yinghua Lu (2012 Gwangju Biennale Co-artistic Director)
Faculty Members: The 9th Gwangju Biennale Co-Artistic Directors (Nancy Adajania, Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Mami Kataoka, Sunjung Kim, Carol Yinghua Lu, Alia Swastika) and the 5th Gwangju Design Biennale Artistic Director (Younghye Lee)
Jens Hoffmann is a prominent curator whose practice centers on the attempt to expand the denotation and context of exhibition making. Currently he is the Director of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco after working as the Director of Institute of Contemporary Arts London. He has co-curated the 2011 Istanbul Biennale and the 2009 San Juan Triennial.
Carol Yinghua Lu is a 2012 Gwangju Biennale Co-Artistic Director, independent curator, and critic based in Beijing. She is a contributing editor for Frieze and editor as well as co-founder of Contemporary Art & Investment. She is also a 2012 Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale curator and juried for the 2011 Venice Biennale Golden Lion Award.