On March 28, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation announced the full list of participating artists for their 12th edition, slated to open in September 2018. Under the title “Imagined Borders,” the biennale will showcase the works of 153 artists from 41 countries, spread across a series of seven independently curated thematic exhibitions. The 2018 edition will see the inclusion of the largest number of Asian artists to date, with more than half of the participants coming from the region.
In addition to the main event, the biennale will launch two new programs: The Pavilion Project, which is a series of satellite exhibitions mounted by cultural institutions such as Palais de Tokyo, Helsinki International Artist Programme and Philippine Contemporary Art Network at historically significant locations across the city; and the GB Commission, which invites four international contemporary artists—Argentinian sculptor Adrián Villar Rojas, British installation artist Mike Nelson, French-Algerian multidisciplinary artist Kader Attia and Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul—to create site-specific installations that respond to the history and spirit of Gwangju.
“Imagined Borders” references 1995’s inaugural Gwangju Biennale—which was titled “Beyond the Borders”—as well as the late political scientist and historian Benedict Anderson’s theory of citizenship and national identity, expounded in his 1983 book Imagined Communities. The biennale will open on September 7, 2018, and run until November 11 across various locations in the city, including the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, the Asia Culture Center and historical sites.
Click through for the full list of participating artists.