The 4th Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course

The Gwangju Biennale calls for applications for its fourth edition of the International Curator Course. 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 and the biennales’ strategic and aesthetic approaches.

The visiting professor to be appointed will be a curator who excels not only in his/her area of expertise but also can assume an educative role as a mentor. This year’s visiting professor will be announced shortly. In the past three years, GBICC has been privileged with eminent visiting professors, including Barbara Vanderlinden(2009), Dan Cameron(2010), and Ute Meta Bauer(2011).

"Biennale as Social Media" is the main topic of this year’s course. With the steep rise in the number of biennales since the 1990s, can the biennale be recognized as an institutional exhibition apparatus that vouches experimental, radical art practices as well as secure freedom of expression on various social, political and cultural issues? Or is it just another global blockbuster event that promotes confusion and tumultuousness in the disguise of experimentation? Is the biennale a form of cultural practice that communicates with its audience through artistic and intellectual production? Is the biennale a constructive form of social media that we agree with? These are the questions that the course will deal with in depth.

Lecturers who participated in the course in the past years include: Ai Weiwei, Nathalie Angles, Maurizio Bortolotti, Marco Burno, Byungsoo Cho, Minsuk Cho, Helen Hejung Choi, Byungsoo Eun, Anthony Fontenot, Beatrice Galilee, Eva Franch Gilabert, Massimiliano Gioni, Marieke Van Hal, Yuko Hasegawa, Lu Jie, Mami Kataoka, Jesi Khadivi, Heejin Kim, Sunjung Kim, Sohl Lee, Yongwoo Lee, Carol Yinghua Lu, Brendan McGetrick, Reineke Otten, Hyungmin Pai, Marina Pugliese, Francisco Sanin, Anton Scholz, Seung H-Sang, June Yap.

The programme consists of lectures by the visiting professor, workshops and discussions, group study, and site visits. Special lectures are led by the 9th Gwangju Biennale Co-Artistic Directors and the 5th Gwangju Design Biennale Artistic Director. Several professionals in the field will be invited as guest lecturers to discuss their rich experience. The entire course will be conducted in English.

Course participants will take part in the preparation of the 2012 Gwangju Biennale under the supervision of the Biennale’s co-artistic directors. The participants are asked to make a group presentation during the final week. Visits to museums, galleries, and artists’ studios in Gwangju and Seoul will also be scheduled.

This course is designed to provide young curators with opportunities to receive in-depth training. Thus the age restriction has been set to 35 and under. The Gwangju Biennale will grant tuition and accommodations to all of the selected participants for the entire course in Gwangju. Participants will be responsible for their round-trip airfares to and from Gwangju and living expenses during their stay.

Application submission period: April 24 – May 15, 2012

Application requirements

1. All documents should be written in English.
2. Application must include:

Application form in English (in Korean)

Motivational statement explaining the applicant’s interests and the purpose for applying (1,000 words max.)

Supporting materials: One or two copies of the most relevant published materials for curatorial/ exhibition

related projects that the applicant participated in.

3. Submitted documents and/or materials will not be returned.

Submission process: submission by email (curatorcourse@gb.or.kr)
Notification: successful candidates will be contacted around mid-June 2012

Source: Gwangju Biennale