Interest in South Korea's regional biennales is building as the 2026 Korea Art Festival unfolds across the country.
The Gwangju, Busan and Jeju biennales have been running together since late last month, while the Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale opens on the 18th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and art industry officials said on the 15th. Unlike Kiaf and Frieze Seoul, which drew a combined 150,000 visitors in the first week of September and captured the attention of the global art world, the regional biennales are marked by their distinct individual identities.
With the September art festival already past its midpoint, attention has turned to these regional events. The 2026 Busan Biennale, held under the theme "Dissonant Chorus," is running at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Space One Ji on Yeongdo Island and the former Busan Nam High School. Forty-six artists from 22 countries are taking part, led by co-artistic directors Evelyn Simons of Belgium and Amal Khalaf of Britain and Bahrain.
The two directors explored how sound and the body connect people and have generated resistance and solidarity, drawing on installation, sound, performance, video and sculpture. The biennale goes beyond viewing, offering performances, workshops and talk programs in which the public can listen, converse and take part physically.
The Gwangju Biennale is being held at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall under the theme "You Must Change Your Life." The exhibition was co-organized by director Ho Tzu Nyen and curators Park Ga-hee, Brian Kuan Wood and Choi Kyung-hwa. Rather than scattering works across multiple venues, the show brings all 43 participating artists and teams into a single hall to sharpen its focus.
Starting from molecules, the body and personal memory, the exhibition shifts to relationships and communities, urban landscapes and history, and planetary change, before moving on to the sensations of air, sound and breathing.
The Jeju Biennale carries the theme "Heokkeugok Modakchigok Iyahong: The Art of Transformation." "Heokkeugok modakchigok" means "to mix and gather" in the Jeju dialect, and "iyahong" is the refrain of the Jeju folk song "Iyahong Taryeong." Organized around three strands — exile, stone culture and myth — the exhibition views through the lens of transformation how Jeju has long exchanged with the outside world, absorbing different cultures and changing in the process. Sixty-nine teams of Korean and international artists from 20 countries are participating, with Lee Jong-hoo, director of the Jeju Museum of Art, serving as artistic director. The biennale spans five venues: the Jeju Museum of Art, the Obaekjanggun Gallery at Jeju Stone Park, the Jeju Art Platform, Art Space Ieuh and Gallery Remicon.
The Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale, under the theme "Made by the Earth," will be held at venues across Gyeonggi Province, including the Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramic Art in Icheon, the Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum in Gwangju and the Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramic Design in Yeoju. Starting from the ceramic process, in which clay, water and fire alter one another's properties to create new materiality, it expands the agent of creation from humans to the earth and nature.
Discounted tickets sold in June to build early momentum for the festival's art fairs and biennales drew a strong response, offering savings of up to 70%. About 13,000 were purchased, and most sold out in advance. Tickets to the Jeju Biennale are still available at a 50% discount. The Busan and Gyeonggi Ceramic biennales run through Nov. 1, while the Gwangju and Jeju biennales continue through Nov. 15.
