What follows is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the 11th edition of the Busan Biennale, but rather a recounting of my experience at the exhibition Seeing in the Dark, co-curated by Vera Mey and Philippe Pirotte. I arrived on a hot August day, far from the glamour of the opening, thanks to a high-speed train that allowed me to travel to Busan and return to Seoul on the same day with just a few hours to take in the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary History and 1918 HANSUNG 1918. The tropical heat kept me from stopping by the Choyang House, opting instead for a series of iced American coffee (the unusual choice of iced American coffee due less to personal taste—this was more of an attempt to immerse myself in local culture and sip on a popular drink choice).
In addition to my own thoughts, you’ll also read the perspective of co-director Vera Mey, whom I interviewed thanks to Hiraani Himon, the director of Te Tuhi (a remarkable contemporary art space in New Zealand) and former deputy director of South London Gallery, as well as the Italian curator and researcher Anna Castelli, who connected us. The perspective from which I’ve written the following is not that of a journalist, but rather as a curator and colleague. The theme of the 11th Busan Biennale is, in fact, closely aligned with a curatorial section of the Malta Biennale (Insulaphilia), that took place 9,000 kilometres away: Pirate Utopia.