The organizers of the Gwangju Biennale have unveiled the title and theme of the fifteenth edition of the event. Entitled “Pansori: A Soundscape of the 21st Century,” after a musical form that emerged in southwestern Korea in the 17th century, the Biennale will explore the effects of climate change and the recent pandemic on the notion of space, and examine the relationship between humans, animals and nature in the context of the Anthropocene.
Word Pansori literally means “the sound of the public square” or, more loosely, the voice of ordinary people. The genre, which offers musical tales by a singer accompanied by a drummer, was born as an accompaniment to shamanic rituals.
Curated by a French scholar, curator and critic Nicolas Bourriaud, artistic director of the edition, the Biennale will be divided into three sections, each responding to what the press release describes as a “sound phenomenon”. The first of these will be correlated to the Larsen effect, or audio feedback, which occurs when an amplified source is placed too close to a receiver. The section will present the world as an echo chamber and study the effect of human saturation on interpersonal and interspecific relationships. The second section will revolve around the concept of polyphony, a musical style characterized by multiple independent melodic lines; here, the link between industrialized and developing countries will be highlighted. The third section is based on “the sound of the origins, the Chinese Qithe buddhist Om, the first sound of the Big Bang. Through this lens, the artists will examine the macro and the micro: the cosmos and the molecular world.
During the Biennale, which is set to open in September 2024 at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, art projects will appear in various locations around the city, ranging from cafes to public parks. Additionally, sound-based artwork will be scattered throughout Gwangju; these will act as madangsor “individual songs”, from pansori.
