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- Directed by Yongwoo Lee
- Beyond The Borders
- Directed by Yongwoo Lee
- 92 Artists from 50 countries in the main exhibition and 249 in the special exhibition
- Beyond the Borders conveyed a message of global citizenship that transcended the divisions between ideologies, territories, religion, race, culture, humanity, and the arts. Aesthetically, it manifested itself in art’s ability to overcome meaningless pluralism and intended to establish new orders and relationships between the arts and mankind. In particular, the exhibition attempted to respect the variety of lifestyles and traditions in the world and foresee the future of arts and civilization from this multifaceted perspective.
- September 1 - November 27, 1997
- Unmapping The Earth
- Directed by Harald Szeemann
- 117 Artists from 39 Countries
- While the visual concept of negative space often manifests itself in a limited manner in Western art, it is almost omnipresent in the East. It is most easily defined as the space which is left around the characters and images in a composition. Despite the connotations of the word “negative” it also holds the implication of possibility, new creation, and new creativity. In a broader sense, it can also represent resistance against encroaching modern society and the destruction of the primeval. The main exhibition was designed to discuss the importance of the flow of the natural in its relationship to negative space to create a dialogue on a harmonious coexistence between the built and the pristine.
- Directed by Kwangsu Oh
- Man+Space
- Directed by Kwangsu Oh
- 245 Artists from 46 Countries
- "人 (Man)" is a pictograph that symbolizes a standing man, and implies that man is the most precious among creatures, while the pictograph "間 (Space)" originally symbolizes the gap between doors. In a broader sense, it is used to refer to distance, relationships, intervals, the center, a border, or contact. In terms of culture, man (人), alongside "間 (Space)," represents man as a social being by deconstructing and rebuilding the original meaning of each pictograph. In this way, the theme of Man+Space was an attempt to dismantle all past contradictions and divisions in human lives and construct a new notion of living.
- March 29 - June 29, 2002
- P_a_u_s_e
- Curated by Charles Esche, Hou Hanru and Sung Wan Kyung
- 325 Artists from 31 Countries
- P_a_u_s_e, the theme of the 2002 Gwangju Biennale, was adopted from the Eastern concept of meditation to encourage mankind to withdraw from the rigors of contemporary society and prepare for a new leap forward. The exhibition invited the participation of non-profit and experimental art groups and movements from throughout the world to promote communication, and to propose a withdrawal from the narrative of modern art history, even from modern society itself, in an effort to build a new way forward.
- September 10 - November 13, 2004
- A Grain of dust A Drop of Water
- Directed by Yongwoo Lee with Co-Curators Kerry Brougher and Sukwon Chang
- 237 Artists from 41 Countries
- "A Grain of Dust, a Drop of Water" was conceived as a symbolic image of an Eastern philosophical discourse pursued by the Biennale. Dust and water both serve as key aspects of the entire cycle of life. In turn, a single grain or drop can be seen as a tiny lone fragment or an essential aspect of a greater whole. In this way, the theme of "A Grain of Dust, a Drop of Water" presented a series of exhibitions driven by unique and spontaneous development.
- September 8 - November 11, 2006
- Fever Variations
- Directed by Kim Hong-hee with Chief Curator Wu Hung and Chief Programmer Kim Sang-Yun
- 127 Artists from 31 Countries
- Asia is changing. Asia is constantly moving and expanding with no definitive form of identity. It is not the fantasy in the minds of the West; the fantasy of New Asia is born from the mobile and dynamic Asia. "Fever," the keyword of the 2006 Gwangju Biennale, is derived from the Latin for "heat", but culturally or poetically means a hot trend or phenomenon. The intention was to reorganize and reinterpret contemporary art from the perspective of Asia´s new energy of change and its dynamic vision that is spreading like a fever.
- September 5 - November 8, 2008
- Annual Report : A year in Exhibitions
- Directed by Okwui Enwezor with Co-Curators Hyunjin Kim and Ranjit Hoskote
- The principal exhibition logic of the 7th Gwangju Biennale will have no thematic framework. Instead, it is comprised of a series of selected traveling exhibitions invited to use the biennale as a destination, a stop on the touring itinerary in the global exhibition network. By inviting exhibitions to the Biennale, the aim is not simply to make an exhibition about exhibitions or to debate the principles of curatorial culture. Rather, exhibitions are understood here as fundamental expressions of cultural and intellectual practice, and as such have gone beyond being understood as a form of reflection or forum of debate for art..!
