Art Busan, South Korea’s second-largest art fair, opens a preview session at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center in the southeastern port city of Busan on May 4, 2023. It will be open to the public from May 5-7. (Yonhap)
BUSAN, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Art Busan, South Korea’s second-largest art fair by sales, kicked off a four-day run in the southeastern port city of Busan on Thursday, bringing together 145 galleries from 22 countries.
The 12th edition opened a VIP preview session at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center in the city, located 325 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and will be open to the public from Friday to Sunday.
Major local galleries, including the Kukje Gallery, Gallery Hyundai and the Leeahn Gallery, are presenting the latest contemporary art trends, while 34 overseas galleries, such as Europe-based Thaddaeus Ropac and Berlin’s Peres Projects, are showcasing works by esteemed artists.
Art Busan, South Korea’s second-largest art fair, opens a preview session at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center in the southeastern port city of Busan on May 4, 2023. (Yonhap)
A special exhibition titled “Connect” is dedicated to 12 projects by artists and groups, including the Japanese installation artist Tatsuo Miyajima, American artist Robert Therrien and British Neo-pop surrealist Philip Colbert.
Other programs will introduce emerging local artists working in various genres, including painting, sculpture and photography.
This year, Art Busan offers the Chat GPT-based “Chat Docent” service to provide information about works and artists, the first such program for a domestic art fair.
Visitors can also create their own artworks using DALL-2, a text-to-image generator developed by OpenAI, installed at the venue.
Art Busan, South Korea’s second-largest art fair, opens a preview session at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center in the southeastern port city of Busan on May 4, 2023. (Yonhap)
In the “Conversations” program, also one of the fair’s sub-events, prominent members of the art world will talk and share their creative ideas with the general public.
During the event, those who purchase tickets can use shuttles to travel to selected galleries, museums, hotels, eateries and cafes.
Art Busan generated 74.6 billion won (US$56.3 million) in sales last year, accounting for 25 percent of domestic art fair sales, according to its organizer.
(Yonhap)
