Ho Tzu Nyen Named Artistic Director of 2026 Gwangju Biennale
131April 24, 2025
The organizers of theGwangju Biennalehave appointed Singaporean artist, filmmaker, and curator Ho Tzu Nyen artistic director of the Sixteenth Gwangju Biennale, set to open September 2026. The Gwangju Biennale Foundation in a press release affirmed that Ho was selected for his “proposal centered on the transformative power of art,” noting that “his curatorial approach, designed to ignite a much-needed driving force in a time of global uncertainty, is expected to chart a new direction for the Gwangju Biennale.”
Born in Singapore in 1976, Ho investigates themes of myth, identity, and history, particularly as they relate to South Asia, through a practice encompassing film, video installation, and performance. Among his best-known works areHERE, 2009, a film about a person undergoing an experimental “videocure” at a psychiatric facility, inspired by the work of French theorist Félix Guattari; andThe Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, 2012–, an ongoing project centering the contemporary historical narrative of the titular region. As an artist, Ho represented Singapore at the 2011 Venice Biennale and participated in the 2014 Shanghai Biennale, the 2019 Aichi Triennale, and the 2019 Sharjah Biennial; he participated in the 2018 iteration of the Gwangju Biennale and contributed a commissioned work to the event’s 2021 edition. As a curator, he cocurated the 2019 Asian Art Biennale in Taiwan.
“It’s a dream come true to return to Gwangju, not as an artist but as artistic director, and to embark on such a unique journey in this remarkable city,” said Ho in a statement. “This edition will bring together the energies, propositions, practices, and ideas that have inspired and propelled me over the past two decades. It will be an opportunity to explore how the practice of artistic transformation resonates with Gwangju’s legacy of democratic change. Rather than delivering a single message, this Biennale will seek to generate propositions for change that are shared and shaped by all of us.”