Title, Theme Announced for 2026 Gwangju Biennale
44March 16, 2026
The organizers of theGwangju Biennalehave revealed the title and theme of the event’s sixteenth iteration, to take place September 5–November 15. “You Must Change Your Life,” the Biennale’s title, repeats the last line of Austrian poet Raine Maria Rilke’s 1908 poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo.” The narrator of Rilke’s brief verse looks upon the ruined torso—headless, limbless—of the titular Greek god and imagines a low light inside it which bursts forth, evoking Apollo’s return and the statue’s transformation. The verse suggests the reader take charge of his fate, rather than waiting for it to befall him. Accordingly, the exhibition will examine the transformative power of art amid the turbulence of contemporary times.
Speaking at a March 13 press conference, Singaporean artist, filmmaker, and curatorHo Tzu Nyen, the Biennale’s artistic director, sharpened the theme further. “The core keywords are ‘change’ and ‘practice,’” he said. The exhibition will explore change not only as a sudden dynamic shift but as a durational everyday process.
Under the leadership of Ho, who is being assisted by curators Che Kyongfa, Park Gahee, and Brian Kuan Wood, the Biennale will feature forty-five artists and collectives from twenty countries—the smallest cohort since its 1995 founding. “We are focusing on the density of works rather than expanding scale,” explained Ho. “While biennales typically gather single pieces by many artists like dots, this time we will connect individual works as lines to reveal the form of artistic practice that has continued over a long period.” Among the artists presenting new commissions will be Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Nam Hwayeon, and Kwon Byungjun and Park Chan-kyong.