appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Enid Tsui

Despite a title that sounds like a barked order, “You Must Change Your Life” may be one of the most sensitive, nuanced and fulfilling biennale shows in recent memory.
And no, this is not just the relief of a smaller, less foot-blistering marathon of a show than usual, though that too is very much part of the curatorial philosophy.
The strong selection of artworks in the main exhibition of the 16th Gwangju Biennale is blessedly free of the moralising, clichéd tone that taints so many recent biennials and delivers on the curatorial promise of empowering change by shifting our perspectives.
The title is taken from Rainer Maria Rilke’s 1908 poem Archaic Torso of Apollo. Artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen – a Singaporean visual artist, filmmaker and curator – was reading the poem on a train while feeling creatively depleted after a major solo exhibition in 2024. In those words, he found rejuvenation.
Now, they have been transplanted to an exhibition in a historically charged city where the Gwangju massacre of 1980 paved the way to eventual democracy in South Korea.

A deep, slow burn of an exhibition
As an artist who often has to navigate an exhausting circuit of global art exhibitions, Ho rebelled against the expansionary model of modern mega-exhibitions by confining the main exhibition to a single venue – the Biennale Hall – and restricting the roster to just 43 artists and groups, compared with over 70 artists and nine venues in the 2024 edition.
It is a deep, slow burn of an exhibition that encourages a rare intensity of attention rather than a sheer accumulative experience.
As Ho explained in the opening press conference, he wanted to prevent biennial panic. You do not have to worry about missing anything with this exhibition, which frames change as a sustained, interconnected reconfiguration that starts with the self.
We see this in the quiet, durational painting practice of Sasaki Ken, whose works recur across four different galleries like familiar travelling companions. Referencing Japanese yoga, or Western-style painting – a tradition reserved for heroic, masculine subjects – Sasaki tenderly uses oil painting techniques to document the mundane that forms part of himself: household objects, drawings by his brother who has a disability, boots belonging to a friend who founded an alternative art school.
This memorialisation of the personal recurs throughout the halls. Goldin+Senneby’s Resin Pond (2025) is a show-stopper in an otherwise spectacle-free event. Two tonnes of luminous pine resin spread across the floor visually seduce while physically obstructing the space.
Jakob Senneby – one half of the Stockholm-based artistic duo – has multiple sclerosis. The work brings home the reality of living with an immune system that has become toxic, while its broader social resonance ripples across the still pond.

The body and perspectives
Several other artists also address how the body and the mind change to accommodate a life with illness.
Italian artist Rossella Biscotti explores the retraining of the body after illness in Alfabeto (2018). Indian photographer Sohrab Hura’s Life is Elsewhere (2015) is a collection of photos, videos and writings recording the years when his family isolated themselves while his mother suffered from acute paranoid schizophrenia.
While Hura dreamed of life elsewhere, the intimate, grainy black-and-white photos of his mother are a record of pain, taboo and love.
The exhibition continually shifts our macro and micro perspectives.
Mumbai-based studio Camp’s Bombay Tilts Down (2022) was filmed via a single Mumbai CCTV surveillance camera to expose social hierarchies, challenging the genre of traditional landscapes. Australian dancer and choreographer Angela Goh’s Craft (2026) is a performance that functions like a multi-focal zoom, directing our gaze from minute bodily gestures to the wider city environment.
Meanwhile, Swedish artist Nina Canell’s delicate assemblages show how micro-movements shape environments, sitting in contrast to the volcanic plugs from Jeju Island – listed as participating artists – that remind us of vastly different scales of transformation.
Other artists tackle intimacy within a political context. Filipino artist Kiri Dalena’s Life Masks (2013-) portrays plaster-mask-wearing activists affected by state-sanctioned violence, memorialising the intimate trust built between artist and subject.

Embracing political works
Given the Gwangju Biennale’s emphasis on slowing down and quiet contemplation, it was a pleasant surprise to find that Ho and his team have not shied away from political works that help make the exhibition immediate and grounded in reality.
At the opening press conference, the curators urged visitors not to be distracted by the bitter pre-opening dispute between Taiwan and mainland China over the “Taiwan Pavilion” naming in a separate section of the biennial. But quiet contemplation, it turns out, is not the same as political evasiveness: the exhibition examines the power dynamics of social change and the way small, individual acts can help carry collective change forward.
A collective of women deeply affected by the 1980 Gwangju massacre, the May Mothers’ House, presents 322 paintings, turning decades of trauma into an active practice of solidarity and remembrance.
A mini library in the exhibition contains the Gwangju Videos – anonymous compilations of videos recording what happened on May 18, widely circulated despite intense state scrutiny, and The Light in the Factory (1978), a recording of a secret musical drama about labour rights that was also widely copied and circulated at the time.
Complementing this is Hong Kong-born, Los Angeles-based Sunik Kim’s new The Light in the Factory (2026), a 496-hour sound installation echoing degraded 1980s democratic labour songs. Installed in transitional spaces, it spans the biennial’s public opening hours to measure time through sonic degradation.
Taiwanese-American artist James T. Hong’s Apologies – a video compilation started in 2012 – has grown longer as more politicians apologise in public. Projected on the facade of the exhibition hall every evening, the compilation’s meaning is ambiguous: is accountability just theatre, or are these significant instances of collective remorse?
Palestinian artist Mona Benyamin uses bitter, gut-wrenching humour in videos starring her Palestinian parents to question whether laughter can survive occupation and terror.
Contemporary Chinese artist Wang Tuo’s continuation of his Critical Theory of Absence (2026-) series navigates collective amnesia. Playing on overlapping screens, his works The Experimental Paradigm of Ownership and Autonomy and Ratchet Drill recreate scenes from the Gwangju uprising while examining the precarious reality of queer activism in China under blanket censorship.

For ultimate transcendence, Chinese artist Lu Yang’s “Doku” film series (2022-) pushes individual world-making to the limit, merging Tibetan Buddhist concepts with video game aesthetics to navigate life’s illusions.
The final gallery, a sanctuary with one work, is a masterstroke. American artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork’s Not Exactly BPM (Variation Rrose) (2026) is a giant inflatable labyrinth breathing in time to psychoacoustic techno music in an orange-lit room. It encapsulates an aspect of club culture that symbolises how we are all connected yet alone in this world.

A focus on older works
If there is a criticism of “You Must Change Your Life”, it is this: the well-travelled will recognise many of the older works on display across the biennial.
It is an interesting contrast to the Busan Biennale, taking place concurrently, where 70 per cent of the exhibits are new commissions. However, knowing what you will get means curators can tightly control the experience and, in this case, rise above the pre-opening “Taiwan Pavilion” political drama.
Titled “Instance Dungeons: Gray Zone”, the Taiwan show proved one of the strongest in the pavilion segment of the biennial – modelled on the Venice Biennale’s national pavilion system and organised separately from Ho’s exhibition.

It became the centre of attention after the organiser, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, protested the decision to call it the “NTMoFA Pavilion” instead of the “Taiwan Pavilion”. The Gwangju Biennale foundation backed down after criticism of censorship and allowing political interference. That prompted mainland China to protest, claiming the pavilion name amounted to acknowledging Taiwan as a nation, and withdrew from the biennial even though its own pavilion had already been installed.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
Housed in the National Asia Culture Centre and curated by Chen Hsiang-wen and Lin Hsiao-yu, the Taiwan exhibition uses the video game concept of an “instance dungeon” – isolated copies of areas generated for single parties of players –
an arena of endlessly recurring histories and conflicts – to tackle Taiwan’s precarious reality in the “new Cold War”. With stand-out works from artists such as Su Hui-yu, Li Yi-fan and Cheng Hsien-yu, the exhibition dissects cognitive warfare, disinformation and surveillance with gravity and humour.
“You Must Change Your Life”, 16th Gwangju Biennale, led by artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen, together with curators Che Kyongfa, Park Gahee and Brian Kuan Wood. Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, September 5 to November 15, 2026. A total of 27 pavilions are also holding exhibitions during the same period.


The tragic Qing dynasty politician whose legacy lives on in descendant’s new novel

16th Gwangju Biennale rises above controversies as one of art world’s best in recent years

Why France’s Louvre Museum is looking East to help fund its €1 billion transformation

Hong Kong artist Lau Wai looks at the unsettling future of humans and AI in solo show

James T. Hong’s “Apologies” (2012-) is projected on the outside of the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall. The ongoing video compilation of politicians’ public apologies is projected on the exhibition hall every night for the duration of the biennale. Photo: courtesy of James T. Hong and Empty Gallery

“You Must Change Your Life” artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen (second left) speaks during the opening press conference for the 16th Gwangju Biennale on September 4, 2026. Photo: Hwang In-ho, Gwangju Biennale Foundation

Goldin+Senneby’s Resin Pond (2025) is spread across the floor of Gallery 1 at the biennale. Photo: Jeon Byung Cheol / Gwangju Biennale Foundation

Partial view of The Heads in Question (2009-2015), by Rossella Biscotti, at the 16th Gwangju Biennale. Photo: Enid Tsui

Wang Tuo’s The Experimental Paradigm of Ownership and Autonomy (2026, front left) and Ratchet Drill (2026, front right) play on overlapping screens. Photo: Enid Tsui

Not Exactly BPM (Variation Rrose) (2026), by Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork. Photo: courtesy of Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Empty Gallery

Taiwan Pavilion curator Chen Hsiang-wen speaks during the opening ceremony of the pavilion at the 16th Gwangju Biennale. Photo: Enid Tsui

A not so ‘Dissident Chorus’? Busan Biennale 2026 makes some political noise

The lobby of the Busan Museum of Contemporary Art features a selection of images taken from The House of Korean Protest Songs archive during the 2026 Busan Biennale. Photo: Enid Tsui

The Warriors Return (1999) by Abdul Qadim Haqq. Photo: Enid Tsui

A classroom transformed by Mongolian artist Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar. Photo: Enid Tsui

Part of Hyunsung Park’s transformation of the kitchen in the empty high school building used for the Busan Biennale. Photo: Enid Tsui

A scene from Joshua Serafin’s Whispering Pleas of the Eternal Echoes. Photo: Enid Tsui 

A view of Sungsil Ryu’s Ten Thousand Dreams. Photo: Enid Tsui

Dew Kim’s Act 3: The Revealed Constellation transforms a bridge connecting two buildings in the Busan Nam High School into a corridor of stained glass. Photo: Enid Tsui

We Carry Our Pain Like a Language (2026) by Yazan Khalili. Photo: Enid Tsui

Seoul Art Week 2026 sees galleries change tactics to woo buyers in a cooler market

Visitors walk past “Can time stop?” (2025) by British artist Ryan Gander at Frieze Seoul 2026. Photo: Enid Tsui

Frieze Seoul director Patrick Lee said this year’s fair attracted a new generation of curious collectors for whom more pieces were affordable. Photo: Enid Tsui

Visitors admire South Korean artist Park Eunsun’s granite sculpture “Colonna Infinita – Continua” (2026) at Frieze Seoul. Photo: Enid Tsui

Loewe Craft Prize 2026 winner Park Jong-jin’s “Strata of Illusion” was sold at Frieze Seoul 2026 for US$30,000 to US$40,000 by Hong Kong gallery Soluna. Photo: Enid Tsui

A work by Do Ho Suh at the Lehmann Maupin booth at Frieze Seoul 2026. Photo: Do Ho Suh

The making of Hope, Na Hong-jin’s sci-fi spectacular and most expensive Korean film ever

Hwang Jung-min (front) and Jung Ho-yeon on the set of Hope.

Jung Ho-yeon (front) and Hwang Jung-min in a still from Hope, a sci-fi action spectacular from South Korean director Na Hong-jin.

(From left) Alicia Vikander, Na Hong-jin, Taylor Russell and Michael Fassbender are pictured during the Hope photocall at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 18, 2026. Photo: Corbis via Getty Images

Jung Ho-yeon, best known for her starring role in Squid Game season one, on the set of Hope.

Hwang Jung-min in a still from Hope.

Zo In-sung in a still from Hope.

Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jin at an interview with the SCMP on August 20, 2026. Photo: Jonathan Wong

This Leslie Cheung 70th birthday exhibition offers an intimate look at the Cantopop star

Exhibits are displayed at “Miss You Much. Leslie 70th Birthday. Exhibition” at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, which marks the 70th anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s birth. The exhibition features more than 300 rare items, stage costumes and recreations of interiors from Cheung’s former residences. Photo: Karma Lo

The exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin marks the 70th anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s birth. Photo: Karma Lo

The exhibition is running from September 9 to May 10 next year. Photo: Karma Lo

Cheung performs on stage at Live in Concert 97 (left) and during his Passion Tour. Photos: courtesy of Daffy Tong

A display of Cheung’s albums at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Photo: Karma Lo

A book of birthday messages for the singer is displayed at the exhibition. Photo: Karma Lo

Lifestyle

Arts

Curators urged visitors not to be distracted by the bitter pre-opening dispute over the ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ naming. They needn’t have worried


Curators urged visitors not to be distracted by the bitter pre-opening dispute over the ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ naming. They needn’t have worried.


South Korea

16th Gwangju Biennale rises above controversies as one of art world’s best in recent years

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Curators urged visitors not to be distracted by the bitter pre-opening dispute over the ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ naming. They needn’t have worried

Curators urged visitors not to be distracted by the bitter pre-opening dispute over the ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ naming. They needn’t have worried