On February 26, the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee announced the artistic directors who will lead the 2025 Sea Art Festival. For the first time in the festival’s history, three co-artistic directors have been appointed: Keumhwa Kim, Bernard Vienat, and Sara Kim.

Keumhwa Kim, who works between South Korea and Germany, is the founder and art director of Keum Art Projects. Her work is rooted in a post-Anthropocene perspective, focusing on integrating art into non-traditional spaces. Last year, she curated the international symposium 《Re-Covering Getbol as Hybrid Landscapes》 in collaboration with the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art and the Gyeonggi Creation Center. She is also a board member of Art4Biodiversity, an international non-profit organization dedicated to expanding ecological concerns in art.

Swiss-born Bernard Vienat, who also serves on the Art4Biodiversity board, researches the intersections of art, science, and geopolitics. In 2012, he founded art-werk, a non-profit association dedicated to contemporary art and environmental issues. Since 2021, he has been leading the 《re(connecting).earth》 project, traveling across European cities to promote new perspectives on the relationship between humans and nature.

Sara Kim, an architect known in South Korea for curating the on-site project 《Nowhere, Now Here》 at the 4th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, is the founder and principal architect of Diagonal Thoughts. She has participated in exhibitions at institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, ARKO Art Center, and Busan Museum of Art, presenting new perspectives that merge art and architecture.

Since its inception in 1987, the Sea Art Festival has utilized iconic beaches in Busan, including Haeundae, Gwangalli, Songdo, and Dadaepo. As a leading outdoor exhibition that highlights Busan’s geographical characteristics, the festival will return to Dadaepo Beach for the first time in seven years.

Curated collaboratively for the first time by three artistic directors, the 2025 Sea Art Festival will take place over 37 days, from September 27 to November 2, in the Dadaepo Beach area of Saha-gu, Busan.

References

• 부산비엔날레조직위원회 보도자료 (Busan Biennale Organizing Committee Press Release)