KOR
Sea Art Festival
Since 1987, when it started with Haeundae Beach, the Sea Art Festival has been held by the sea, a natural space that is open to all. This uniquely specialized and leading art festival in Busan lowers the barriers to contemporar y art and does an excellent job of reflecting the local environment and conditions.
Sea Art Festival 2023
Venues
Ilgwang beach
MAP
Located in Gijang-gun, Busan, Ilgwang Beach, which means “sunshine” in Korean, boasts a gorgeous coastline in harmony with the sun’s light. More than just a space where the past and future of Busan’s sea coexist, it is also somewhere you can see the old seaside village in Busan, new marine sports, and elegant cafes. Ilgwang Beach is a place that symbolizes Busan’s seaside villages, and was in fact the setting for a novel, The Sea Village (1953), and the 1965 movie of the same title. Quiet, as opposed to overwhelmingly vast, and with the coexistence of the past and future, Ilgwang Beach is a perfect match for the theme of the Sea Art Festival 2023, which aims to reimagine our relationship with the sea in the future while also rethinking the history of coastal villages and the beginning of the sea ecosystem billions of years ago.
Indoor Venue 1 Old Ilgwang Church
MAP
Old Ilgwang Church is located next to Icheon Bridge, which crosses Ilgwangcheon Stream.Originally established as a Methodist prayer center in 1954, it was used from 1961 to 1971 it was utilized as a missionary school for local students. It was then repurposed as Ilgwang Church from 1972 to 2018. Since 2018, however, the space has been left vacant. With a long history of local stories, it will serve as the indoor exhibition venue for Sea Art Festival 2023, where new stories will come together once again.
Indoor Venue 2 Warehouse
MAP
There are two shrines (Halmae Shrine and Halbae Shrine) in Icheon-ri Village, which is located near Ilgwang beach. For more than a hundred years, people have performed the Dangsanje(village ritual ceremony) for the well-being and peace of the village at both shrines. Even today, on the eve of the full moon on the 14th day of the first lunar month, the ceremonies are held, thereby continuing this storied tradition. Villagers set up a warehouse area between the two shrines to store all the supplies needed for the ceremonies. At Sea Art Festival 2023, a variety of artworks will be displayed here to help visitors imagine the future of coastal villages and communities.
Sea Art Festival 2023 Lab
MAP
The Sea Art Festival 2023 Lab is located at the foot of an alleyway just behind Ilgwang beach. Utilizing the first floor of three separate buildings, the Lab will host public programs, including workshops and talks, research, exhibits, and a screening. Workshops will allow audiences to meet Festival artists, learn new skills and discuss marine ecosystems, while artists' displays are presenting stories of sand scarcity, plastic pollution, disappearing ecosystems around Ilgwangcheon Stream, and questions about the possibility of a "green" shipping industry. The 「Other Seas」 screening program will present topics of deep sea mining, sea industrialisation and colonialism, nuclear waste and sea levels rising, but also connections between urban dwellings and marine ecosystems.
