2026 5th Jeju Biennale Heukkeugok Modakchigok Iyahong: The Art of Transformation
August 25, 2026 - November 15, 2026Overview
The civilization that blossomed on Jeju, a volcanic island on the Eurasian Plate, flowed in not only from the sea but also arrived from northern mainland civilizations. Countless elements scattered and converged on Jeju, blending together and transforming to shape the ecology, geography, and way of life that define Jeju today. Entering its 10th year, the 5th Jeju Biennale focuses on Jeju’s dynamic process of encountering northern civilizations, dispersing (heukkeuda), gathering (modakchida), and transforming (Iyahong). To this end, the Biennale adopts “Iyahong,” the refrain of the Iyahong Taryeong, a folk song that flowed in from the mainland and became another indigenous folk song of Jeju, as its theme and central concept. Through Jeju, where principles of climate and sustenance are embedded, the Jeju Biennale seeks to present the ways of survival and their aesthetics shaped together by objects, nature, human life, and the sacred.
Venue
Jeju Museum of Art
Program
- Main programs: Exhibition programs 1. From Chusa’s Perspective (Jeju Museum of Art) - An exhibition that reinterprets Chusa Kim Jeong-hui’s aesthetics from the perspective of Jeju’s formative qualities and expands, through a contemporary lens, the conditions of exile shaped by real-world politics and historical violence. 2. Though Black, Stones Roll and Roll (Obaek Janggun Gallery, Jeju Stone Park) - An exhibition that explores the intersections of nature and humanity, as well as northern civilizations, through Jeju’s basalt and stone culture, offering an experience of multidimensional time. 3. The Great Halman’s Belly Button (Jeju Art Platform / Art Space IA / Gallery Remicon) - An exhibition that examines Jeju’s inclusiveness and the vitality of its multilayered ways of life through the language of art, drawing on Jeju’s polytheistic (folk-deity) culture.
Organizer
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (064-710-4300) Jeju Museum of Art
Admission fee
[Jeju Museum of Art] - Adults: KRW 8,000 - Youth: KRW 4,000 - Children: KRW 2,000 [Obaek Janggun Gallery, Jeju Stone Park] - Free with a Jeju Biennale ticket [Jeju Art Platform / Art Space IA / Gallery Remicon] - Free
Age limit
All ages
Duration
- August/September: 10:00–20:00 - October/November: 10:00–18:00