Global Dawning: The Gwangju Biennial Factor in the Making and Marketing of Contemporary Asian Art

The rise of contemporary Asian art to global art, its huge success on the world stage of art exhibitions and art markets, is largely due to the biennial effect'. This article scrutinizes the Asian biennial factor in pushing Asian art into the global arena through the lens of the Gwangju Biennale. South Korea initiated the Asian art biennale wave - the first Asian biennale took place in Gwangju in 1995. The history of the Gwangju Biennale, from its beginning as a local-regional exhibition to a truly global Asian exhibition, provides profound insights into the international making and global marketing of contemporary Asian art, including Korean art. By comparing four Gwangju biennales - the start-up biennale of 1995, the millennium biennale of 2000, the first decisively Asian biennale of 2006 and the most recent biennale of 2012, the forces of internationalization and globalization on art, biennial art curating and criticism in Asia are investigated.