exhibit

Gwangju Biennale – South Korea …

Returned last Thursday from a rewarding trip to Gwangju in South Korea where I was asked to exhibit my work on the cage homes of Hong Kong – “Cage Dogs” – at the Gwangju Design Biennale 2011. The total exhibit included a reconstruction of three 6 foot by two and a half foot wire cage ‘homes’ set on a floor plan where eighteen cages would be set. The minimalist feel to the exhibit added to it’s poignancy and it slotted it well alongside many other startling exhibits.

The theme of this years Biennale  is “Dogadobisangdo” (圖可圖非常圖) – “Design is Design is not Design” –  inspired by the first words in Do Duk Kyeong (Tao Te Ching, 道德經)’ of No Ja (Lao Tzu, 老子) – ‘The way道 that is the way is not always the way. The name名 that is the name is not always the name.’ – reinterpreted as ‘design is design is not always design and non-design is non-design is not always non-design’.

So there !

Chinese artist, architectural designer (the Olympic “Bird’s Nest” stadium) and activist – Ai Weiwei – is director/curator but was not in attendance as he is under ‘loose detention’ in China and unable to leave Beijing.

Very entertaining and elaborate opening ceremony with many imposing dignitaries and some excellent audiovisual work from renowned DJ Spooky. The Gwangju Design Biennale is expected to attract about a half million visitors to the city that is the centre of the arts and democracy on the Korean Peninsula.

Posted below a pic of the cage home exhibit at the Biennale – and my cage home images  ‘Cage Dogs’ can be found here.

Image © Brian Cassey 2011

Korea – Gwangju Design Biennale – Cage Dogs …

Have been invited to exhibit at Asia’s pre-eminent design and arts expo – the Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea – with the images I collected from my visits to Hong Kong’s ‘Cage Home’ people. The Biennale team are replicating a Hong Kong cage home flat (which normally house up to 20 individual cage homes) and an actual 6 foot by two and a half foot wire cage ‘home’.

My surrounding exhibited photographs will tell the visual story of some of the tens of thousands of unfortunates who are living their lives in these cramped cages in Hong Kong – acknowledged as one of the World’s richest cities.

I’ve also been invited to give a video presentation … so will be off to Gwangju in southern Korea for the opening event on September 2nd.

Gwangju is Korea’s sixth largest city and the focus for contemporary design and arts on the peninsula and, indeed, Asia. The last Gwangju Design Biennale in 2009 attracted fractionally under half a million visitors.

However, Gwangju city is most noted for the 1980 massacre of (an unofficial figure) of near two thousand pro-democracy student demonstrators by the armed forces, when the city was at the forefront of the democracy movement in South Korea. The people of Gwangju are proud of the uprising and tend to be at the forefront of any political upheaval in the country.

Below I’ve posted  just two of the ‘Cage Dogs’ images that will be part of the exhibit at the Biennale. They will link to more cage home images on my web site proper.

Images © Brian Cassey