Busan Biennale

Busan Biennale 2008

06 Sep - 15 Nov 2008

The Busan Biennale 2008
Expenditure
06 September - 15 November
Artistic Director: Won Bang Kim

Expenditure
Expenditure is a concept that originated from the thought of the French philosopher, Georges Bataille. Georges Bataille is a leading philosopher on post-structuralism and post-modern cultural theories and is being reevaluated as one of the most unique and remarkable thinkers in the 20th century.

Expenditure is a concept opposite to production, moderation, accumulation, acquisition, system, control, etc. and is interpreted as consumption, discharge, exhaustion. It also means extravagance and reckless spending. Bataille believed that human civilization and culture could be maintained through the meaningless process of discharging, consuming, disintegrating such accumulation and production. In this regard, Bataille's expenditure is at the antipode of goal-oriented and production-centered values and in itself a major cultural activity and driver. Furthermore, Bataille's expenditure has positive meanings such as presents, unconditional giving and benefits, distribution of possessions, and relaxation of tension and it is directly linked to the meaning of artistic activity. In this aspect, Bataille reckoned that the highest and holiest values of religion, human body discharging wastes, eroticism, crime and war, and art could all meet in the same dimension.

Expenditure and similar concepts like consumption, and discharge are not just concepts in philosophy and sociology. It can also serve as an significant approach of art criticism that can analyze artworks or reinterpret the entire contemporary art history. Bataille had already employed relevant theories as specific theories for artworks, like surrealism. After the 1980s, several leading post-modern critical theorists expanded the concept of informe, which is a concept similar to expenditure, into a theory reinterpreting the entire contemporary art. This approach is aesthetics pursuing degenderization, decategorization, eroticism, disintegration of reproductive order, aesthetics of entropic degeneration, grotesqueness, disintegration of artwork concepts, disruption of subjects, others, collapse ofconfrontational structure between the center and the peripheral, an end to the confrontation between the conservative and the radical aesthetics, as well as the aesthetics of transgression. This aesthetics constitutes the most important trend in today's world art and the Busan Biennale will broadly highlight the art following this trend.

In addition, the concept of expenditure well represents the characteristics of cutting-edge cyber culture, as well as those of contemporary art. Moreover, expenditure is a self-reflective, self-destructive concept that challenges the symbolic system of culture and criticizes the structure of culture itself. Thus, this concept will entail a strong intention of the Biennale reflecting upon the basic production conditions of culture and art and their philosophical foundation, rather than contributing to fantasy about a new type of art, cultural fetishism. It will also shift the focus of the Biennale from the production-centered perspective, like the production of newer types of art and more cultural events, to the disintegration, consumption and disappearance of culturally symbolic values. It turns out that this aspect is actually a significant driver of culture and a source of values.


Artists:

ADAM PUTNAM

AEHEE

AIDA RUILOVA

ALAN VEGA

ALEX MCQUILKIN

ANDRO WEKUA

BEOM SOO KIM

BHARTI KHER

BRUCE LABRUCE

Chongbin PARK

CHOONG-HYUN ROH

CHRISTINA MACKIE

CHRISTODOULOS PANAYIOTOU

CHRYSTEL EGAL

CODY CHOI

DAVID ASKEVOLD

DAVID NOONAN

DONG YEON KIM

DOUG FISHBONE

EDUARDO ABAROA

ERIK VAN LIESHOUT

Eun Young PARK

GO KATO

GU-YOUNG HE

GUANGXIN LI

GUIDO VAN DER WERVE

GWANG JOON AHN

HAN SU LEE

HANAZAWA YOTA

HEA-JIN JUNG

HERNAN BAS

HOJIN LEE

IVETTE ZIGHELBOIM

JAEHO JEONG

JESSE BRANSFORD

JEUNG EUN SHON

JIM SHAW

JONATHAN BERGER

JONG HEON BAE

JULIET JACOBSON

JUN-HO JEUN

KAMIN LERTCHAIPRASERT

KAREN RUSSO

KIRA KIM

KRITI ARORA

LIGYUNG

LISA RUYTER

LYLE ASHTON HARRIS

MARILYN MINTER

MARLENE MCCARTY

MARNIE WEBER

MARTIN SASTRE

MICHAEL RAEDECKER

MONTRI

MYUNG SEOP HONG

NATE LOWMAN

NICOLE AWAI

PHILIPPE TERRIER-HERMANN

PINAREE SANPITAK

PORNTAWEESAK RIMSAKUL

PRINCESS DRAGONMOM

REN LIU

ROGER HIORNS

ROSS BLECKNER

RURIKO MURAYAMA

RYAN TRECARTIN

SAM SU Meng-Hung

SEUNG-TAEK LEE

SHIMIZU JIO

SOUN HONG

STEVEN CLAYDON

SUE DE BEER

TERENCE KOH

TETSUYA NAKAMURA

THE BLUESOUP GROUP

TOCUTOMI MITSURU

VARDA CAIVANO

VICTOR MAN

WANG LUYAN

WEI LIU

WENLING CHEN

XIAN JI CUI

XIAOCHUN MIAO

YAMAKAWA FUYUKI

YANG QIAN

YASUMASA MORIMURA

YASUYUKI NISHIO

YEO-RAN JE

YEORROCK

YONG-BAEK LEE
 

Tags: Eduardo Abaroa, David Askevold, Hernan Bas, Sue de Beer, Ross Bleckner, Bluesoup, Varda Caivano, Po-i Chen, Cody Choi, Steven Claydon, Ma Han, Lyle Ashton Harris, Roger Hiorns, Ou Jin, Bharti Kher, Kira Kim, Terence Koh, Bruce Labruce, Hojin Lee, Seung-Taek Lee, Erik van Lieshout, Nate Lowman, Christina Mackie, Victor Man, Marlene Mccarty, Lv Miao, Marilyn Minter, Yasumasa Morimura, Ruriko Murayama, Tetsuya Nakamura, Yasuyuki Nishio, David Noonan, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Adam Putnam, Michael Raedecker, Porntaweesak Rimsakul, Choong-Hyun Roh, Aïda Ruilova, Karen Russo, Lisa Ruyter, Pinaree Sanpitak, Martin Sastre, Jim Shaw, Ryan Trecartin, Marnie Weber, Andro Wekua, Guido van der Werve