Former MMCA Director Youn Bum-mo appointed as Gwangju Biennale Foundation president
Youn Bum-mo, the former director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, has been appointed president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and will lead the organization ahead of the upcoming Gwangju Design Biennale in August and the 2026 Gwangju Biennale.
The foundation's board made the decision in a meeting on Thursday, according to the foundation, in recognition of Youn’s contribution to Minjung art and his service as director of the state-run museum from 2019 to 2023. As a researcher, Youn contributed to the establishment of Minjung art, the genre that emerged among artists in the 1970s and 1980s who spoke out through art against dictatorship and military rule.
“Having participated in the founding of the Gwangju Biennale 30 years ago, returning now as its president brings a heavy sense of responsibility. I will further strengthen the biennale’s identity and foster it as a hub for artistic discourse rooted in the civic spirit of Gwangju,” Youn said.
Youn served as an executive committee member for the inaugural Gwangju Biennale in 1995, according to the foundation.
Youn took office as the director of MMCA in 2019. His term was renewed after three years, but he resigned from the post after he came under scrutiny when the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration came into power in 2022 and took the unprecedented step of revealing the findings of a special audit into alleged inappropriate actions by the museum.
Succeeding the foundation's former President Park Yang-woo, whose term recently expired, Youn will officially start his duties on Monday.
The 16th Gwangju Biennale in 2026 will be helmed by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen as artistic director, while the upcoming 2025 Gwangju Design Biennale in September will be curated by professor Choi Soo-shin from the Savannah College of Art and Design in the US state of Georgia, exploring how design will embrace humanity.
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