Gwangju, the city of human rights and the Gwangju Biennale, will be the home of a new international art fair, Art Gwangju, the first edition of which will take place in September 2010. As a sister event to the Gwangju Biennale, Art Gwangju will be different from other existing art fairs in that it will bring together works of contemporary art and design. Art Gwangju will lay the ground work for the aesthetic, cultural, and industrial bridging of contemporary art and design.

Art Gwangju is conceived to broaden concepts and expand the boundaries of artistic genres, to organize an art fair that integrates contemporary art and design. In doing so, it will pay particular attention to the opinions of the art public, not just art professionals. The organizers will encourage the fair to become a cultural 'bazaar'_ where one can view the various and hybrid achievements demanded by contemporary visual art. The venue for the fair will be the Kimdaejung Convention Center, named after the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the late President Kim Dae-jung.

At Art Gwangju a variety of events will take place in which major galleries and institutions of contemporary art, design art journals, artists, collectors, curators, related organizations, and devotees of art can participate. In particular, Art Gwangju will organize talks and symposia to facilitate meetings among artists, collectors, and curators to give the participants added value for their participation.

Gwangju is located at the center of Northeast Asia and the Pacific connecting Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, and other major cities within two hours as such it is the hub of culture and transportation in the region. As the cradle of the civil uprising that eventually heralded democracy in Korea, Gwangju is also known, with its population of 1.4 million, the "home of the civic spirit of the 20th century". In 1995, the Gwangju Biennale was born, led by this civil spirit; it is the oldest and most prestigious art biennale in Asia, and it became one of the premier biennales in the world in the shortest course of time.

Art Gwangju is already drawing attention as a premier cultural event taking place in September in Asia and the Pacific, and the art press has already designated it as a "must-attend" event. Since 2004, Gwangju has been the focus of the Korean government's investment to make it a "hub city for culture in Asia," and five billion US dollars for the next five years has been budgeted for this purpose. The construction of the Asia Culture Complex, incorporating a new art museum and performing art spaces, began in 2009 as a part of the "hub city" project. The construction is expected to be completed in 2014.

Art Gwangju is preparing to welcome one hundred leading international galleries to the city. Gwangju will lead the art market in Asia in the future; the upcoming Art Gwangju will showcase the reasons why and how. In addition this year, ten thousand people from all over the world will participate in the press opening and opening ceremony of the Eighth Gwangju Biennale. Satellite events will be prepared to draw them to Art Gwangju.

Yongwoo Lee
President
Art Gwangju Excutive Committee