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Lee Seung-su's "Where Should We Go?" exhibited at the Sea Art Festival held at Dadaepo Beach, Busan in 2019. [Image source=Busan Biennale]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] This year's Sea Art Festival will be held at Ilgwang Beach in Gijang-gun, Busan.

Gijang-gun announced on the 18th that the Sea Art Festival, which has established itself as Busan's representative marine art festival, will be held for one month from October 16 to November 14 at Ilgwang Beach.

The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee recently reviewed several beaches in Busan and finally decided on Ilgwang Beach as the venue for the Sea Art Festival.

The Sea Art Festival began in 1987 as a pre-Olympic cultural event for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and has been held independently as an art festival every odd year since 2011.

The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee holds the Sea Art Festival biennially alongside the 'Biennale.'

This year's Sea Art Festival at Ilgwang Beach will feature about 20 domestic and international artists (teams) under the theme "Non-human/Human Hybrids."

In addition to installing marine and waterfront artworks, various citizen participation programs such as communication programs and educational programs will also be operated.

The exhibition director for this Sea Art Festival was selected through the first international open call: Ritika BISWAS (female, 26), from India.

She is the first foreign, female, and youngest exhibition director in the history of the Sea Art Festival, which is considered a groundbreaking selection. Expectations are high for a unique exhibition plan that harmonizes with the sea.

A Gijang-gun official said, "Hosting the Sea Art Festival, an international-scale exhibition event and Busan's representative art festival, in Gijang-gun will be an opportunity for local cultural development," adding, "We will support it so that local artists, residents, and visitors can all participate and enjoy a successful art festival."

The '2019 Sea Art Festival' was held around Dadaepo Beach under the theme "Sea of Heartbreak," featuring 35 artists from 12 countries exhibiting 21 works, attracting about 200,000 visitors during the exhibition period.