Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall to Be Rebuilt for the First Time in 27 Years

Rep. Lee Hyung-seok, 3 Billion KRW Included for Next Year's Government Budget Design Service Fee

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall will be newly constructed for the first time in 27 years since the inaugural event in 1995.

According to Lee Hyung-seok, Member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Buk-gu Eul), a budget of 3 billion KRW for design services to build the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall was included in the 2022 government budget approved at the National Assembly plenary session on the 3rd.

With the government budget secured, Gwangju City plans to construct the exhibition hall on the site of the Biennale parking lot in Yongbong-dong, Buk-gu, with a total floor area of 23,500㎡, consisting of one basement floor and four above-ground floors, by investing a total project cost of 116.8 billion KRW (58.4 billion KRW from the national government and 58.4 billion KRW from Gwangju City) from next year through 2024.

The construction of the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall will be actively promoted from next year, 27 years after the first event in 1995.

The Gwangju Biennale is regarded as a representative international cultural event in Korea, but there have been many criticisms that its infrastructure is poor and does not match its status.

Above all, the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, built in 1995, has aging facilities and has experienced issues such as water leakage. Facilities for the entry and exit of large-scale artworks, lighting, ventilation, and architectural aesthetics are also poor, and the need for a replacement exhibition hall has been continuously raised.

Considering this situation, Assemblyman Lee proposed the construction project of the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall as a key pledge in the 21st general election, and Gwangju City has also promoted it as a priority issue.

However, since the preliminary feasibility study was not completed, the budget for the exhibition hall construction was not included in the original government budget for next year, and securing the budget was difficult due to opposition from the government side during the 'National Assembly increase' process.

In response, Assemblyman Lee closely cooperated with Lee Byung-hoon, Member of the National Assembly (Gwangju Dongnam-eul) from the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, Jo Oh-seop, Member of the National Assembly (Gwangju Buk-gu Gap) from the Special Budget and Accounts Committee, and Gwangju City to newly include the budget for the exhibition hall construction project in next year’s government budget.

Assemblyman Lee Hyung-seok said, “The Gwangju Biennale is a core resource of Gwangju’s culture, arts, and tourism and a landmark of the Asian cultural hub city. Once the Biennale Exhibition Hall, which was pledged in the 21st general election, is built, it will greatly help not only in creating demand for cultural arts tourism but also in revitalizing the local economy.”

Additionally, Assemblyman Lee secured budgets of 9.5 billion KRW for the new Gwangju Driver’s License Test Center project, 3.5 billion KRW for the establishment of an industrial complex-type intelligent distributed energy corporate joint research utilization center, 300 million KRW for the promotion of the photonics convergence industry, and 200 million KRW for the expansion of the 5·18 World Documentary Heritage preservation facility project.