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Busan Biennale 2026 to open August 29, running 65 days across the city
Haps Magazine Korea
February 25, 2026
Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (Photo by Busan Biennale Committee/courtesy of Haps Magazine Korea)
Busan’s flagship contemporary art festival, the Busan Biennale, will open on August 29, 2026.
The Busan Metropolitan Government and the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee announced on February 25 that the upcoming edition will run for 65 days, from August 29 through November 1.
Held every two years, the Busan Biennale is widely regarded as one of Korea’s leading contemporary art events, offering an expansive look at global and local artistic practices through works by both Korean and international artists.
The late-August opening was strategically selected to align with other major art events, including the Gwangju Biennale, scheduled for early September, and Frieze Seoul, Korea’s largest art fair.
Organizers expect the clustering of large-scale exhibitions to draw increased attention from international art professionals and visitors to Korea and to Busan in particular.
The 2026 edition will be jointly directed by curators Evelyn Simons and Amal Khalaf, under the theme “Dissident Chorus.”
The exhibition will explore how dissonant voices across visual art, music, choreography, and film, can overlap and accumulate to create collective resonance.
Rather than harmony, the Biennale will emphasize tension, plurality, and the power of coexistence.
The main exhibition venue will be the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, with additional exhibitions staged in underutilized spaces throughout the city, further integrating the Biennale into Busan’s urban fabric.
With the dates now confirmed, the organizing committee plans to gradually announce participating artists and key projects.
Interest is already building around co-artistic director Amal Khalaf, who was ranked 43rd on the influential ArtReview Power 100 list for 2025, raising expectations for a Busan Biennale firmly positioned on the global contemporary art map.