Throughout history, follies have been used widely in architecture, visual arts, and literature as a provocation, a frivolous diversion or strategic place of madness and satire freed from the constraints of societal norms. Follies have been employed as a critical medium or object, oscillating between aesthetic autonomy and social-political potential and situated in a field between decontextualized status and contextualized condition.

Previously conceived of and presented as an integral part of the 4th Gwangju Design Biennale in 2011 by Artistic Directors Seung H-Sang and Ai Weiwei, the second edition of the Gwangju Folly project is held as an independent event with a series of new Follies in the urban space of Gwangju.

Nikolaus Hirsch (director), Philipp Misselwitz and Eui Young Chun (curators) have developed a curatorial approach for Gwangju Folly II, which uses the ambiguities of a Folly as a tool of inquiry to address the expectations of public space. The transformative potential of public space has been etched into public consciousness ever since the ten-day pro-democracy uprising in May 1980, which took place in the streets and squares of Gwangju. Revisiting some of these historic sites, a series of newly commissioned Follies seek to test the constitution and potential of public space today—in contemporary Gwangju as well as in the global political arena.
see the curatorial concept

Gwangju Folly II commissioned new works from the following architects, artists, collectives, and writers:
David Adjaye & Taiye Selasi
Ai Weiwei
Seok Hong Go & Mihee Kim
Rem Koolhaas & Ingo Niermann
Raqs Media Collective
Do-Ho Suh
Superflex
Eyal Weizman

Graphic Design: Markus Weisbeck / Surface

(From press information)

Organizer:
The Gwangju Biennale Foundation
111 Biennale-ro, Buk-gu
Gwangju, 500-845
Republic of Korea
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