“You may have planned the biennale knowing the spelling, but this is embarrassing and upsetting. It’s not even one dimensional, it’s low dimensional.”
The Gwangju Biennale, which will be held next month, has been mired in gossip over an extravagant publicity video. On the 7th, in the comments section of the 48-second publicity video posted on the official YouTube channel of the Gwangju Metropolitan City, “How can you express an international event like this with public taxes… There are critical comments such as “Videos that reveal the level of culture” “Even low-level YouTubers won’t think of ideas like this” and “Videos of watering down the director, curator and participating artists” followed one after the other.
The content of the video is as follows. A man in a suit walks down the street carrying a string of Vienna sausages. The man who tried to take the sausage from behind rushes in. A chase between the two men begins, and a video of Vienna sausages being grilled in a frying pan is played alternately. Then, a promotional message appears on the screen. ‘The 14th Gwangju Biennale’. The man who appears as the main character is Gwangjin Kim, Vice Mayor of Culture and Economy of Gwangju City (Democratic Party of Korea). Comments like “I get angry no matter how open I try to watch it” and “I’m curious about the intention of the video, is it to raise or lower the brand of the Biennale?”
An official from Gwangju Metropolitan City, which produced the video, said in a phone call with this magazine on the 20th, “Vienna sausage, which has a pronunciation similar to the Biennale, is expressed as an absolute ring in the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’.” It was intentional,” he said. However, Biennale, Italian for art festival held every two years, has nothing to do with Vienna sausage except for a similarity in pronunciation. One netizen left a comment saying, “This seems like the easiest and worst choice among ways to express the elusive biennale in a friendly way.”
Although it is a promotional video for an art exhibition, the fact that the politician (Kim Kwang-jin) occupies most of the length is also controversial. “What is the connection between the Biennale and politicians… An example is the comment, “I don’t know why politicians have to be the main characters in a festival that has returned after two years.” Art critic Jung Joon-mo, who served as spokesman and exhibition manager for the first Gwangju Biennale, said, “I only see the anger of young politicians trying to promote themselves at the top of the Gwangju Biennale.” Regarding this, an official from the city hall explained, “I appeared in the video because I am the vice mayor of culture and economy in charge of the Gwangju Biennale.”
The video production cost was about 2.5 million won, and the production period was 4 days.
Gwangju Biennale promotional video. / Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall YouTube
