GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA (Sept. 17, 2026) – The University of the Philippines Diliman College of Fine Arts opened the Philippine Pavilion at the 16th Gwangju Biennale, Sept. 4, in South Korea, showcasing works that explore historical memory, democratic struggles, and intergenerational resistance.
One of Asia’s longest-running contemporary art exhibitions, the Gwangju Biennale serves as a platform for artists and institutions to showcase their works. It features a range of works, beginning with Social Realists in Philippine art and extending their critical art practice to the present with selected UP-affiliated contemporary visual artists.
The Philippine Pavilion titled Studies in Time (시간의 습작) — organized by UPCFA through the UP President’s Committee on Culture and the Arts and in cooperation with the UP Fine Arts Gallery (Parola) and the 5.18 Archives (May 18 Democratic Uprising Archives) — is curated by Assistant Professor Lisa Ito-Tapang, curator of the UP Fine Arts Gallery and chairperson of the UPCFA’s Department of Theory.
UPCFA Dean Abdulmari “Toym” Imao Jr., who led the Philippine team, said that through the exhibition, they aim to “share the Filipino narrative regarding our country’s democratic struggles — a historical journey of post-war urbanization, displacement, and intergenerational uprising and dissent that we share in common with the Korean people.”
A response to the biennale’s theme, “You Must Change Your Life,” Studies in Time is a showcase of 10 Philippine visual artists and one artist collective: Jef Carnay in collaboration with Racquel de Loyola, Karl Castro, Federico Dominguez, Avie Felix, Ides Macapanpan, Danielle Madrid, Renan Ortiz, Cap Reyes, Jose Tence Ruiz, and Tambisan sa Sining, represented by its national president Jo Tanierla.
Using phenomena of enforced disappearances, detentions, torture, massacres, diaspora, and genocide, the works in the Philippine Pavilion navigate the continuing dispossession of people across time and local and global scales, reflecting generations that have continued to resist in various ways.
Ito-Tapang described the exhibit as an effort to reflect on and gather visual histories of transformation and intergenerational dissent. “In doing so, we look at the power of images in recollection and memory making, critical consciousness raising, and responding to the present crisis.”
“It is with great honor for our pavilion team to represent the more than 50 years of progressive, militant, and courageous art-making for the people. The works here guide you across disciplines and generations, across aesthetic tendencies, and political and personal convictions, across perspectives defiant and tender,” Tanierla described the exhibit, which showcased struggles and calls for agrarian reform, livable wages, social justice, human rights, and lasting peace in the Philippines.
Studies in Time is at the 5.18 Archives Exhibition Hall in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, Dong-gu, Geumnam-ro 221 (전남광주통합특별시 동구 금남로 221). 5.18 Archives is dedicated to the May 18 Democratization Movement uprising in Gwangju which took place from May 18 to 27, 1980. The moment was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2011 for its global significance to human rights.
The exhibition runs until Nov. 1 and is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m.
For inquiries, contact the Gwangju Biennale pavilion at pavilion@gwangjubiennale.org or the UP Fine Arts Gallery at cfagallery.upd@up.edu.ph.
