Busan Biennale 2026: Dissonant chorus (Dissident Chorus)

The exhibition is conceived as one choir singing together. The process of overlapping and stacking different voices and sounds to form a collective resonance is used as the structure of the exhibition to invite the audience to a collective performance. About This exhibition starts from the conditions of the times where the cracks in language have deepened. In a situation where violence surrounding language is growing and speech acts as a tool to strengthen confrontation and division, songs and sounds are presented as a medium that can simultaneously capture emotions and rhythms at multiple levels. The city of Busan operates as a place where these polyphonic echoes have accumulated. In a coastal city where time of arrival, movement, and survival overlap, works resonate together in the historical vibrations of the city and the ocean, connecting collective memory with the sense of the present. 《Dissonant Chorus (Dissident Chorus)》 uses the time and sound of this city as a medium and explores the possibility of contemporary resonance through the form of a chorus. Meanwhile, Amal Khalaf, one of the co-exhibition directors of the 2026 Busan Biennale, was recently ranked 43rd in the 2025 Power 100 (ArtReview) published by the prominent British contemporary art magazine, and was recognized for his influence in the international art world. The organizing committee expects that at the point where the curatorial practice accumulated on the international stage and the sense of place of the city of Busan meet, contemporary art will present a new way to relate to the city. The organizing committee plans to sequentially disclose participating artists and exhibition-related programs in the future.