Director Selection for Korea Pavilion at Venice Biennale Faces Full Reassessment Amid Unfairness Controversy

The Korea Arts and Culture Education Service announced a re-evaluation regarding the selection of the director for the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale on the 30th through its website.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] An unprecedented situation has arisen where the selection process for the artistic director overseeing the Korean Pavilion exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition next year is being redone from the beginning due to issues of unfairness.

The Korea Arts & Culture Education Service announced on the 30th of last month through a notice that "some selection committee members had conflicts of interest with candidates under review, leading to the decision to exclude those committee members and proceed with a re-evaluation."

After document screening last month, the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service completed interview evaluations of four shortlisted candidates. However, it was raised as an issue that two of the four interviewees belonged to the same institution as selection committee member A. In response, the Service accepted the criticism and decided to conduct a re-evaluation.

When a national institution’s evaluation involves candidates with whom there is a close personal relationship, the evaluator must recuse themselves, constituting grounds for exclusion.

The Venice Biennale is the world's most prestigious international art exhibition, often called the "Olympics of the art world." The artistic director of the Korean Pavilion is responsible for overall tasks such as establishing exhibition plans and selecting participating artists to promote Korean art on the global stage.

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