On October 14, the Seoul Museum of Art announced the appointment of Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres, and Lukas Brasiskis as the artistic directors for the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, scheduled for August 2025.

Originally launched in 2000 under the name “Media_City Seoul,” the Seoul Mediacity Biennale has focused on the contemporaneity and experimental nature of art amidst the changes in the city of Seoul and its media environment over the past 27 years.

For the 13th edition, a total of 66 proposals were submitted for the position of artistic director, marking more than a twofold increase compared to 2022.

The proposal by the newly selected artistic director team of Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres, and Lukas Brasiskis focuses on the aesthetics of mysticism and animism as critical interventions against the dominant influences of contemporary capitalism, materialism, post-colonialism, and technology.

The 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, set to take place next year, aims to offer an experience of life entangled beyond the human world, moving away from the neoliberal concepts highlighted by leading contemporary biennales. To achieve this, the biennale will explore and showcase various artworks that connect the material and immaterial worlds while approaching the present critically.

Anton Vidokle is an artist and filmmaker, as well as the founder of e-flux (New York, 1998–present). He has participated in the Gwangju Biennale twice and received the ‘Noon Award’ in 2016. In 2019, he took part in several exhibitions, lectures, and projects held in South Korea, including a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.

Hallie Ayres is a curator, researcher, and art historian who has published writings and given lectures on the convergence of knowledge production systems between Indigenous and Western societies, grounded in spiritual beliefs.

Lukas Brasiskis is a doctoral student researching artist films and experimental cinema, as well as a film curator. His curatorial and writing activities explore the limits and potentials of moving images as a medium that presents perspectives beyond the human, which have been featured in various platforms, including the 2020 publication “MMCA Studies: Art Contemplating Crisis.”

The main concepts, details, and participating artists for the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale will be announced sequentially starting in December 2024.

References

• 서울시립미술관 보도자료 (Seoul Museum of Art Press Release)

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.