2026 5th Jeju Biennale “Heokkeugok Modakchigok Iyahong: The Art of Transformation”

About the festival

The civilization that blossomed on Jeju, a volcanic island on the Eurasian Plate, flowed in from the sea and also arrived from northern mainland cultures, scattering, gathering and blending into today’s Jeju. The 5th Jeju Biennale, marking ten years, focuses on how Jeju scattered (heokkeuda), gathered (modakchida) and transformed (iyahong) through its encounter with northern civilization, taking “Iyahong”, the refrain of a folk song that came from the mainland and became native to Jeju, as its key concept. Through Jeju’s climate and ways of living, it presents the aesthetics of survival shaped together by objects, nature, human life and the sacred.