2012 Gwangju Folly Project

Nikolaus Hirsch, curator and director of Stadelschule and Portikus, has been selected as the General Director of the 2012 Gwangju Folly Project. When asked about the curatorial direction for this year's Project, Hirsch said he will focus on "creating a discussion that is architectural, aesthetic, and artistic while at the same time communicating with the Gwangju citizens and reflecting the unique characteristics of Gwangju.

Established in 2011 for the urban rejuvenation of Gwangju, the Folly Project has been recognised as a new type of public design that can communicate with pedestrians as well as with the surrounding environment. As the original eleven works created for the first edition of the event have met with popular and critical acclaim, they have created a platform for Gwangju as a new city of design. Read more...
Image: Francisco Sanin's Folly built for Gwangju Design Biennale's 2011 Folly Project

Korea's design biennale presents extreme works rather than commercially-driven product displays

Curated by Korean starchitect H-San Seung and Ai Weiwei, this year's Gwangju Design Biennale presents an extreme body of work (not a chair in sight) including: a pamphlet handed out in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising that advised protesters on the most effective tactics for civil disobedience, including how to improvise a helmet and breach police lines; designs for IEDs (improvised explosive devices); a video of the plastic surgery that Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors can undergo in order to to bleed less from the nose or above the eyes; and a section on communities, which includes the WikiHouse, an open-source house design kit.

The biennale directors also played a more traditional hand by bringing in a number of internationally recognised architects, like Peter Eisenman and Atelier Bow-Wow, to build follies around the city. You can read more on the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale here (a review by the Guardian's Justin McGuirk) and here (an interview with H-Sang Seung).

Image: Francisco Sanin's Folly built for the Gwangju Design Biennale