Gwangju Biennale Approves 'Taiwan Pavilion' Name After Weeks-Long Dispute

The Gwangju Biennale Foundation has reversed course and approved the name "Taiwan Pavilion" for a satellite exhibition at its 16th edition, ending a weeks-long standoff that had paused installation and drawn in Taiwan's government.

The 16th Gwangju Biennale, one of Asia's largest recurring art exhibitions, runs from 5 September to 15 November 2026 in the South Korean city of Gwangju. The foundation said it reached an agreement with Taiwan's ministry of culture and officially authorised the "Taiwan Pavilion" name on 26 August, according to The Art Newspaper.

Taiwan's ministry sent an official letter to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA), the pavilion's organising body, confirming the designation at the biennale foundation's request. The foundation then sent its own authorisation to Gwangju's Asia Culture Center (ACC), the host venue, clearing the presentation to proceed.

The dispute went public on 15 August, when the biennale released a poster listing its satellite pavilions and naming the space the "NTMoFA Pavilion" rather than "Taiwan Pavilion." That same day, curator Chen Xiang-Wen and the nine participating artists posted on Instagram that their exhibition proposal — submitted by NTMoFA under the name "Taiwan Pavilion" and accepted as such by the foundation — had been unilaterally renamed without their consent.

The foundation pushed back on 19 August, asserting that the exhibition was classified as an institutional rather than a national pavilion, and that a 12 January 2026 agreement had settled on the museum's name. Taiwan's culture ministry countered the same day with a public statement declaring that "Taiwan will participate in the Gwangju Biennale as Taiwan Pavilion" and calling the biennale's claim an error, citing an agreement signed on 2 April. The ministry also published a timeline showing it had been objecting behind the scenes since 10 June, and posted images on its website of the proposal deck and an email that repeatedly used the "Taiwan Pavilion" name.

Korean media reported a cordon outside the pavilion's venue at the ACC, as Taiwan's ministry said installation had been halted by the naming impasse. NTMoFA published its own statement on its website, titled "Gwangju Biennale continues to block Taiwan Pavilion installation," asserting that the foundation had still not agreed to restore the name — a position from before the 26 August resolution. The Taipei Times separately reported that the biennale had restored the "Taiwan" name (Taipei Times).

The Gwangju Biennale has not publicly explained why "Taiwan Pavilion" was not used in the first place, as Euronews noted on 21 August.

For a biennale that opens in ten days, the timing was tight. Whether the pavilion's installation can now proceed in time for the 5 September opening remains a practical question for Chen, the artists, and the ACC venue crew.