The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee has appointed Amal Khalaf and Evelyn Simons as co-artistic directors of the forthcoming Busan Biennale, which is scheduled to open in September 2026. The duo were selected following a curatorial open call which drew in approximately 70 individuals and collectives from Korea and abroad.

Khalaf is currently director of programs at Cubitt, an artist-run organization, as well as projects curator at the Serpentine Galleries in London. She is also a founding member of the GCC artist collective. Her previous curatorial projects include the Sharjah Biennial 16 earlier this year and the Bahrain Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. In 2016, Khalaf co-directed the tenth edition of Art Dubai’s Global Art Forum, an annual transdisciplinary arts summit.

Simons is an independent curator based in Brussels. From 2019–23, she served as artistic director and curator for the visual arts and performance program at the Horst Arts and Music festival in Vilvoorde. Recently, she curated the group exhibition “These Branching Moments,” which is on view at the Fotomuseum Antwerp until September 28.

Under Khalaf and Simons’s direction, the 13th edition of the Busan Biennale will revolve around the theme “Dissident Chorus,” taking place at the Busan Museum of Contemporary Art and across multiple citywide locations.

Joon Lee, executive director of the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee, said in a statement that Khalaf and Simons’s proposal “gained strong support from the jury for its artistic vision for addressing the five topics of memory, empathy, care, resistance, and solidarity in pursuit of global collective healing.” Lee added that the biennale will “fully support” the duo’s emphasis on community engagement and collaborative practices.

Ethan Luk is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.