The Gwangju Biennale 2004 is a cultural forum that experiments with established cultural practices that are centered around the art specialist and cultural power, specifically, artist and curator. To subvert the existing hierarchy, we deploy new strategies and incorporate the spectator's direct participation in cultural production. For this purpose, the Biennale invited 60 "Viewer-Participant" – individuals and groups from different backgrounds from all around the world – to create a platform for active discussion and dialogue amongst the audience and artists, and to collaborate in the art-making process. They share artists' point of view or expectations from an audience, and by doing so they transcend the established system of power that recognizes and produces art.
The title "A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water" reflects the concept and the strategy of the Biennale. Dust and Water are vital natural phenomena, which can be understood as ecological orders describing the cycle of creation and extinction. The tile also implies the idea that the Gwangju Biennale 2004 functions to enhance discussions on fragmented viewpoints and discourses existing in visual culture to embrace multiple aesthetic definitions to co-exist.
Hence, the Gwangju Biennale 2004 is the place where both artists and audience can experience art and culture as instruments of vibrant social networking. As hinted in the title "A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water" this is the secret of a small but the most articulating step towards directing the art world more accessible and encouraging creative cultural activities.
