Gwangju News

July was the hottest month on record. For several decades now, we have emitted greenhouse gases far beyond sustainable levels. Maybe the attention is finally where it should have been in 1989. Unfortunately, the discourse is almost always dissonant or counter-productive, and it feels difficult for any one of us to do much of anything. We cannot change global policies, and our localities seem inconsequential. We become misanthropic. We feel powerless. We turn to wizards to save us. However, the fault lies not in our stars, but in the logic of the world system, and there are more things in Earth right now than are dreamt of in some tech bro’s philosophy.

It’s that time of year again: time for the annual Gwangju Design Biennale. This year’s two-month-long exposition runs from September 7 to November 7. The general director of this year’s decennial exhibition is Ken Nah, and the Gwangju News was fortunate to be able to catch up with him for the following interview just prior to the opening of the Design Biennale. — Ed.

Gwangju will host its 13th World Human Rights Cities Forum from October 4 to 7 at the Kim Daejung Convention Center. This year focuses on the poverty and inequalities that make realizing human rights impossible. To highlight the crisis: 600 million people will live in extreme poverty by 2030. The recent pandemic shows how inequalities in damage and recovery go far beyond one person having a nicer television than his neighbor. Jobs, lives, vaccine distribution, and even the economic and social fabric of entire communities are on the line.