As our 2025 tour of SE Asia continued, we often found ourselves revisiting some stops we had made during our 2019 trip. In September, we visited the Cheongju Craft Biennale which had so impressed us on that first visit.
In this article, we’ll walk you through our experience at the Cheongju Biennale this year, and help you decide whether to include it in your advance arttravel planning for the future.
If you prefer a video version (with different featured artworks), check our YouTube review!
WHAT is the Cheongju Biennale ?
The Cheongju Craft Biennale is one of very few exhibitions worldwide which are dedicated to craft media, which makes it a standout destination. There are a few international commercial fairs, such as the Collect Fair in London (R.I.P. SOFA-Chicago), but most material-based events are regional.
In fact, the CCB purports to host over 400,000 visitors from 60+ countries during its 2-month run, with over 1000 ceramic, furniture, fiber, basketry, jewelry and glass craft objects on display.
When & Where
The Cheongju Craft Biennale is generally open September & October of odd-numbered years in Chenogju South Korea, a small-ish city of under 1 million located about 2.5 hours by bus south of Seoul, South Korea.
Specifically, this year’s edition was mounted primarily at the Cheongju Cultural Industrial Complex, a former tobacco factory. (This was a very different venue from our 2019 visit; we’re not sure we liked it as much). The CCIC is now the Biennale’s permanent home, and also houses the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art-Cheongju (MMCA), which we also visited.
Programming at museums and galleries across the city dovetailed nicely, at times including additional works by featured Biennale artists or augmenting the Biennale’s (sub)themes. More on this (with links) in our conclusion.
What you can expect to see
This section is a bit trickier, because our two experiences were SO different. In 2019, we visited the Biennale for just one afternoon, in what we understand now were temporary quarters, but had VIP treatment as gallerists from the US, including private tours, homestay, special meals and demonstrations etc. We actually saw very little of the city, and none of any collateral programming there might have been.
This time, although we had Press / Media credentials, we experienced the exhibition(s) largely as any attendee would – that is on our own schedule. We spent a full day at the main site, with another couple partial days taking in the supporting exhibits at MMCA, The Bunker (wow!), the Cheongju Museum of Art, and the National Museum (also wow!)
The CCB was divided into several (too many) sections and themes, which we lay out below:
Main Exhibition: Re_Crafting Tomorrow
This main section was further subdivided into 4 sub-themes and we sometimes felt the distinctions were muddled.
Craft As Metaculture
There was some lovely work, which did evoke connection across aeons, geography and culture, honoring the Craft as Metaculture (that is – objects of necessity / humanity) subtheme.
Vessels, bowls and boxes – figured prominently here, with some furniture, but no textiles to speak of, while other objects which might arguably be less “necessary” and more decorative were included.
Crafts for Aestheticians
As former gallerists who got their start in craft (particularly studio furniture), this is the section of the Cheongju Biennale that I was most at home in. Pun intended.
The objects here were, for lack of a better explanation, themselves. Beautiful, handmade things to collect.. to admire, to have and share space with, *mostly* without overarching or added meaning.
We also thought the ceramic towers (and clay was the dominant medium in the whole Biennale) by Melis Buyruk were fantabulous. Delicate and gracefully imposing all at once.
Crafts for All Beings
This sub-theme was the most activist, with clearly anti- gun/war objects alongside others addressing environmental concerns.
Again, maybe reaching for too much. There’s plenty of socially-conscious work out in the world, there just wasn’t enough of it here for a proper sub-theme.
Craft with Communities
This section showcased the ability of craft to be a unifier.
We thought “Black Mountain – 130 Canes from the Ashes” yet another sub–sub-subtheme (you get the idea) was a triumph.
This mini exhibition featured delightful, whimsical, functional and fantastical sculptural walking canes, all made from the remains of oak trees damaged by wildfires, while highlighting the heroism of firefighters and supporting ecological restoration.
Black Mountain was an example of what more exhibitions should aspire to: education, beauty, meaning, and purposeful inspiration.
If I were still curating…. I’d steal adapt this in a heartbeat!
Other inclusions were better. What’s more communal than a bowl? Every culture makes and uses them. It reminded us of the EmptyBowls project, which we’d emulated in the past. Too bad there wasn’t a tie-in here. (If you want to make a difference in *your* community, maybe it’s an option?)
Beyond that, however, for this author, the other other works – while beautiful on their own- didn’t do much to connect to the theme.
Overall, you can see how SO many divisions of concept can be confusing / muddling. Right? Just Me?
Invited Country (Thailand) Exhibition
Having been to Thailand a couple times now, there wasn’t much new for us here, except perhaps in the presentation. A subtheme of “Elastic Time” offered traditional, culturally-infused works in a contemporary context.
Craft Competition Exhibition
This section was maybe the most beautiful and disappointing section of the entire Biennale.
We saw some phenomenal objects, some truly WTAF- how did they do that kind of work; but it wasn’t nearly as international or representative of what we know to be the state of the art/craft/field (your choice) as we’d expected. We know for example that there are far more accomplished flameworkers than that chosen.
This section was clearly dominated by Korean artists / makers; whether this is a result of bias in judging or a dearth of international applications, we cannot say – we hope it’s the latter.
Still – some undeniably beautiful works.
Special Exhibition 1: Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven
Here, finally, was the fiber/textile art we assumed would be present throughout the exhibition, concentrated yet separated. Some wonderful work, but oddly and somewhat confusingly located down a side hallway, apart, not woven into the overall narrative.
IOHO, this was a serious misstep. Every other major Bi/Triennale we’ve attended in the last few years used fiber / textile works as a literal common thread to tie thoughts, sections and even eras together.
Special Exhibition 2: Seongpa Seonye Exhibition
Honestly, we didn’t even notice this as an integral part of the Cheongju Biennale. It wa apparently a verrry long textile piece somehow wrapped around the show.
Special Exhibition 3: Kyrgyz Republic Traditional Crafts ODA Special Exhibition
Actually enjoyed this section very much; in a compact space a great variety of objects with a more or less central root – felting – made us hope that Kyrgyzstan might actually get an invite in the future to full “Invited Country” status. Also made us even more eager to visit.
Unknown BONUS section
We also found a kind of cool section which appeared to be the product of or laboratory for furniture/interior design students. No intro text, and the labels for each piece were different from anything else in the Biennale proper, so we’re not sure if it was actually part, but there were some seriously cool objects.
Conclusion – Should you visit the Cheongju Craft Biennale?
We really feel that this edition of the Cheongju Biennale was a case of trying to do too much. The director’s ambitions are laudable, but perhaps saving a few of the sub/themes and special sections for future editions would have made for a cleaner, less chaotic overall presentation, and allowed the edited content to shine more fully.
That said, if you are a collector or fan of material-based art, you should absolutely plan to attend future editions.
The Cheongju Craft Biennale is still one of the finest events in the world to see exceptional handcrafted artworks.
Remember; nothing is static and the entire vibe could (and likely will) change with the next Artistic Director/Curator, but the mission – of promoting and showcasing material-based, hand-crafted artworks (and design) – will remain.
It’s actually also a great choice if you’d like some hands-on experience. There were a number of opportunities to try your hand at glassblowing / flameworking, ceramics, weaving and metalworking – both for adults and kiddos, making the CCB a unique experience among art fairs worldwide.
Special Note: If you’re an artist working with traditional craft materials, we’d highly encourage you to apply, as we felt the breadth of accepted artists/works this year was limited – we KNOW there is better stuff being made out there in almost any material; we’ve seen it… if you’re at the top of your game, the potential prize money and prestige is well worth your application! (Especially in glass)
It’s also worth noting that the Cheongju Biennale ranges across more than just one complex.
Its “Open Biennale” brings together national, public, and private art museums and galleries in cities across South Korea, with network-based exhibitions- some presented by the Biennale among the national and public museums, with other independently-mounted efforts expanding on the larger theme.
We saw fantastic collateral presentations at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art – Cheongju (both MMAC’s main location and a spectacular show at “the Bunker”), the Cheongju Museum of Art, and at various galleries.
Practical Stuff:
How to get to
As mentioned, if you’re already in Korea, you can reach Cheongju by VIP bus (public trans is possible, but much more difficult).
You can also fly to/from Seoul and a variety of international gateways, like Osaka (as we did), directly into Cheongju pretty cheaply.
Where to Stay
There are number of chain hotels, like Marriott, guesthouses (be selective) and one-off hotels scattered throughout town. IN Cheongju, the bus system is good, if a little inscrutable, so we’d recommend a location near enough the Cheongju Industrial Complex AND the art museums… you can always catch a cab to the National Museum. At time of writing, Uber worked in Seoul, Busan and some other cities, but not Cheongju. See this page for other options.
What else to do / See
Cheongju is kind of an odd town, with alternating developed / struggling sections all around. But it is safe very friendly & there are a number of beautiful temples to visit that (see this article) some galleries and arts foundations, and the National Museum is a DO NOT MISS!
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