Since its inauguration in 2000 as an initiative of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Mediacity Biennale has earned international recognition for its experimental engagement with contemporaneity and the changes of media in the city. The Biennale began sharing conceptual experiences on media beginning with its precursor exhibition SEOUL in MEDIA, which was held three times between 1996 and 1999. Since then, the Biennale has presented twelve editions, each embodying varying ideas and activities that resonate with its respective time.

For each edition, some 50 participating artists (individuals and collectives) have presented works that respond to the project’s thematic focus and contend with the urgent issues of our time, attracting approximately 130,000 visitors during each Biennale period. Centered around Seoul Museum of Art Seosomun Main Branch, the Biennale also activates various satellite and collaborating spaces across the city of Seoul, accompanied by public programs and publications that serve as important mediators in fostering artistic awareness and experience among both participatory and audience members.

The Biennale also commissions, supports and presents new artworks by celebrated artists who faithfully advance the Biennale’s objectives. A total of 35 such works have been acquired by SeMA and are currently in the museum’s permanent collection, serving as concrete documentary evidence of the evolving forms, tendencies and concepts in contemporary media art. Next year, the Biennale’s archives will be cataloged and disseminated via an integrated online platform, ensuring access to Biennale resources as a collective property of the public.

A pre-Biennale program initiated in 2022 seeks to explore conceptual media, evaluate the Biennale’s identity, encourage local engagement and expand the project’s purview based on the accumulated resources from throughout its history. Conceived as a form of media unto itself, the historic record of previous Biennales as presented in the pre-Biennale program establishes a space for contemporary experimentation and thought integrating aesthetic participation, production and mediation.