Gwangju(Gwangsan-gu)

Located in Gwangju City, the Banana Hotel offers various convenient services including 24-hour room service and a clean environment. All the guestrooms are well-equipped, including WiFi, and the hotel provides foreign language services, too. As the hotel is only 10 minutes’ drive from Mudeungsan Mountain National Park, many tourists visit the area. In addition, the hotel is just ten minutes’ drive from the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall and 20 minutes’ drive from Metasequoia Road and the Juknokwon Bamboo Garden in Damyang County.


Gwangju(Gwangsan-gu)

This restaurant specializes in black dubu (tofu) dishes like heukdubu bossam (steamed pork with black dubu), heukdubu tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork with black dubu), and biji pajeon (spring onion and dubu curd pancake). It is particularly famous for its heukdubu made in the traditional way using black beans and bossam dishes. The steamed pork with dubu nicely combines the softness of black dubu and the chewiness of the pork. A slice of steamed pork and some old kimchi are eaten together with the nutty black dubu. The old kimchi, seasoned vegetables, mustard leaf kimchi, fresh green peppers and traditional doenjang are delicious with a deep flavor of the Namdo region. Those who don’t enjoy meat can order heukdubu (black dubu), which is still warm right out of the mold. Enjoy the dubu with the dressing flavored with various seasonings and vegetables.


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

The Shinsegae Department Store, located in Gwangju-si Seo-gu, offers a place of high-class shopping. A large lobby, a gallery and information center illustrate its convenience facilities for customers, while high-quality brand names fill the various shops for a refined shopping culture. Furthermore, the cultural center on the ninth floor offers state-of-the-art facilities for lectures and friendly services for a healthy and productive cultural lifestyle.


Gwangju(Buk-gu)

Gwangju Culture & Art Center is located in the northeast of Gwangju-si and includes a range of representative cultural pieces from ancient times to the modern era. The Art Center is affiliated with several museums nearby including the Gwangju National Museum, Jungoe Park, the Municipal Folk Museum, and the Gwangju Museum of Art. The 4,145-pyeong / 13,700 square-meter center consists of a main stage for performance art, 10 practice rooms, 8 electrical rooms, an auditorium with 1,792 seats and over 600 pyeongs / 1,983 square meters of lobby space. The center, as a performance art hall complex, supports all types of art including opera, ballet, modern dance, theater, and Korean traditional opera. It is set amidst the beautiful Unamsan Mountain area and serves as a soothing getaway for urbanites.


Gwangju(Buk-gu)

Gwangju Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years. Taking place in 2014, the event marks 10th anniversay and will celebrate the importance of being together though the theme of “Burning Down the House (터전을 불태우라).” It will bring together many different people, different times, various roles in arts production, and numerous different positions toward power such as exist  in various social, political, and cultural situations. The biennale consists of an exhibition, several workshops, e-journals, books, and various programs such as residency programs and new commissions. [About the 2014's theme] Burning Down the Houseexplores the process of burning and transformation, a cycle of obliteration and renewal witnessed throughout history. Evident in aesthetics, historical events, and an increasingly rapid course of redundancy and renewal in commercial culture, the Biennale reflects on this process of, often violent, events of destruction or self-destruction―burning the home one occupies―followed by the promise of the new and the hope for change. In the 1930s the critic Walter Benjamin coined the term ‘Tigersprung’ (the tiger’s leap) for a new model of history where the past is activated in and through the present within a culture industry that demands constant renewal. What can the ‘Tigerspung’ mean for today’s ‘tiger economies’ like South Korea in a context where economic and political powers deliver the eternally new of fashionable commodities and industrial progress at the apparent expense of a cultural past? Burning Down the House looks at the spiral of rejection and revitalization that this process implies. The theme highlights the capacity of art to critique the establishment through an exploration that includes the visual, sound, movement and dramatic performance. At the same time, it recognises the possibility and impossibility within art to deal directly and concretely with politics. The energy, the materiality and processes of burning ― the manner in which material is changed and destroyed by flames into the residue of dramatic interventions or remnants of celebrations ― have long informed artistic practice. The transformative powers of fire are central to the way in which this exhibition has been imagined. -Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale Foundation  


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

The 5·18 Memorial Park was established to remember the May 18 Democratization Movement. Covering an area of 204,985㎡, the park houses various historical and cultural facilities, including the 5·18 Library, 5·18 Cultural Center, Education Center, Daedong Plaza, Owoldae Tower, and other memorial sculpture and monuments. The park is also home to Mugaksa Temple and walking paths.


Gwangju(Gwangsan-gu)

Minsokchon (meaning ‘Folk Village’ in Korean) is a specialty restaurant featuring galbi(Grilled Short Rib) located in Singa-dong, Gwangju. With a traditional Korean-style interior design. It is popular among Koreans for the excellent taste of its galbi.


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

Jonggajip Seolleongtang is the first traditional Seoul-style seolleongtang restaurant in Gwangju. All the dishes are made of 100% pure beef bone stock and top quality ingredients for the best taste and nutrition.


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

All fish sold at this restaurant is delivered directly from fishing boats. The fish is stored in tanks with 25 tons of seawater in order to keep the fish alive and healthy until they are needed. It serves seafood with the principle of “small profits and quick returns”. The owner-chef has 20 years of experience, and the employees excel in customer service.


Gwangju(Buk-gu)

Yeongmi Oritang has been serving up duck stew (oritang) to the community for over 80 years. Made with ground perilla seeds, soybean paste, chili powder, garlic, and other carefully selected ingredients, the duck is boiled in an earthen pot and seasoned with ginseng, jujube, and water parsley to suit each customer's individual tastes. The dish is served with kimchi side dishes, which are said to enhance the flavor of the duck meat. Since duck is known to be effective in treating liver and geriatric diseases, the restaurant is popular not only for its delicious flavors, but also for the health benefits of its food.