JEONNAM-GWANGJU — The 16th Gwangju Biennale began its opening events Friday, ahead of its public opening Saturday, with an exhibition that invites visitors to see change not as a sudden break, but as a gradual process shaping individuals, communities, landscapes and the planet. Titled “You Must Change Your Life,” the biennale's main exhibition runs through Nov. 15 at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall. Curated by Ho Tzu Nyen with Che Kyong-fa, Park Ga-hee and Brian Kuan Wood, the exhibition brings together 43 artists and groups in five galleries within the venue. The title, drawn from the final line of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” serves less as an instruction than an open-ended provocation, according to Ho. “It tells you that something must change, but it does not tell you how, why or what you should become,” Ho said during a press conference. “It is a demand without a program.” That ambiguity takes on a collective meaning in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, a city defined by the 1980 pro-democracy movement and its continuing legac