JEONNAM-GWANGJU SPECIAL METROPOLITAN CITY — The "Taiwan Pavilion" dispute that overshadowed the opening of the 16th Gwangju Biennale last weekend wasn't a mere display of diplomatic tension between China and Taiwan that erupted randomly at an art event. It laid bare a deep-running problem with one of Asia’s best-known contemporary art event organizers and raised a question: Is the organizer's management system working? The biennale, launched in 1995 in the spirit of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980, has grown into Korea’s largest and Asia’s oldest and best contemporary art biennale. It has more than 10 billion won ($7.44 million) in public funding and related spending committed to each edition. Its 2026 operating budget was set at about 14.3 billion won, excluding a separate 1 billion won for replenishing its basic assets. It seems that the problem boils down to its precarious staffing model. A team manager-level Gwangju Biennale Foundation employee on a short-term contract told The Korea Times that the biennale’s core working staff numbers only around 30, with t