South Korean curator Kim Sun-jung, has been appointed the new president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation.

Prior to joining the foundation, Kim Sun-jung was the Director of Art Sonje Center in Seoul. She co-curated the 2012 Gwangju Biennale, “Roundtable,” she served as the artistic director of Mediacity Seoul 2010, and commissioned the Korean Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale.

Kim Sun-jung is also known for her work on the ambitious Real DMZ Project, a series of exhibitions held since 2011 on the border area near the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea.

Established in 1995, the Gwangju Biennale is today widely recognised as one of the most important contemporary art events in Asia. Nevertheless, its reputation was shaken in 2014 by the controversy surrounding the censorship of a satirical painting of former Korean president Park Geun-hye, leading to the resignation of the former president Yongwoo Lee. With this and other recent controversies in the Korean art scene, including the revelation that thousands of cultural figures were blacklisted by the Park administration, Kim Sun-jung will most likely face a series of challenges to maintain the institution’s reputation and political independence.