Abstract
This study examines the policy design congruence of Korea’s biennales with national and regional strategies for cultural decentralization and depopulation response. Since the 1990s, biennales have proliferated across Korean cities as symbols of global visibility and local development. Yet their increasing standardization—what this study terms event drift—raises questions about whether such eventized formats align with policy goals of residency, education, and local capacity building. Using an original panel dataset of eight biennales (2010–2024), the study constructs an Isomorphism Index (ISO) to capture structural standardization and a Policy Congruence Index (PCI-Design) to assess design-level alignment with policy objectives. A two-way fixed-effects framework with stratified weighting, jackknife, and bootstrap procedures is applied to test whether higher ISO scores correspond to lower PCI-Design values, controlling for funding composition, ordinance status, and urban scale. Preliminary analyses suggest a negative trend consistent with the hypothesis that standardized formats weaken design congruence with regional revitalization goals. The paper discusses implications for KPI rebalancing, differentiated city-type models, and ordinance-based design guidance aimed at enhancing cultural policy coherence in decentralized governance contexts.
Presenters
Hanbyul KimStudent, Ph.D. Program, Hongik University Graduate School, Seoul Teugbyeolsi [Seoul-T'ukpyolshi], South Korea
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Cultural Policy, Biennales, Institutional Isomorphism, Policy Congruence, Eventization, Regional Revitalization
