Sung Hwan Kim. Protected by roof and right-hand muscles

This exhibition, organized together with the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, is Sung Hwan Kim's largest solo exhibition in Europe to date and presents complex installations created by the Korean artist, many comprising video and performance works made in musical collaboration with musician and composer David Michael DiGregorio (aka dogr).

The World in Stories

In his works, Sung Hwan Kim (*1975, Seoul) functions as a narrator who engages with layered histories; and employs folklore, myths, gossip and rumors as means of access to his multilayered installations.

Kim weaves together video, music, light, performance, drawing, and sculpture in the exhibition space, building potential for shifting audience perspectives and trajectories by making use of the architectural. The Honolulu-based artist develops a unique narrative approach to themes such as migration and immigration, translation and renewal.

“…[H]ow does one really care about the trouble beyond a national border, let alone the border of one’s skin?” (Sung Hwan Kim)

Kim, as exhibition designer, creates a unique architectural environment for his installations, highlighting in nuanced ways the theme of “borders,” and exploring various states of subjectivity.

Sung Hwan Kim at ZKM

“Protected by roof and right-hand muscles” is Sung Hwan Kim's largest solo exhibition in Europe to date, which brings together works from more than two decades of his artistic career. The exhibition was produced by the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where it was curated by Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide in close consultation with the artist. The exhibition was designed by Sung Hwan Kim. The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive publication on the artist's work.