Sung Hwan Kim
Biography
Sung Hwan Kim (b.1975, Seoul) has been living and working in Paʻina (Wilhelmina Rise), Honolulu, Kona, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, since 2019, in order to work on his series, »A Record of Drifting Across the Sea« (2017–). The first video from the series, »Hair is a piece of head« (2021), was shown in Hawaiʻi Triennial (2022). Commenting on familial bonds and facial resemblance with respect to the video, Kim states, “I imagine the relationbetween head and hair as that between a mother and child, in the context of he pilina wehena ‘ole[unseverable association]. But I also wonder about what this deep bond looks like to someone who is outside of the connection.” Kim will show his second video in the series, »By Mary Jo Freshley« 프레실리에 의(依)해, in Hawaiʻi Triennial (2025).
Kim’s recent exhibitions include his survey exhibition, »Protected by roof and right-hand muscles«, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2023-2024); (idem) ZKM, Karlsruhe (2024); Busan Biennale (2022); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2021); 13th Gwangju Biennale (2021); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea (2019); the 57th Venice Biennale Arte (2017); and Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Berwick, UK (2017). With David Michael DiGregorio he inaugurated Asian Arts Theater, Gwangju, with the operatic theater piece, 피나는 노력으로 한 [A Woman Whose Head Came Out Before Her Name] (2015) and created two radio plays, commissioned by Bayerischer Rundfunk: »one from in the room« (2010, for which they won the Karl-Sczuka-Förderpreis), and »Howl Bowel Owl« (2013). At ZKM, Kim already participated in the 2007 exhibition »Thermocline of Art. New Asian Waves«.
Solo exhibitions include Temper Clay, MoMA, New York (2021); And who has not dreamed of violence? و منو الما حلم بعنف؟ DAAD galerie, Berlin (2018); Sung Hwan Kim, CCA Kitakyushu (2016); Life of Always a Mirror [늘 거울 생활], Artsonje Center, Seoul (2014); Sung Hwan Kim, The Tanks at Tate Modern, London (2012); Line Wall, Kunsthalle Basel (2011); Sung Hwan Kim, From the Commanding Heights…, QueensMuseum, New York (2011); Golden Times Part 2: Sung Hwan Kim, Haus der Kunst, Munich (2010). His works have been shown in international biennales and film festivals, such as the Gwangju Biennale, Performa, Manifesta, Berlin Biennale, Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin. He was a fellow at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (2004/2005) and a recipient of Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD (2015). His publications include Talk or Sing (distributed by ArtSonje); Ki-da Rilke (distributed by Sternberg Press); and When Things Are Done Again (distributed by Tranzitdisplay).