This is the first monographic publication devoted to the work of Sung Hwan Kim (b. 1975, Seoul), which is published in conjunction with his solo exhibition at Witte de With (13 Sept – 26 Oct 2008), curated by Eva Huttenlauch and Nicolaus Schafhausen.
Kim experiments with narrative formats using video and performance, as well as installation. Collecting and collaging encounters, images, sounds, and objects from his changing domiciles of Seoul, Amsterdam and New York he portrays his world with lyric complexity.
Eva Huttenlauch, who co-curated the exhibition, introduces the book with a broad mapping of Kim’s practice. Another view – this one more focused on a pivotal performance for the Prix de Rome 2007 – comes from Ann Demeester, the director of De Appel in Amsterdam which hosted the event. Another essay by Luis E. Cárcamo-Huechante highlights the cultural resonance of sonic transmission – another key concern of Kim’s work – but it does so obliquely, via an account of Mapuche radio in Chile. As Sung Hwan Kim is perhaps first and foremost an experimental narrator, his own voice was key to the publication – and it is found in his text, his conversation with mentor and friend Joan Jonas, as well as in his annotations of the images which figure (key fragments of) his ongoing In the room series of performances, videos and installations.