KARLSRUHE.- ZKM | Karlsruhe presents a major solo exhibition of the work of the South Korean artist Sung Hwan Kim, who lives in Hawaiʻi. Kim assumes the position of storyteller in his exhibitions to interpret history through the senses and embody and distil ideas and emotions that seem inexpressible. His multi-sensory spatial installations make use of video, drawing, light, sculpture, and architecture as well as performance and music — which is developed in close collaboration with the musician and composer David Michael DiGregorio. The exhibition was originally created for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven with a prelude at Framer Framed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The artist has now restaged it for ZKM. The exhibition is financially supported by the Korean Art Management Service (KAMS) in the program "Korean Art Abroad."

Sung Hwan Kim was born in 1975 in Seoul, South Korea, and now lives in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Kim assumes the position of storyteller to interpret history through the senses and embody and distil ideas and emotions that seem inexpressible. Folklore, myth, and gossip are portals through which to enter his layered installations where feelings are reliable sources for understanding the world.

In the spaces of the installations, video, light, drawings, sculpture, music, and performance come together in a playful and poetic way. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves completely in the stories, enabling them to reflect on their own experiences. The exhibition includes Kim's most recent body of work "A Record of Drifting Across the Sea" (2017–), which is based on Kim's research into undocumented Koreans who migrated to the US in the early twentieth century; this includes the film installation "Hair is a piece of head" (2021) and the second chapter in the series, "By Mary Jo Freshley 프레실리에 의(依)해" (2023). With this exhibition, the artist invites visitors to reflect on their own relationship to borders and migration.

The exhibition “Sung Hwan Kim: Protected by roof and right-hand muscles” surveys Kim's work created over more than two decades: it is his largest solo exhibition to be held in Europe to date. Originally produced for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, it was first curated by Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide in collaboration with the artist. A prelude to the exhibition took place at Framer Framed, Amsterdam. The exhibition is financially supported by the Korean Art Management Service (KAMS) in the program Korean Art Abroad. Partner and further venues of the exhibition are ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and the Bergen Kunsthall, Norway. The exhibition design for the respective venues (including light and sound) is done by the artist in collaboration with David Michael DiGregorio. An accompanying monograph will be published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne in spring 2025, designed by Linda van Deursen and produced in collaboration with the participating institutions.

Sung Hwan Kim has lived and worked in Honolulu, Kona, Oʻahu, since 2019. Kim participated in the Hawaiʻi Triennial 22 (2022) and the 57th Venice Biennale (2017); and has had solo exhibitions at Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, 2023–24), MoMA (New York, 2021), DAAD Gallery (Berlin, 2018), Art Sonje Center (Seoul, 2014), the Tanks at Tate Modern (London, 2012), Kunsthalle Basel (2011), Queens Museum (New York, 2011), Haus der Kunst (Munich, 2010), among others. At ZKM, Sung Hwan Kim previously participated in the exhibition "Thermocline of Art. New Asian Waves" in 2007. 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). With DiGregorio, he 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). Kim was the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2021), the GB Commission by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation (2021), and of Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD (2015). Concurrently with the ZKM exhibition, Kim will open a major solo exhibition, "Ua aʻo ʻia ʻo ia e ia 우아 아오 이아 오 이아 에 이아", at SeMA (Seoul, 2024), concentrating specifically on his series developed in Hawaiʻi, "A Record of Drifting Across the Sea".