PRESENTATION: Soun Gui Kim-Lazy Clouds

Soun-Gui Kim combines philosophy, art, and technology in works ranging from the deconstruction of painting to spectator-participatory events in public places, video and multimedia, and comparative studies in culture and philosophy. She graduated from the Department of Painting at Seoul National University before moving in 1971 to France, where she worked with experimental artist groups such as Supports/Surfaces.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: ZKM Archive

The exhibition “Lazy Clouds” is the first comprehensive solo exhibition of Korean-French artist Soun-Gui Kim in Europe. an provides  an overview of her work from the 1970s to the present. Early on, Kim became interested in the deconstruction of painting, large-scale performances, photography, video works in public spaces, and multimedia art. Her works are distinguished by their highly participatory character and are influenced by comparative studies of Eastern and Western culture and philosophy, as well as by the exploration of language. In the 1980s, Soun-Gui Kim travelled to various countries around the world, and intensively explored the culture and art of the East and West. In New York, she was in contact with a number of renowned video artists including Nam June Paik, Ko Nakajima, Ira Schneider, and Frank Gillette. During this time issues connected with the spread of global capitalism and the structural changes in society brought about by the Internet have become particularly important to her. The title of the exhibition “Lazy Clouds” refers to a poem and a book of poems published by the artist in France. At the same time, it exemplifies her personal approach to life. Completely contrary to the capitalist-oriented productivity and performance regime, it is an approach based on the concept of leisure as an artistic, creative, and philosophical principle. Like the clouds, which are completely free to find ever new forms in the sky, Soun-Gui Kim dedicates herself to her art far removed from predetermined patterns and conventions.

Soun-Gui Kim was born in 1946 in Buyeo, Korea, her artistic practice is influenced by comparative studies of Eastern and Western culture, which can also be traced back to her biography. She spent her youth in Korea, where she completed her art studies at Seoul National University in 1971. A scholarship from the French government then took her to the south of France where she worked and became acquainted with the avant-garde movements of the time. There, in the early 1970s, she created “Situation Plastique I–III”, a series of large-scale installations and performances in public spaces in which hundreds of people participated, outside of museum and art-specific contexts. A few years later, in 1974, she received her first professorships at the École Nationale d’Art Décoratif in Nice and the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Marseille. Further appointments followed, including a guest professorship at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg [HFBK University of Fine Arts of Hamburg] (1985). Her many visits to various countries around the world deepened her engagement with the culture and art of the East and West. In New York, for example, she associated with renowned video artists such as Nam June Paik, Ko Nakajima, Ira Schneider, and Frank Gillette. In 1986 she organized the festival “Video & Multimedia: Soun-Gui Kim and Her Invitees” in Marseille, at which Nam June Paik, John Cage and others participated. This is a further confirmation of her intense interest in participatory and discursive programs, which was already evident at the “Soun-Gui Kim Art Festival” held in Seoul in 1975.  From the late 1980s she dealt with issues related to the spread of global capitalism and structural changes in society due to the Internet, through her works such as “O-time” and “Voie-VoixLactée” (Milky way). She produced Stock Exchange, which took a critical viewpoint of civilization in which the value of capital takes priority over all other values, and highlighted the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and carried out interviews with world-renowned aestheticians including Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy, to discuss the values and roles of art in the neoliberal era. Though capitalist society criticizes laziness as a sign of insincerity and indolence, KIM lived a life like clouds, which transform freely and drift along making their own paths in the sky, KIM Soun-Gui lives a life that is not confined to formalities, but pioneers new roads of art ahead of her times, creating new paths in untrodden land. KIM Soun-Gui has constantly blazed trails in new territories and has been introduced to the public as a case of convergence between disciplines and genres including those involving science and technology, and the arts. From the deconstruction of painting, to spectator-participatory events in public places, challenges in video and multimedia, and comparative studies in culture and philosophy of East and West, her artistic journey has always been one step ahead. Today, the artist lives and works in the countryside near Paris, where, in harmony with nature and her surroundings, she devotes herself to her art projects that combine philosophy, art, and technology. Eastern culture.

Photo: Soun-Gui Kim, Situation plastique III – Octobre à Bordeaux, 1973, single-channel video (4:3), 16 mm, 13:45 min., © Soun-Gui Kim

Info: Curators: Clara Runge, Philipp Ziegler and Soojung Yi, ZKM (Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe), Lorenzstraße 19, Karlsruhe, Germany, Duration: 10/9/2022-5/2/2023, Days & Hours: Wed-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-18:00, https://zkm.de/en