May 22-26: Lecture, Workshop and studio visits Hyunjin Kim
Presentation & seminar
Frequencies of Tradition, Frequencies for Sustainable Future
How can tradition be engaged with as a mode of environmental sustainability? Although negative perceptions have alienated tradition as a source of patriarchal, authoritarian, hierarchical, and outdated customs, tradition still connects various generations, transmits values of community, and serves as a living archive of the future emergence of cultures. This presentation first examines how traditions are entangled with different modes of andro-modernization in East Asia. Furthermore, it will address possible wisdom for sustainability through artistic investigation and practices derived from or adapted from tradition, such as community belonging, resilience, symbiotic life with nature, spirituality, and de-anthropocentric thinking.
The following seminar will read a couple of articles in the book “Arts of Living on A Damaged Planet” (edited by Anna Tsing, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan, and Nils Bubandt) and, over the urgency of the global climate crisis, will discuss theories suggesting a de-anthropocentric multispecies worldview and the different practices of worldmaking narratives.
Hyunjin Kim
Hyunjin Kim is a curator and writer in Seoul. Kim was recently the Artistic Director of Incheon Art Platform 2021 and the KADIST Lead Curator for Asia, with which she developed her three-year program, Frequency of Tradition. She also worked as the curator of the Korean Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2019, a co-curator of the 7th Gwangju Biennale (2008), and the Director of Arko Art Center, Seoul (2014–15). Her numerous curatorial projects include Frequencies of Tradition (KADIST, SF, 2022, /IAP, Incheon, 2021/ Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, 2020), History Has Failed Us, But No Matter (Korean Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2019), 2 or 3 Tigers (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 2017), Gridded Currents (Kukje Gallery, Seoul, 2017), Tradition (Un)Realized (Arko Art Center, Seoul, 2014), and Plug-In #3-Undeclared Crowd (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2006). Kim has also curated and written for artists such as Seulgi Lee, Nina Canell, Hwayeon Nam, Haegue Yang, Jewyo Rhii, and Seoyoung Chung, and commissioned performance/theater works of Sung Hwan Kim, siren eun young jung, and Jewyo Rhii, among others. In addition, Kim was a member of the advisory board for the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2014–16) and a jury member for the DAAD Berlin artists-in-residence program (2017–18).