AYOUNG KIM
Ayoung Kim (b. 1979, Seoul) is a Korean artist
whose works draw on forms across artistic
disciplines—sound, installation, film and
theatre—to explore the embedded relationships
between apparently distant subjects. Ayoung
uses processes of transmission and translation
between sonic, linguistic and visual levels to
create engaging articulations or collisions that
become her artworks.
Ayoung moved to Paris in 2015 as an artist-in-
residence at the Palais de Tokyo Pavillon Neuflize
OBC, a creative research laboratory. Ayoung’s
investigation resulted in a solo exhibition at the
Palais de Tokyo, paired with a performance at
the Palais Garnier Opéra in collaboration with
choreographer Sébastien Bertaud. Ayoung is now
based at the Cité Internatioanle des Arts in Paris.
Ayoung has presented a critically acclaimed
installation and performance based work at the
Venice Biennale in 2015, as well as several works
at institutions such as MMCA Gwacheon National
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in
Korea (2016), the Seoul Museum of Art in Korea
(2014), the Museum of Arts and Design, New York
(2011) and the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de
Janeiro (2011).
IN CONVERSATION
WITH JONATHAN HOLLOWAY,
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, MELBOURNE FESTIVAL
I discovered Ayoung Kim’s work a year ago in Paris.
I was there seeing performances, having meetings
and exploring the galleries.
I left a meeting with the Artistic Director of the
Paris Opera Ballet (about Tree of Codes) at the
Palais Garnier, and had a little over an hour see
the group exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo.
Moving swiftly from exhibit to exhibit, I went
deeper and deeper into the bowels of the
beautiful, sprawling building, and in the small
pavilion just past the entrance to the catacombs I
came across In This Vessel We Shall Be Kept, and
it quite simply stopped me in my tracks. I sat in a
deckchair in this beautiful space, transfixed. I just
sat, listening to the complex and exquisite piece
of choral music, taking in the exhibit.
Then, exploring the walls, reading and looking
at the diagrams, I realised the rich ideas and
connections involved. The Great Flood, the
modern parallels, and of course the stunning link
to the Palais Garnier where I had been just an
hour earlier.
As I left, I hoped that Ayoung Kim would be as
enchanting and complex as her work, and that
the wit and lightness that couched a fierce