Video
[Anchor]
Globally acclaimed contemporary artist Christine Sun Kim is presenting a large-scale video and installation work. She approaches the heavy subject of modern societal conflict in a light and playful manner.
Reporter Lee Ju-sang has the story.
[Reporter]
["Stiff Rocks, Foolish Fights" / Through November 29 / National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul]
The walls and floor of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul Box, which stands over 16 meters tall, have been filled with graphic images reminiscent of a comic book.
Inspired by motion lines from classic cartoons, American Sign Language has been expressed through lines and symbols.
[Have, Many, Dumb, Fight]
[Kim Yun-ok / Curator, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art: By combining motion lines seen in cartoons, the work reconstructs the tension, collision, and power dynamics inherent in language into a new visual language.]
It unpacks modern society—where conflict is more common than understanding and clashes take precedence over harmony—into a delightful visual experience.
The simple composition of black and white is intended to keep expressions clear, contrasting with the artist's view of our limited ways of perceiving the world.
[Christine Sun Kim / Artist: Because I ultimately have no choice but to make decisions based only on the information available to me, whenever I deliver a message, I always make it as clear as possible, so that it can be distinguished strictly in black and white.]
The artist's images spring to life with a vibrant rhythm across an 8-meter-tall curved screen composed of seventy-two 55-inch displays.
It is a spatial performance where image, video, and sound blend together.
[Kim Sung-hee / Director, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art: Her work is characterized by an artist who expresses the weighty themes of modern social communication structures and conflicts through her signature lively rhythm and movement.]
Christine Sun Kim is a Berlin-based Korean-American.
She is gaining international recognition, ranking 34th on the Power 100 list announced last year by the British contemporary art magazine ArtReview.
(Video Editing: Kim Jun-hee, VJ: Oh Se-gwan)