Born on Jeju, KR
Based in Glasgow, UK
Sooun Kim is a multidisciplinary visual artist working through music, painting and sculpture, more recently expanding his visual language to include video and installation. He is interested in hybrid cultures that iterate from the effects of post-colonialism and cultural imperialism. His work, Yellow Fever (2019), marked the beginning of his auto-ethnographic journey, where he collected his grandfather’s biography alongside records of historical figures to recover his personal cultural identity. Further interested in popular culture, he includes audio-visual reflections of his contemporary being as a South-Korean migrant where the past and present collide. Consciously unpredictable, Kim uses image and sound to play with viewer expectations by seducing and repulsing - genre bending to create an undefinable hybrid.
EDUCATION
2018-20 MFA, Glasgow School of Art (Distinction), Glasgow, UK
2014-14 Nottingham Trent University, School of Art & Design, Exchange Student, Nottingham, UK
2009-16 BFA in Painting, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, KR
SOLO EXHIBITION
2024 (Upcoming) 16 Nicolson Street Gallery, Glasgow, UK
2023 Ramifying Frost (supported by Creative Scotland), Goethe-Institut, Glasgow, UK
TWO-PERSON EXHIBITION
2021 The Auto-Buzz of Hybrid Kim and Rabbit, Intermedia Gallery of Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2022 KCC Open Call UK X Germany 2022: Begin Again, the Korean Embassy Cultural Centre in London, UK
2022 Rencontres InternationalesParis/Berlin 2022, Berlin, Germany
2022 KCC Open Call UK X Germany 2022: Begin Again, the Korean Embassy Cultural Centre in Berlin, Germany
2022 Happy Tide Will Flood Again, 5 Florence St, Glasgow, UK
2022 NOWNESS Experiments: Yellow Fever, NOWNESS ASIA, Hong Kong
2022 Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin 2022, Paris, France
2022 Art Lovers Movie Club: Born Beneath, ArtReview
2022 CCA Annex: Unmuted Cave, Online, Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK
2021 Fringe Arts Bath Festival, 44AD Artspace, Bath, UK
2021 NOTION-MOTION, The Factory, London, UK
2021 Carapelli for Art 2021, Online, Florence, Italy
2020 Ingram Prize 2020 Finalist Show, Online, Smartify app, London, UK
2020 CIRCA Class of 2020, Piccadilly Lights in Piccadilly Circus, London, UK
2019 Aesthetica Short Film Festival, King's Manor, Friargate Theater, York, UK
2019 Bless Your Heart (performance featuring), Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
2019 MFA Interim Show, Glue Factory, Glasgow, UK
AWARDS
2023 Selected: 16NST 2023-2024 Exhibition Open Call, Glasgow, UK
2022 Global Talent Endorsement, Arts Council England, UK
2022 Winner: KCC Open Call UK X Germany 2022, the Korean Embassy Cultural Centre in London & Berlin, UK, Germany
2022 Selected: Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin 2022, Germany, France
2021 Finalisted: Bath Open Art Prize 2021, Bath, UK
2021 Honorable Mention: Carapelli for Art 2021, Florence, Italy
2020 Finalisted: The Ingram Prize 2020, London, UK
2020 Selected: CIRCA Class of 2020, London, UK
2020 Shortlisted: Now & Next, LUX Scotland, BBC platforms, UK
2020 Selected: Intermedia Gallery Programme 2020/21, Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK
2019 Selected: Artist Film Official Selection of Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York, UK
FUNDING & GRANTS
2023 Open Fund for Individuals, Creative Scotland, UK
2022 Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards Fund, Glasgow Life with Creative Scotland, UK
2022 Hope Scott Trust Fund, Scotland, UK
2022 The Eaton Fund, England, UK
2020 Granted by the Glasgow City Council and Intermedia Gallery of Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK
PRESS & PUBLICATION & REVIEW
2022 A review by Dr. Ranjana Thapalyal: Archive and fiction intertwine in an asynchronous reflection on Korean history, cultural memory and hybridity, NOWNESS ASIA, Hong Kong
2021 Yes/No/Like/Dislike/Love/Hate/Reply/Share: The Portrait of Korean Pop Culture 2000-2020, Superellipse, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul, KR
2019 Art Takes Centre Stage a Year on from Fire (Analyst/Insight/Opinion section), 27th April 2019, The Herald Scotland, UK
RESCIDENCY
2024 (Upcoming) 16 Nicolson Street Gallery, Glasgow, UK