KIM MINAE THOUGHTS ON HABIT
This catalogue is published by HADA Contemporary to accompany the exhibition:
KIM MINAE THOUGHTS ON HABIT 17 OCTOBER - 30 NOVEMBER 2013 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any mean, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from HADA Contemporary Ltd.
KIM MINAE THOUGHTS ON HABIT
KIM MINAE THOUGHTS ON HABIT
HADA Contemporar y is pleased to present the fir st UK solo exhibition by critically acclaimed emerging ar tist Kim Minae (b. 1981). This exhibition aims to focus on capturing the ar tist’s fundamental conceptual framewor k encompassing ver satile sculptural and installation wor ks in conver sation with the ar tist self, objects, spaces and contexts within the boundaries of society. By inver ting the relational function of the objects within designated context and presenting them to conflictions, she por traits the dilemma that we face in the social system highlighting the often forgotten, unseen and ignored. Kim’s wor ks are self-por traits and visual indicator s of unconscious and inadver tent compromises and contradictions that we over look or fail to notice. Since 2009, the ar tist’s monologic narrational wor ks embar ked from her per sonal experience take on abstract str uctural forms due to her intense desensitisation from the cultural dislocation, which resulted in dramatic pixel-like development of her experiences into abstract images. Until recently, her sculptural str uctures were often the conver sation with a space utilising the strategy of failure to spotlight discrepancies. As Lisa Le Feuvre notes that ‘rather than producing a space of mediocrity, failure becomes intrinsic to creating open systems and raising searching questions: without the doubt that failure invites, any situation becomes closed and in danger of becoming dogmatic.’ [1] Instead of recognising a space as a symbol of social boundar y which characterises some of her previous wor ks, the wor ks in this exhibition are unique in fur ther conceptualising the concept of contradiction in the broader context of society as she detaches her self and objectifies, toys and manipulates texts, images and spaces as subject of restraints. According to B. R. Andrews from The American Journal of Psychology ‘a habit is a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience.’ [2] For Kim, the habit extends beyond this regional definition and epitomises inhibitions and conventions of the society that became accustomed to through fixing cour se of consciousness with repeated social experiences that we unknowingly accede and succumb to. The ensemble of the wor ks generates rare interconnected narrative akin to an immaculate stage design where each wor ks are in dialogue with the other and each elements in a wor k completes the wor k of the other. Through refreshing and atypical presentation and juxtaposition of images, texts and frames, she emphasises on the habit on how we see and perceive images and texts. A galler y space has been a decisive element in her ar tistic investigation as the foremost place that allows and limits the boundar y of her creativity as an ar tist. Confronting its cultural confinement, in 14 Degrees Off (2013), she rotates the galler y space 14 degrees leftward using handrails to create an alternate imaginative space that viewer s can coexist through tactile experience. Through this spatial inter vention, Kim brings novel awareness to the objects - walls, str uctures and spaces - that fail to exist within the realm of our perception due to their perpetual presence. Par ticular ly, their inability to function as handrails accentuate on the concept of the functionality, which is also a result of social habit designed and agreed for pragmatic purpose as a language. Ironically, only then, these absurd handrails become exceptionally effective in its function to recontextualise these hybrid spaces for original perception.
[1] Lisa Le Faeuvre, ‘Strive to Fail’, Failure – Documents of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel Gallery London, The MIT Press Cambridge, p. 17 [2] ‘To express in a word that habit means the accustomed way of feeling, willing, or doing; the more or less fixed course of consciousness with repeated experiences; the shaping of the familiar consciousness rather than that consciousness itself; one may say that habit is the mode of mental functioning when repeated processes are in mind.’ B. R. Andrews, The American Journal of Psychology, University of Illinois Press, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr., 1903), pp. 121-122.
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In Two People (2013), Kim displays four distantly similar images of two people that she collected individually, which differ in their type, source, time and motive . This wor k poses the doubt in the unconscious process of collection that has been preconditioned through the prior visual information and experience that one is accustomed to – in this case, one of her favourite postcard of the two people that ar tist has kept for several year s. Dispropor tionately framed texts and images from Dia Beacon (2013) decentralise our habit of focus and context and marginalise frames and images allowing the audiences to reinterpret each objects that are in conflict with the convention. Similar ly, in Self Drawing Image (2013), the ar tist rearranges the English translations of the poem ‘Self Por trait (1948)’ by Yun Dong Ju (Korea, 1917-1945) into Korean linguistic order heightening the confusion and the gap deriving from the limitation that language bares. The conver sion of each words into image forms by drawing on graph paper s alludes magnified and reduced pixelated image in a computer software. Thus aler ting the habit of consuming discrepant meaning and contents through visual translation that inevitably fails in-between. As the questionable process of collecting images in Two People, her choice of ‘Self Por trait’ perhaps derives from the ar tist’s unconscious mental habit as the solemn self-reflective tone of the poem written during Japanese occupation of Korea coincides with the innate introspective nature of her ar tistic practice. Likewise , the title of the exhibition, ‘Thoughts on Habit’ may originate from the phonetical similarities from the ‘Notes on Sculpture’ by Rober t Morris. In the theor y of falsifiability by Kar l Popper, what characterises creative thinking within an experiment is the ability to ‘break through the limits of the range’, that is to apply a critical mode of thinking rather than wor king with the sets of assumptions at hand. In order to do so one must engage with failure and embrace the unanticipated. [3] Hence, focusing on revealing contradictions moulded by the culture and society, her wor ks are the invitation to break, doubt, question and reperceive the off limits. They are visual presentations of her per sonal remor se and reflection and at times her willingness for silent accusation and repor t for action.
Kim Minae (b. 1981) lives and wor ks in London. She received MA in Sculpture at Royal College of Ar t London and MFA and BFA at Seoul National Univer sity. Kim has exhibited internationally at National Museum of Contemporar y Ar t Seoul, Plateau Samsung Museum of Ar t, Seoul, Doosan Galler y Seoul and New Yor k, Galler y Hyundai Seoul, Kukje Galler y Seoul, Gyeongju National Museum, IC A London, among other s. Most recently she has been selected as 2013 Young Ar tist by National Museum of Contemporar y Ar t Korea, Young London 2012 by V22, 2012 Gaswor k International Residency, 2011 Bloomberg New Contemporaries UK and awarded 2008 National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Ar ts, Ar ts Council Korea and 2nd Prize at 29th JoongAng Fine Ar ts Prize Korea.
[3] Daniel A. Siedell, ‘Ar t and Failure’, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 40, no. 2 (Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, Summer 2006), pp.105-107.
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Self Drawing Image | Pencil on graph paper s in 85 wooden frames | 19.5 x 27cm each | 2013
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Self Drawing Image | Pencil on graph paper s in 85 wooden frames | 19.5 x 27cm each | 2013
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14 Degrees Off | Aluminium, oak handrails and oak panels | installation variable | 2013
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KIM MINAE THOUGHTS ON HABIT 17 OCTOBER - 30 NOVEMBER 2013
2-2
Size (cm)
2013
Year
4-1
Material
installation variable
2013
3-1
Title
Aluminium, oak handrails and oak panels
various sized frames
2013
4-2
No.
14 Degrees Off
Pencil on graph papers and printed materials in 6 steel frames
various sized frames
2013
5
1
Thoughs on Habit
Collected postcards, pencil on Korean manuscript paper, digital print and inkjet print in wooden and steel frames
19.5 x 27 each
2013
1
2
Two People
Pencil on graph papers in 85 wooden frames
various sized frames
2-1
3
Self Drawing Image
Collected materials in wooden frames
3-2
4
Dia Beacon
3-3
5
22 | 23
Thoughts on Habit | Pencil on graph paper s and printed materials in 6 steel frames | various sized frames | 2013
24 | 25
Two People Collected postcards, pencil on Korean manuscript paper, digital print and inkjet print in wooden and steel frames, various sized frames 2013
26 | 27
Dia Beacon | Collected materials in wooden frames | various sized frames | 2013
30 | 31
32 | 33
BIOGRAPHY
V
KIM MINAE
b. 1981
Interim Show, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK
Lives and works in London, United Kingdom
Embrace, Edinburgh College of Ar t, Edinburgh, UK 2009 Finding Lee Junho ( ), Takeout Drawing in Arko, Seoul, Korea
EDUCATION
Group show, Weißensee Kunsthochschule, Berlin, Germany
2011 MA Sculpture, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK
RCA Secret 2009, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK
2007 MFA, Graduate School of Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Aim High, Seoul Ar ts Center, Seoul, Korea
2004 BFA Sculpture, College of Fine Ar ts, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Some… Scenes, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, Korea 2008 A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grau Gallery, Seoul, Korea
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 Funny Funny 6, Gallery Sejul, Seoul, Korea
2013 Thoughts on Habit, HADA Contemporary, London, UK
Neo-Utopia, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2008 Anonymous Scenes, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, Korea
29th JoongAng Fine Ar ts Prize Exhibition, Seoul Ar ts Center, Seoul, Korea Iron and Ar ts, Iron Museum, Umseong, Korea
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 The Next Generation, Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea Young Korean Ar tists 2013, National Museum of Contemporary Ar t, Seoul, Korea 2012 Young London 2012, V22, London, UK Twin Town, Korean Cultural Centre, London, UK
2006 Silla, Gyeongju National Museum, Gyeongju, Korea Iron and Ar ts Symposium, Iron Museum, Umseong, Korea Three Temptations, Gallery Woodeok, Seoul, Korea 2005 Five Senses+@, Hongik Univ. Gallery of Contemporary Ar t, Seoul, Korea 2004 Preview 2, Alternative Space Team Preview, Seoul, Korea
The Forces Behind, Doosan Gallery, New York, US
The Stage-Imagination Relay in Club, 5th Exhibition Hall, Gwangju Biennale,
Volta 8_Union Gallery, Dreispitzhalle, Basel, Germany
Gwangju, Korea
White Rain, Union Gallery, London, UK
Project A.L. space 3, Main Library of Chongsin Univ., Seoul, Korea
Place Not Found, Forman’s smokehouse Gallery, London, UK
Hadaeri Ar t Festival ‘Vacation of Ar t’, Hadae-ri Community Hall,
The Function of the Oblique: Action, Son Gallery, London, UK
Hoengseong, Korea
The Function of the Oblique: Resistance, No Format Gallery, London, UK 30cm of Obscurity, The Old Police Station, London, UK
AWARD, GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
In Forward-Reserve, Schwar tz Gallery, London, UK
2013 Doosan Yonkang Ar ts Awards, Doosan Gallery, Korea When I spoke its name, it came to me and became a flower,7 Rue Gustave Nadaud, 2013 Young Korean Ar tists, National Museum of Contemporary Ar t, Korea Paris, France 2012 Gasworks International Residencies, London, UK 5th 4482: Map the Korea, Barge House in Oxo Tower Wharf, London, UK 2011 Selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, UK As Small as a World and Large as Alone, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
2008 National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Ar ts, Ar ts Council Korea
The Forces Behind, Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2007 29th JoongAng Fine Ar ts Prize, 25 Ar tists of Year, 2nd Prize, Korea
2011 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, S1 Ar tspace, Sheffield/ ICA, London, UK Incheon Women Ar tists’ Biennale_Main Exhibition: Terra Cognita, Incheon Culture and Ar ts Center, Incheon, Korea A Future Pump House, Pump House Gallery, London, UK Show RCA 2011, Royal College of Ar t, London, UK Space Study, Plateau_Samsung Museum of Ar t, Seoul, UK Kim Chong Yung Sculpture Award Exhibition: Eonu Society of Sculptors, Kim Chong Yung Museum, Seoul, Korea 4th 4482: Rhizosphere, Barge House in Oxo Tower Wharf, London, UK 2010 Future’s Future’s Future, Korean Cultural Centre UK, London, UK Oblique Strategies, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea The Welcoming City, Jubilee Park in Canary Wharf, London, UK Lunch is for Wimps, Triumph showroom, London, UK
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