Ayoung Kim on ‘Delivery Dancer’s Sphere’
The artist delves into her work exploring the gig economy, queerness and the possibilities of monsters
The artist delves into her work exploring the gig economy, queerness and the possibilities of monsters
Foregrounding the importance of worldbuilding in Ayoung Kim’s practice, the video work Delivery Dancer’s Sphere depicts female delivery rider Ernst Mo (an anagram of ‘monster’) who works for the delivery platform Delivery Dancer, administered by a master algorithm called Dancemaster.
The work not only examines the gig economy and platform labour, which became immensely popular in South Korea during the pandemic, it explores topological labyrinths, possible worlds, hypervigilance and the accelerationist urge to optimize body, time and space.
It also hints at a queer relationship with En Storm (another anagram of ‘monster’), Ernst Mo’s counterpart from another possible world.
The installation at Frieze London 2023 also includes Ghost Dancers A (2022). Here, biker helmets suspended mid-air contain game-engine-configured videos of Ernst Mo and En Strom riding through the streets of an eerie city, representing uneasy tensions between the two protagonists.
Ayoung Kim is presented by Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, at Frieze London 2023, as part of the Artist-to-Artist section, proposed by Haegue Yang.
A number of Kim’s works were purchased by Tate at Frieze London, with help from The Frieze Tate Fund Supported by Endeavor.
About the Artist
In her multifaceted practice, Ayoung Kim (b. 1979) synthesizes outcomes of far-reaching speculation, establishing connections between biopolitics and border controls, the memories of stones and virtual memories, and ancestral origins and imminent futures. These narratives take the form of video, moving image, VR, game simulation, sonic fiction, diagrams and texts that the artist presents as exhibitions, screenings, performances, theatrical projects, and publications. Kim decisively integrates geopolitics, mythology, technology, and futuristic iconography in her work, and she retroactively seeks speculative time to infiltrate the present.
Ayoung Kim has presented solo exhibitions and international projects at Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023), Ars Electronica Festival, Linz (2023); HEK (House of Electronic Arts), Basel (2023); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea (2023, 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016); Gallery Hyundai, Seoul (2022); Kuandu Biennale, Taipei (2022); Asian Art Biennial, Taichung (2021); Busan Biennale (2020); Gwangju Biennale (2018); Videobrasil, São Paulo (2018); Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul (2018); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016); and the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), among others. Her films and moving image works have been screened at the IFFR (International Film Festival Rotterdam) (2023); CPH:DOX (Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival) (2023); Berlin International Film Festival (2020); Sharjah Film Platform (2020, 2018), and more. Kim is a recipient of the Golden Nica, Prix Ars Electronica, Austria (2023), Terayama Shūji Prize from the 37th Image Forum Festival (2023), a finalist of the Korea Artist Prize (2019), and a recipient of the Young Artist of the Year Award, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea (2015). Her works are included in the collections of Tate, London; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; Kadist Foundation, San Francisco; Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art at The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; MMCA, Korea; Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul; Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul; Busan Museum of Art, Busan; Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Busan; and Joaquim Paiva Collection at Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, among others.
Further Information
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