Artists: Forms of the Shadow - Sunjung Kim in conversation with Bettina Spörr
10/03/24 • 50 min
Forms of the Shadow is the first group exhibition at the Secession since 2018, continuing the loose series of guest-curated thematic shows held there at irregular intervals.
In this podcast, recorded on 20 September 2024, the day after the opening, Bettina Spörr speaks with Sunjung Kim about her REAL DMZ PROJECT and how Forms of the Shadow evolved from it. Their conversation also explores Sunjung Kim’s personal motivation to engage with the political division of North and South Korea, as well as her journey to becoming one of South Korea’s most influential curators.
This episode is the first in a series accompanying the exhibition, offering deeper insights into the artists and their work. Individual conversations with Kyungah Ham, Young In Hong, Jane Jin Kaisen, Joon Kim, Lee Kit, Minouk Lim, Adrián Villar Rojas, Ramiro Wong, Tomoko Yoneda, Jin-me Yoon, and Min Yoon were conducted and will be released in the coming weeks throughout the exhibition:
Forms of the Shadow casts light on contemporary shadows unveiled by the global pandemic, the climate crisis, and geopolitical tensions. Through this thematic lens, it invites viewers to reflect upon the interconnectedness of our world and the complexities of navigating through turbulent times. By shedding light on the ever-shifting nature of shadows and their metaphorical significance in witnessing the passage of time, the exhibition prompts reflection on the intricate layers of human existence. More
Sunjung Kim is currently the artistic director of Art Sonje Center in Seoul (2022–), the chair of ICOM Republic of Korea (2023–), and a board member of ICOM ASPAC (International Council of Museums Asia-Pacific Alliance). She was the president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation (2017–2021), director of Art Sonje Center (2016–2017), the artistic director of ACC Archive & Research at the Asia Art Culture Center (2014–2015), and chief curator and deputy director (1993–2004) of Art Sonje Center. Additionally, she is the founder and artistic director of the REAL DMZ PROJECT, an art and research project designed to cross the boundaries of the museum and launched in 2011 to explore the (in)visible borders of the Demilitarized Zone through the critical lens of art and to raise awareness about the division of Korea.
Bettina Spörr is a curator at the Secession (2008-present), where she engages in close collaboration with artists to conceptualize and realize exhibitions. Throughout her career, she has worked with numerous artists on solo exhibitions and, in 2010, curated where do we go from here?, another edition of Secession’s Young Scene, presenting around 30 artists from Austria and Central Eastern Europe. She worked at the Generali Foundation (2002-2008) and spent a year in Singapore (2001-2002), where she worked in a contemporary art gallery.
The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.
Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed (2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Programmed by the board of the Secession
Audio Editor: Paul Macheck
Executive Producer: Bettina Spörr
Forms of the Shadow is the first group exhibition at the Secession since 2018, continuing the loose series of guest-curated thematic shows held there at irregular intervals.
In this podcast, recorded on 20 September 2024, the day after the opening, Bettina Spörr speaks with Sunjung Kim about her REAL DMZ PROJECT and how Forms of the Shadow evolved from it. Their conversation also explores Sunjung Kim’s personal motivation to engage with the political division of North and South Korea, as well as her journey to becoming one of South Korea’s most influential curators.
This episode is the first in a series accompanying the exhibition, offering deeper insights into the artists and their work. Individual conversations with Kyungah Ham, Young In Hong, Jane Jin Kaisen, Joon Kim, Lee Kit, Minouk Lim, Adrián Villar Rojas, Ramiro Wong, Tomoko Yoneda, Jin-me Yoon, and Min Yoon were conducted and will be released in the coming weeks throughout the exhibition:
Forms of the Shadow casts light on contemporary shadows unveiled by the global pandemic, the climate crisis, and geopolitical tensions. Through this thematic lens, it invites viewers to reflect upon the interconnectedness of our world and the complexities of navigating through turbulent times. By shedding light on the ever-shifting nature of shadows and their metaphorical significance in witnessing the passage of time, the exhibition prompts reflection on the intricate layers of human existence. More
Sunjung Kim is currently the artistic director of Art Sonje Center in Seoul (2022–), the chair of ICOM Republic of Korea (2023–), and a board member of ICOM ASPAC (International Council of Museums Asia-Pacific Alliance). She was the president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation (2017–2021), director of Art Sonje Center (2016–2017), the artistic director of ACC Archive & Research at the Asia Art Culture Center (2014–2015), and chief curator and deputy director (1993–2004) of Art Sonje Center. Additionally, she is the founder and artistic director of the REAL DMZ PROJECT, an art and research project designed to cross the boundaries of the museum and launched in 2011 to explore the (in)visible borders of the Demilitarized Zone through the critical lens of art and to raise awareness about the division of Korea.
Bettina Spörr is a curator at the Secession (2008-present), where she engages in close collaboration with artists to conceptualize and realize exhibitions. Throughout her career, she has worked with numerous artists on solo exhibitions and, in 2010, curated where do we go from here?, another edition of Secession’s Young Scene, presenting around 30 artists from Austria and Central Eastern Europe. She worked at the Generali Foundation (2002-2008) and spent a year in Singapore (2001-2002), where she worked in a contemporary art gallery.
The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.
Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed (2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Programmed by the board of the Secession
Audio Editor: Paul Macheck
Executive Producer: Bettina Spörr
Previous Episode
Artists: Katrin Hornek, Karin Pauer, Sabina Holzer, Zosia Hołubowska, and Jeanette Pacher in conversation
Katrin Hornek, Karin Pauer, Sabina Holzer, Zosia Hołubowska, and Jeanette Pacher in conversation
testing grounds is an immersive live installation conceived by Katrin Hornek and developed in a collaborative process involving artists as well as researchers and scientists from different fields. It addresses the measurable evidence and effects of radioactive fallout dispersed around the world as a result of heavy testing of nuclear weapons, especially during the Cold War era.
Listen to the artist Katrin Hornek, choreographer Karin Pauer, writer and dancer Sabina Holzer, sound artist Zosia Hołubowska, and the curator Jeanette Pacher talk about the project and its coming about from their respective perspectives, but also what it means to work collaboratively so closely. The conversation was recorded on May 13, 2024 in the context of the exhibition.
In collaboration with Karin Pauer, Sabina Holzer, and Zosia Hołubowska
With her artistic oeuvre and curatorial practice, Katrin Hornek playfully engages with the strange paradoxes of living in the age of the Anthropocene, that is, the new geologic epoch where the effects of capitalism, colonialism, and extractivism are written into the body of the earth. She asserts a more complex understanding of the entwinement of so-called nature and culture that recognizes that our bodies and cultures are substantially and spiritually connected with other creatures and the elements that make up our world. As an artistic strategy, Hornek follows the stories and traces of the material world into their countless networks to create narratives. More
Katrin Hornek (*1983, Austria) studied performative art and sculpture in Vienna and Copenhagen. She is a member of the Anthropocene Commons network and teaches at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Department of Site-Specific Art). Recent exhibitions at Ar/Ge Kunst, Bolzano (2022), Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt (2021), Riga Biennale (2020), Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2019). Awarded the Msgr. Otto Mauer Prize (2021). www.katrinhornek.net
Karin Pauer (*1983, Austria) is a performer and choreographer. The exploration of relations, in-betweens, empathy, and togetherness informs all her works. She negotiates these notions combining embodied choreographic practices with language, visual arts, and live music. Her works have been shown in various Viennese institutions as well as at local and international festivals. www.karinpauer.com
Sabina Holzer (*1966, Austria) works as a dancer, choreographer and author in the field of extended choreography. She is concerned with practices of community, ecology, philosophy, materiality, science fiction and poetry. Her collaborative performances, interventions and texts are shown and published locally and internationally. www.cattravelsnotalone.at
Zosia Hołubowska (1988, Poland) is a sound artist, queer music activist, researcher, and producer. With performances, sound installations, radio works and soundscapes, they work on topics of queering archives, healing practices, and interspecies intimacy.
Performance: Martina De Dominicis, Cat Jimenez, Mani Obeya, Karin Pauer
The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.
Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed (2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Editing Director: Katrin Hornek
Editor: Paul Macheck
Programmed by the board of the Secession
Produced by Jeanette Pacher
Next Episode
Artists: Forms of the Shadow - Kyungah Ham in conversation with Bettina Spörr
Following a conversation with guest curator Sunjung Kim, this podcast is the first to focus on the individual artists in the exhibition and their works.
This episode, recorded on 20 September 2024, is dedicated to the ambivalence between the deceptive, aesthetically seductive surface and the unexpected abysses hidden behind Kyungah Ham’s conceptual embroidery works. It all began with a North Korean propaganda leaflet the artist found on her parents' doorstep one day and the question, "What if I send these things back to North Korea and communicate with anonymous people and share this strange feeling (...)".
Forms of the Shadow is the first group exhibition at the Secession since 2018. It casts light on contemporary shadows unveiled by the global pandemic, the climate crisis, and geopolitical tensions. Further conversations with Young In Hong, Jane Jin Kaisen, Joon Kim, Lee Kit, Minouk Lim, Adrián Villar Rojas, Ramiro Wong, Tomoko Yoneda, Jin-me Yoon, and Min Yoon were conducted and will be released in the coming weeks during the exhibition:
with Nilbar Güreş; Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian; Kyungah Ham; Young In Hong; ikkibawiKrrr; Jane Jin Kaisen; Joon Kim; Lee Bul; Lee Kit; Mikael Levin; Minouk Lim; Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho; Adrián Villar Rojas; Ramiro Wong; Haegue Yang; Tomoko Yoneda; Jin-me Yoon; Min Yoon
The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.
Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed (2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Programmed by the board of the Secession
Audio Editor: Paul Macheck
Executive Producer: Bettina Spörr
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