Dong-Yeon Kim

Dong-Yeon Kim, a professor at Kyung-Hee University in Seoul since 2006, addresses in his works the vulnerability of our environment, our cities, our very private sphere of life. For the exhibition at the Dortmunder Kunstverein, the artist chooses the street as a symbol for this vulnerability. Roads highlight the change of civilization. They connect distant points, played a major role in the development of trade and industry, they were and are indispensable in the scientific and philosophical debate both in the East and West.

Dong-Yeon Kim has studied the urban development and architecture of Western and Eastern cultures. Through his research, he discovered the important role of the street as a connecting axis for his creative process. All over the globe, systems, connections, communication strands, and street networks run to define space. Disciplines such as architecture and urban planning in the sense of urbanity intertwine with Kim's religious-philosophical interest in the foundations of human existence. These are explored through walk-in installations that allow the visitor to become part of a larger whole.

In the installation for the Dortmunder Kunstverein, Kim deals with street networks of large cities. The streets of New York are transformed into the spaces of the Kunstverein and are primarily intended to address the legibility of such systems. The audience is to bring their own life experiences into the contemplation and actively walk through the installation. Roads made of cardboard and aluminum plates, connected to other complicated map figures hanging in the air or on the wall (based on images from ‘Google Earth’) adorn the walls and become representatives of human existence in capitalism and globalization. These technoid structures are complemented by ceramic domes, reminiscent of traditional Asian crafts and covered with traditional Korean glazes.

Due to his international network between New York, Seoul and Düsseldorf, the artist is particularly interested in the various networks within the major cities. The aim is to make cities from the American, Asian and European parts of the world comparable or even to transfer them.

On the occasion of the exhibition, a catalog was published by Kerber-Verlag with text contributions by Thomas Hirsch and Boggi Kim.

Kindly supported by:

ARKO (Art Korea) und Druck- und Medienhaus Stegemöller

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