Artist Kim Ku Lim discusses his work with art historian and curator Dr Charlotte Horlyck (Lecturer in the History of Korean Art, SOAS). The conversation addresses Kim Ku Lim’s practice over the last 40 years, specifically his prominent role in the development of performance art in Korea, through the Avant-Garde (A.G.) (established 1964) and The Fourth Group (established 1970), as well as his work with experimental film.
This event is part of Curators’ Series #11. Institute of Asian Performance Art. By Victor Wang 王宗孚
KIM KU LIM (b. 1936, Sangju, South Korea) is a pioneer of performance art and the first artist in Korea to make experimental films such as The Meaning of 1/24 Second(1969). Known as Korea’s first avant-garde artist, he has worked in film, light, performance and land art, often stretching the limits of a given medium. In Korea, he held his first solo exhibition in 1958 at Daegu Information Center, and soon expanded his artistic practice beyond painting. For his artistic “deconstructions” he often used burned plastics, vinyl and metal bits alongside oil paint. He incorporated ready-made objects into his painted canvases, installations and staged performances. Kim played a leading part in several artist collectives (Painting 68, A.G. Group, The Fourth Group). He staged the nation’s first body painting performance and initiated the first Korean mail art Maeseu Midieo ui Yumul[The Relics of Mass Media] (1969).
CHARLOTTE HORLYCK is an art historian and curator based in London. She received her PhD from SOAS in 2006, and was appointed Lecturer in Korean Art History at SOAS in 2007. Before taking up this position, she curated the Korean collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (1998-2004). She has published widely on Korean material culture, in particular on ceramics and metal wares of the Goryeo kingdom, including their collecting in the early 20thcentury. More recently she has worked on modern and contemporary Korean art and her monograph Korean Art – From the 19th Century to the Present(Reaktion Books) was published in September 2017. Her co-edited volume (with Michael Pettid, SUNY Binghampton) Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in Korea from Ancient to Contemporary Times (Hawai’i University Press, 2014) was selected for a Republic of Korea Ministry of Education Award (2015).
