Byung Chul Kim

Byung Chul Kim (* 1974 in Seoul , South Korea ) is a South Korean artist who has lived in Germany since 2004. He works both as a performance artist and in the media of drawing , painting and video .

life and work

Byung Chul Kim grew up in the interior of South Korea and spent his youth in Seoul, where he lived in a Buddhist monastery from the age of 15 to 17. Kim first studied Western painting at the Chugye University for the Arts in Seoul before studying installation, performance and video with Christian Jankowski at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart . Kim completed a guest semester in the Masterclass of the Graduate Fine Art Program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In 2011 Kim received the diploma for sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.

Byung Chul Kim became famous with his one-year project (2009-2010) "Performance Hotel", an internationally received, participatory art project in the east of Stuttgart. The theme of this and many other projects is Kim's search for alternative means of exchange: In the performance hotel and in the performance express (train journeys to Paris, Metz, Luxembourg, 2010–2011) a place to sleep or a train ticket could be purchased for a performance. In 2014, Byung Chul Kim opened another temporary performance hotel in Baden-Baden at the invitation of the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden as part of the "Room Service" exhibition. With these actions, as well as with the project "Humor-Restaurant", in which the guest can earn a meal with a humorous performance, the artist Kim counteracts the monopoly of money in response to the financial crisis.

Byung Chul Kim also implements his ideas in the media of drawing and video. These works, e.g. B. the cycle "The Little Artist" (see works in public collections), are characterized by subtle philosophical considerations, which are presented to the viewer of the works with subtle humor. The themes of the works are "happiness" (see works in public collections), the cycle of life, death and existence; often traditional Buddhist themes mix with western influences and reflect Kim's transcultural way of working.

Byung Chul Kim carries out his performance projects in Germany, Switzerland, France, the USA and Africa. His storyboards, drawings and videos were a. at the Kunstverein Zürich , at Wiensowski & Harbord in Berlin and at the Richmond Art Center in Richmond (USA).

Works in public collections

• "The Stone", 150 cm × 220 cm, graphite on paper, 2013, Villa Merkel , Gallery of the City of Esslingen
• "Das Glück", 150 cm × 200 cm, graphite on paper, 2014, Villa Merkel , Gallery of the City of Esslingen
• "Performance Express", 80 × 60 cm, "Everybody Happy Company", 80 × 60 cm, 2011, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
• “Performance Hotel”, 5 photos, video, approx. 30 min and object, 2010, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
• “The little artist”, video and drawing, 28 min, 2007, Kunsthalle Göppingen

literature

• From grandma to Nietzsche: Byung Chul Kim. Works 2013-14. State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-942144-33-9 .
• Offspaces. For the development of self-organized spaces in Stuttgart. In: Dietrich Heissenbüttel (Hrsg.): Art in Stuttgart. Hampp Media Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-942561-19-8 , p. 108 ff.
• Johan Holten (Ed.): Room Service - From the hotel to art and artists in the hotel. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-86335-576-0 .

Web links

• “Here the cook is still laughing himself” report by Verena Mayer in the Tagesspiegel
• "Stuttgart's Performance Hotel: Singing for Your Supper, and Bed" by Tobias Becker - report in the Spiegel
• “From Another Star” by Mathias Becker Stuttgarter Zeitung