Preface                

Kim Kulim is now widely regarded as one central progenitor of Korea’s avant-garde movement and an integral figure in the history of art in Korea. This study, initiated   to construct an archive of his art seminal works, was expected to deal with the entire collection of his art to date. However, this would be a herculean task to complete given the vast reaches of the collection, the sheer volume of work, which comprises over 3,000 items including sculptural and video art, recorded performances, and urban plans, as well as paintings and drawings, of which a considerable number have either been lost or whose whereabouts remain unknown due to his long sojourns outside Korea; his time in the USA and Japan in particular led to logistical issues moving and importing work made abroad or brought during his travels. Similarly, the artist’s own photographs of his early works are in poor condition, degraded with scratches on the slides and discoloration caused by the passage of time, and these remain incomplete even after careful restoration efforts using cutting-edge digital technologies yielded subpar results. Despite these archival and restoration difficulties, I have done my utmost to find and analyze as many works and related materials as possible, and to accommodate the various viewpoints about his activities and works through interviews and meetings with many art critics in Korea and abroad, as well as meetings with the artist himself. I have also collected and read many of art periodicals and academic texts that have been written about the artist and his work by specialists over the years.

These strenuous efforts have resulted in the construction of a digitalized archive of about 1,600 works created by Kim Kulim himself between 1958 and 2016. This repository of image and physical artwork also includes an additional number of publicity materials number exactly 185: this includes 116 exhibition catalogues, all dedicated or commissioned to explore his art and prioritize his creative and socio-cultural intentions. This study on his art is largely based on surveys and research gathered from firsthand sources, interviews with art critics and museum curators who were all interested in or knowledgeable about his art in some way, as well as sometimes acquainted with the artist himself. The study divides his life as an artist into three distinct phases: i.e. the early years, established period and late stages of his career, with the main discussion focusing on the central themes of all his works into the subjects, experimentation, and deconstruction of conventional thoughts. Another vital strand of Kim’s métier and thought-process was his approach to reality and practical action, to multi-layered time and the theory of monistic dualism of the primal forces known as i (or li) and gi (or qi), and eum (or yin) and yang. One may feel that an analysis based on these ideas has certain limitations when dealing with the art of Kim Kulim collectively. I hope, nonetheless and with these concerns in mind, that my analysis will help provide a method for approaching the multiple layers of meaning contained and imbued in his works and leads to in-depth study on the wonders of eum and yang, a new viewpoint on the relationship between Kim’s works and traditional philosophical ideas, as these notions of identity and status compliment and complicate Korean art history.

1936        Born in Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do

1958        First solo exhibition, Gongbogwan Gallery, Daegu

1964        Death of Sun series

1968        Participation in 68 Painting Show

1969        Participation in the stage performance, Eons in This Land, National Theater of Korea, Seoul

              Relics of Mass Media, the first mail artwork in Korea, Seoul

              Performance of Body Painting (televised by T.B.C TV), Seoul.

              Excerpt from an interview for Weekly Woman: “Modern people actively bare their body because of their longing for primitive ways of life. […]

             In this work, the female body is used as an object. Exposed areas of the skin are painted and decorated with plastic and metal ornaments and gemstones in a way that forms a harmonious whole.

 In this work, the woman is a moving object rather than a model.

             Presentation of Spatial Structure, the first electric artwork in Korea

             This work was praised as the most successful geometric op artworks that appeared in Korea around that time.

1969       Direction of the experimental movie, Civilization, Woman, Money, 8 mm film

              Production of the experimental movie, The Meaning of 1/24 Second, 16 mm film

1970       Direction of Nam June Paik’s performance, Love on the Piano, during the 1st Seoul International Contemporary Music Festival, National Theater of Korea, Seoul

             Inauguration Meeting of The Fourth Group, Sorim Dabang Café, Euljiro, Seoul

             Inaugurated as the President of The Fourth Group, Seoul.

             Direction of The Fourth Group’s Street Performance with Jung Chanseung and Goho, Seoul

             A performance on a pedestrian overpass outside the Shinsegae Department Store, in which the performers blocked the path with balloons, Seoul

             Performance of Condom and Cabamine outside the main gate of Seoul National University, Seoul

             Performance of Funeral Ceremony of the Anachronistic Established Art and Culture and Nationwide Inauguration Conference with The Fourth Group, Sajik Park, Seoul

            Presentation of his ice installation, From Phenomenon to Traces, at the 1st A.G. Group Exhibition: Dynamics of Reduction and Extension, National Information Center (Jungang Gongbogwan), Seoul

             Land art, From Phenomenon to Traces, on the weir of the Salgoji Bridge, Seoul

             From “Art, the Unfathomable,” an interview with Kim Kulim published in the magazine, Space (Gonggan)

1971       7th Paris Biennale, City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France

1974       9th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

1975       Participation in Rencontre International Ouverte de Video with Nam June Paik, Paris, France

1976       Participation in the International Exhibition of Painting, Cagnes-sur-Mer as a guest artist, France

1980       Contemporary Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

1981       Performance of The Poet and Nail, Gonggan Sarang Theatre, Seoul

1981       Direction, choreography, costume design, and stage art for the contemporary dance, The Wings of Yi Sang, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Seoul

1981       Opening of the Kulim Print Workshop, Sinyeong-dong, Seoul

1982       Illustrations for Lee O-Young’s essay book, Mal [Words], Literature & Thought

1982       Performance of the play, Tongmaksal [Makgeolli Exorcism for Korean Unification] with Moo Sejoong, Korea Culture and Arts Education Service, Culture and Arts Center Theater, Seoul

1982       Direction and stage art for Choi Eun-Hee’s dance performance, Korea Culture and Arts Education Service, Culture and Arts Center Grand Theater, Seoul

1988       Modernism in Korean Contemporary Art Scene 1970–1979, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

1990       Silent Dialogue: Still Life in the West and Japan, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan

1991       Kim Kulim, Nam June Paik, Choong Sup Lim, LACA Gallery, Los Angeles, United States

1992       Discontinuities: Nam June Paik and Kulim Kim, Charles Whitchurch Gallery, California, United States

2009       Performing the City: Kunst Aktionismus Im Stadt Raum 60er und 70er Jaher, travelling exhibition, Munchen, Milano, Paris

2010       Presentation of The Meaning of 1/24 Second at EXIT 2010_Experimental Media Art Festival, Taiwan

             Korean Historical Conceptual Art of 1970s–1980s: Jack-of-All-Trades, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art

2011       Art Edition 2011, International edition art fair, Seoul

2012       RES(V)OLUTION 1960–2013, DNA Berlin Gallery, Berlin

             Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom

2013       Solo Exhibition, Like You Know It All, works from the 1960s–1970s, Seoul Museum of Art invitation exhibition, Seoul

2015       Embeddedness: Artist Films and Videos from Korea 1960s, Tate Modern, London

     Lille 3000 Festival: Renaissance, Lille, France

             Performance of From Creation to Dissolution, Shaanxi Province Art Museum, Xian, China

2016      Performance of From Phenomenon to Traces, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon

             Experimental Films in Asia: International Network Forum GALAXY 67, Asia Cultural Center, Gwangju

2017      Samramanang: From Kim Whanki to Yang Fudong, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

             2017 Atelier Story Exhibition, Apr 6–30, 2017, Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Design Museum

             Garden of Memory – Jagal Madang, Oct 18, 2017 – Mar 18, 2018, Daegu Jagal Madang

             Total Support 2017, Nov 1–5, 2017, Total Museum, Seoul

 2018     Renegades in Resistance and Challenge, Daegu Art Museum

             Blooming at the Junction, Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong

             Rehearsals from the Korean Avant-Garde Performance Archive, Korean Cultural Centre, United Kingdom 

             Curators’ Series: Institute of Asian Performance Art, David Roberts Art Foundation

 2019      Kim Kulim & Jessica Hyunjin Kim, Oct. 5, 2019, Cafe Oto London

             The Square: Art and Society 1900–2019, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

             Korea Video Art from 1970s to 1990s: Time Image Apparatus, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

 2020     Art Basel Hong Kong, Kabinett, Hong Kong Convention Center (HKCEC)

             Prints, Printmaking, Graphic Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

             Refocusing on the Medium: The Rise of East Asia Video Art, OCAT Shanghai

             Lee In-Sung Art Award 20th Anniversary Exhibition: The Great Epics, Daegu Art Museum

2021       Corpus Gestus Vox, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art

             Solo exhibition, Yin and Yang, Gana Art Center, Seoul

             20th KIAF Seoul, COEX, etc.

This was a period that saw the emergence of private competitive exhibitions organized by press outlets facilitating alternative platforms going beyond the academism of the National Exhibition. These exhibitions came to showcase new experimental art forms. However, Kim’s experimental works were rejected by even these more progressive platforms because they …. 

His works entered the 1st Hankook Ilbo Grand Prix Exhibition, held in June 1970, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, including From Phenomenon to Traces D. One particular work was an installation featuring seven cubic ice blocks wrapped in cloth, and the other was an outdoor installation in which the museum building was to be covered entirely with a large piece of fabric with its two ends buried in the ground outside the front entrance, reminiscent of Christo’s site-specific “wrapped” works staged across Europe a decade before. Although the submission guidelines called for “creative works of all aesthetic tendencies,” both of the works were turned down by exhibition organizers on the grounds of being inappropriate due to their conceptual and spatial radicality. They just came and dismantled the installation that wrapped the museum building with fabric, claiming that it has a shamanistic feel. 

This was his attempt at bringing art outdoors, beyond the white cube, to create something akin to environmental art or land art but in a Koreanized refashioning of it. It was also a way of questioning the role and function of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the supreme symbol of the art institution in the country. The incident was telling of how institutional barriers were still too high, even then, for Kim’s experimentality and aesthetic large-scale-ness to be accepted into the mainstream Korean art world. From Phenomenon to Traces (1970) is a monumental work from this period, widely considered to be the first-ever land artwork in Korea.

1936        Born in Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do

1958        First solo exhibition, Gongbogwan Gallery, Daegu

1964        Death of Sun series

1968        Participation in 68 Painting Show

1969        Participation in the stage performance, Eons in This Land, National Theater of Korea, Seoul

              Relics of Mass Media, the first mail artwork in Korea, Seoul

              Performance of Body Painting (televised by T.B.C TV), Seoul.

              Excerpt from an interview for Weekly Woman: “Modern people actively bare their body because of their longing for primitive ways of life. […]

             In this work, the female body is used as an object. Exposed areas of the skin are painted and decorated with plastic and metal ornaments and gemstones in a way that forms a harmonious whole.

 In this work, the woman is a moving object rather than a model.

             Presentation of Spatial Structure, the first electric artwork in Korea

             This work was praised as the most successful geometric op artworks that appeared in Korea around that time.

1969       Direction of the experimental movie, Civilization, Woman, Money, 8 mm film

              Production of the experimental movie, The Meaning of 1/24 Second, 16 mm film

1970       Direction of Nam June Paik’s performance, Love on the Piano, during the 1st Seoul International Contemporary Music Festival, National Theater of Korea, Seoul

             Inauguration Meeting of The Fourth Group, Sorim Dabang Café, Euljiro, Seoul

             Inaugurated as the President of The Fourth Group, Seoul.

             Direction of The Fourth Group’s Street Performance with Jung Chanseung and Goho, Seoul

             A performance on a pedestrian overpass outside the Shinsegae Department Store, in which the performers blocked the path with balloons, Seoul

             Performance of Condom and Cabamine outside the main gate of Seoul National University, Seoul

             Performance of Funeral Ceremony of the Anachronistic Established Art and Culture and Nationwide Inauguration Conference with The Fourth Group, Sajik Park, Seoul

            Presentation of his ice installation, From Phenomenon to Traces, at the 1st A.G. Group Exhibition: Dynamics of Reduction and Extension, National Information Center (Jungang Gongbogwan), Seoul

             Land art, From Phenomenon to Traces, on the weir of the Salgoji Bridge, Seoul

             From “Art, the Unfathomable,” an interview with Kim Kulim published in the magazine, Space (Gonggan)

1971       7th Paris Biennale, City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France

1974       9th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

1975       Participation in Rencontre International Ouverte de Video with Nam June Paik, Paris, France

1976       Participation in the International Exhibition of Painting, Cagnes-sur-Mer as a guest artist, France

1980       Contemporary Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

1981       Performance of The Poet and Nail, Gonggan Sarang Theatre, Seoul

1981       Direction, choreography, costume design, and stage art for the contemporary dance, The Wings of Yi Sang, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Seoul

1981       Opening of the Kulim Print Workshop, Sinyeong-dong, Seoul

1982       Illustrations for Lee O-Young’s essay book, Mal [Words], Literature & Thought

1982       Performance of the play, Tongmaksal [Makgeolli Exorcism for Korean Unification] with Moo Sejoong, Korea Culture and Arts Education Service, Culture and Arts Center Theater, Seoul

1982       Direction and stage art for Choi Eun-Hee’s dance performance, Korea Culture and Arts Education Service, Culture and Arts Center Grand Theater, Seoul

1988       Modernism in Korean Contemporary Art Scene 1970–1979, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

1990       Silent Dialogue: Still Life in the West and Japan, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan

1991       Kim Kulim, Nam June Paik, Choong Sup Lim, LACA Gallery, Los Angeles, United States

1992       Discontinuities: Nam June Paik and Kulim Kim, Charles Whitchurch Gallery, California, United States

2009       Performing the City: Kunst Aktionismus Im Stadt Raum 60er und 70er Jaher, travelling exhibition, Munchen, Milano, Paris

2010       Presentation of The Meaning of 1/24 Second at EXIT 2010_Experimental Media Art Festival, Taiwan

             Korean Historical Conceptual Art of 1970s–1980s: Jack-of-All-Trades, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art

2011       Art Edition 2011, International edition art fair, Seoul

2012       RES(V)OLUTION 1960–2013, DNA Berlin Gallery, Berlin

             Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom

2013       Solo Exhibition, Like You Know It All, works from the 1960s–1970s, Seoul Museum of Art invitation exhibition, Seoul

2015       Embeddedness: Artist Films and Videos from Korea 1960s, Tate Modern, London

     Lille 3000 Festival: Renaissance, Lille, France

             Performance of From Creation to Dissolution, Shaanxi Province Art Museum, Xian, China

2016      Performance of From Phenomenon to Traces, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon

             Experimental Films in Asia: International Network Forum GALAXY 67, Asia Cultural Center, Gwangju

2017      Samramanang: From Kim Whanki to Yang Fudong, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

             2017 Atelier Story Exhibition, Apr 6–30, 2017, Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Design Museum

             Garden of Memory – Jagal Madang, Oct 18, 2017 – Mar 18, 2018, Daegu Jagal Madang

             Total Support 2017, Nov 1–5, 2017, Total Museum, Seoul

 2018     Renegades in Resistance and Challenge, Daegu Art Museum

             Blooming at the Junction, Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong

             Rehearsals from the Korean Avant-Garde Performance Archive, Korean Cultural Centre, United Kingdom 

             Curators’ Series: Institute of Asian Performance Art, David Roberts Art Foundation

 2019      Kim Kulim & Jessica Hyunjin Kim, Oct. 5, 2019, Cafe Oto London

             The Square: Art and Society 1900–2019, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

             Korea Video Art from 1970s to 1990s: Time Image Apparatus, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

 2020     Art Basel Hong Kong, Kabinett, Hong Kong Convention Center (HKCEC)

             Prints, Printmaking, Graphic Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

             Refocusing on the Medium: The Rise of East Asia Video Art, OCAT Shanghai

             Lee In-Sung Art Award 20th Anniversary Exhibition: The Great Epics, Daegu Art Museum

2021       Corpus Gestus Vox, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art

             Solo exhibition, Yin and Yang, Gana Art Center, Seoul

             20th KIAF Seoul, COEX, etc.