Sojung Jun, Winner of 18th Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès Art Prize ©Sojung Jun / Newsis

Sojung Jun (36) has been selected as the recipient of the 18th Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès Art Prize, an award supported by the luxury brand Hermès.

On the 19th, the jury panel of the Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès Art Prize, composed of four art professionals from Korea and abroad, stated: “Sojung Jun demonstrates a compelling artistic practice that integrates vision, sound, and tactile perception with deep and expansive contemplation. She maintains a strong sense of social responsibility while balancing it with a highly aesthetic language. The artist’s unique interpretations are distinctly revealed in the process of translating her thematic concerns into her works.”

The jury panel for this year’s prize included Kang Seung-wan, Head Curator at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA); Im Minouk, artist and professor at the Korea National University of Arts, who was the recipient of the 2006 Hermes Korea Art Award; Catherine Tsekenis, Director of Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès; and Thu-Van Tran, a Vietnam-born French artist who was a finalist for the 2018 Marcel Duchamp Prize.

Sojung Jun, a media artist, graduated from the Department of Sculpture at Seoul National University and the Graduate School of Communication & Arts at Yonsei University, specializing in Media Art. She previously won the Grand Prize at the 2014 SongEun Art Award and received the Noon Art Prize at the 2016 Gwangju Biennale. Since 2008, she has consistently worked on projects capturing emotions found in everyday life, often collaborating with other disciplines such as dance and theater to integrate them into media art.

The Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès Art Prize was established in 2000 by Hermès Korea as the first initiative by a foreign company to support the Korean art scene and contribute to the development of the country’s cultural landscape.

Originally held annually, the prize was reorganized in 2016 (from the 16th edition) into a biennial format, selecting only one final winner. Unlike the previous selection process—where three finalists exhibited new works before one winner was announced—the 18th edition of the prize involved a two-stage selection process, including a document review and an in-depth interview conducted by the four-member jury panel.

As part of the prize, the winner will have the opportunity to participate in a four-month residency program in Paris, providing an environment for artistic exchange, new creative challenges, and experimentation.

Sojung Jun, the recipient of the 18th Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès Art Prize, is set to present a solo exhibition in the fall of 2020 at Atelier Hermès, located on the basement floor of Hermès Dosan Park.

Since its inception, past winners of the Hermès Art Prize include Jang Young-hye (2000), Kim Beom (2001), Park Iso (2002), Do Ho Suh (2003), Park Chan-kyong (2004), Koo Jeong A (2005), Im Minouk (2006), Kim Sung-hwan (2007), Song Sang-hee (2008), Park Yoon-young (2009), Yangachi (2010), Kim Sang-don (2011), Koo Dong-hee (2012), Jung Eun-young (2013), Jang Min-seung (2014), Jung Geum-hyung (2015, 16th edition), and Oh Min (2017, 17th edition).

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