Solo Exhibitions (Brief)

Since 2008, Ayoung Kim has held approximately 19 solo exhibitions across various countries, including Korea, the UK, Germany, France, Australia, and Brazil. Notable solo exhibitions include 《Ephemeral Ephemera》(2008, Space VAVA, Seoul), 《Ephemera》(2009, I-Myu Projects, London), 《PH Express》(2012, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin), 《In This Vessel We Shall Be Kept》(2016, Palais de Tokyo, Paris), 《Porosity Valley》(2018, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul), 《Crystal Turbulence 晶體湍流,》(2022, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei), 《Syntax and Sorcery》(2022, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul), 《Delivery Dancer’s Arc: 0° Receiver》(2024, ACMI Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne), 《ACC Future Prize: Ayoung Kim—Delivery Dancer’s Arc: Inverse》(2024, National Asian Culture Center, Gwangju), among others.

New solo exhibition, 《ACC Future Prize Ayoung Kim—Line of Delivery Dancer: Inverse》, will be held at Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Germany's leading national museum of contemporary art, starting in February 2025. Additionally, a solo exhibition is scheduled at MoMA PS1 in November 2025.

Group Exhibitions (Brief)

Ayoung Kim has participated in numerous prestigious group exhibitions internationally and domestically, including 《The 30th Joong-Ang Fine Arts Prize》(2008, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, Korea), 《Korean Eye 2009: Moon Generation》(2009, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK), 《Maiden Pictures 13》(2013, Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea), 《All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale》(2015, Venice, Italy), 《Gridded Currents》(2017, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea), 《Korea Artist Prize 2019》(2019, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea), 《Transversing Worlds of Matter – ARKO Festival》(2021, ARKO Art Center, Seoul, Korea), 《Human, Seven Questions》(2021, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea), 《Frequencies of Tradition》(2021, Incheon Art Platform, Incheon, Korea), 《Watch and Chill 2.0: Streaming Senses》(2022, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea), 《Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present》(2023, Sharjah, UAE), 《A Dweller on Two Planets》(2023, Microscope Gallery, New York, US), 《Back to the Future: An Exploration of Contemporaneity in Korean Contemporary Art》(2023, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea), 《Ars Electronica Festival》(2023, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria), 《What an Artificial World》(2024, MMCA Cheongju, Cheongju, Korea), 《Me, Also Me》(2024, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia), 《SeMA Omnibus: At the End of the World Split Endlessly》(2024, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea), and 《MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art》(2025, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan).

Awards (Selected)

Ayoung Kim has received several prestigious awards, including the 2nd Prize, 30th Joong-Ang Fine Arts Prize (2008, Korea), Young Artist of the Year Award, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2015, Korea), Best Film Award, 7th Chuncheon SF Film Festival (2020, Korea), Golden Nica Award, Prix Ars Electronica (2021, Linz, Austria, New Animation Art Category), and the ACC Future Prize, National Asian Culture Center (2024, Gwangju, Korea).

She was also selected as a Finalist for the Korea Artist Prize (2019, MMCA, Korea) and as a Finalist for Best Experimental Film at the Berlin Sci-fi Filmfest (2021, Germany).

Collections (Selected)

Ayoung Kim’s works are housed in the collections of major institutions, including Tate Collection, UK, The Rosenkranz Foundation, US, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE, Kadist Foundation, San Francisco, US, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Korea, MMCA (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art), Korea, Platform L, Seoul, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, Korea, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Korea.

Originality & Identity

Ayoung Kim has consistently focused on reconstructing modern historical events and contemporary issues into complex narratives. In her early works, she employed historical records as source materials, creating narratives that traverse the boundaries between fact and fiction, as well as past and present. In PH Express(2011), Kim explored the dynamics of imperialism and modernization through a satirical lens, using the 19th-century Port Hamilton Incident as a motif. Her approach not only recontextualized historical events but also questioned the validity and objectivity of historical records themselves.

As her practice evolved, Kim deepened her exploration of involuntary migration issues, encompassing ecological, political, and economic perspectives that transcend national boundaries. In Porosity Valley, Portable Holes(2017) and Porosity Valley 2: Tricksters’ Plot(2019), Kim interconnected physical migration, data migration, geological changes, and refugee crises to construct multidimensional narratives. By integrating historical events with scientific concepts, she formed complex worldviews that abstractly and mythologically addressed the fluidity and instability of modern society.

Since the pandemic, her work has increasingly focused on the acceleration of labor in the digital age, platform capitalism, possible worlds theory, quantum physics, and accelerationism. The 'Delivery Dancer' (2022–) series explore the forced mobility and distorted perception of time experienced by modern individuals (female couriers) under the control of digital platform algorithms. Through Delivery Dancer’s Sphere(2022) and its sequel Delivery Dancer’s Arc(2024), Kim constructs multilayered narratives where physical and digital spaces overlap, critically reflecting on human-technology interactions in the AI age. Her works explore identity and existential instability in an accelerated modern society, emphasizing the complexities of contemporary subjectivity.

Style & Contents

In her early period (2007-2015), Ayoung Kim experimentally utilized diverse mediums such as digital prints, video, sound, and performance. Through extensive research on historical events, she created complex and non-linear narratives that blend reality and fiction. In PH Express, she combined historical records of 19th-century imperialism with elements of black humor and theatricality, presenting a documentary format that deliberately interweaves fact and fiction.

During the subsequent period (2016-2020), Kim increasingly employed multi-channel video installations and surround sound to enhance immersive experiences, drawing viewers into the fabricated narratives within her works. In Porosity Valley, Portable Holes and Porosity Valley 2: Tricksters' Plot, she adopted speculative fiction (SF: Speculation Fiction) that fuses the narrative forms of speculative fiction and science fiction. By deliberately exposing fragmented and disjointed storytelling structures, she navigated abstract concepts of migration, data transmission, and geopolitical shifts.

In her recent works (2022-2025), Kim has actively expanded her use of cutting-edge technologies, including VR, game engine-based computer graphics, and various AI models such as generative AI. In the 'Delivery Dancer' (2022–) series, she incorporated a hybrid image-making method that blends live-action footage, digital avatars, and game engines while experimenting with AI algorithms. Her latest work, Delivery Dancer’s Arc: Inverse(2024), connects virtual cities created with game engines to physical installation spaces, constructing immersive environments where the virtual and the real overlap. This allows viewers to engage with the narrative in a more participatory and interactive way.

Topography & Continuity

Ayoung Kim has consistently addressed social, political, and economic issues centered around the themes of 'migration' and 'mobility' from her early works to the present. She has expanded these themes into mythological narratives and speculative fictions, intentionally blurring the boundaries between 'fact' and 'fiction' while constructing non-linear and fragmented narratives. This approach has remained a distinctive feature of her artistic practice.

In particular, 《Korea Artist Prize 2019》(National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul) demonstrated her unique narrative strategy that interprets complex contemporary social issues with SF-inspired imagination. The exhibition revealed her capability to build a singular storytelling style that combines speculative fiction with social commentary.

Recently (2025), she has been invited to major solo and group exhibitions at key art institutions worldwide, including MoMA PS1(New York, USA), Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart(Berlin, Germany), and Mori Art Museum(Tokyo, Japan), rapidly expanding her international presence.