Kim Sangdon
Bio +
Kim Sangdon was born in 1973 in Seoul. After studying photography at the Berlin University of the Arts, he returned to Korea, where he currently lives and works.
Kim's practice is rooted in contemporary shamanism and the belief that boundary expansion might supersede historical violences of dispossession and disconnection. In his earlier photographs, sculpture, performance, and installation works, Kim studied hierarchical processions of people and non-human entities, whether in traditional mourning rituals, political protest, or communal gatherings of healing. Shopping carts, chilis, eggs, and other ubiquitous objects of commodity feature in his totem-like sculptures, reflecting the tensions of a hyper-capitalistic society against the deep-rooted political traumas of a fractured Korea. His recent work looks at the role of spirituality in contemporary culture, in particular the subconscious presence of "night," referring to the divine feminine, the dream state, and generative processes of gestation.
Kim's works have been shown at the 16th Sharjah Biennial, the 13th Gwangju Biennial, the 10th Seoul Mediacity Biennial, the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, New Museum New York, Ilmin Museum of Art, MMCA, and Art Sonje Center. He is the recipient of the 12th Hermès Foundation Missulsang prize. His work is in the collections of M+, MMCA, Seoul Museum of Art, and other private collections.
