Sung Hwan Kim: Ua a‘o ‘ia ‘o ia e ia

Seoul Museum of Art (hereafter SeMA, General Director: Choi Eunju) is pleased to announce Sung Hwan Kim’s solo exhibition Ua a‘o ‘ia ‘o ia e ia. This exhibition, which marks Kim’s first major solo presentation at a Korean public museum, is a part of SeMA’s annual exhibition series dedicated to highlighting seminal Korean contemporary artists.

This exhibition explores the relationship between the knowledge system and the formation of knowledge within us, providing a comprehensive study of Kim’s oeuvre. Central to the presentation is Kim’s ongoing multi-part research series, A Record of Drifting Across the Sea (2017–), which will be further accompanied by a new body of diverse works that showcase the artist’s distinctive language in the forms of design, two-dimensional pieces, installations, videos, and sound.

Initiated by the stories of Korean people who traveled through Hawai‘i during their immigration journey to the United States in the early twentieth century, A Record of Drifting Across the Sea intertwines the narratives of many early immigrants who crossed the Pacific, investigating their undocumented stories and further expanding to the idea of boundaries, tradition, documentation, and its possession and circulation. The first chapter, Hair is a piece of head, was originally commissioned by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation in 2021. The series has since been presented at the Busan Biennale 2022: We, on the Rising Wave; Hawai‘i Triennial 2022: Pacific Century – E Ho‘omau no Moananuiākea; and in Kim’s touring solo exhibition Protected by Roof and right-hand muscles (2023) at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and is currently on view at ZKM, Karlsruhe, having opened on November 23, 2024. Kim’s upcoming exhibition at SeMA will serve as the third chapter of the series.

The as-of-yet Untitled (2024), the third and newest addition to the series, will be presented in an incomplete form and finalized through an artist-led workshop held in the exhibition space from mid-February through March 2025. Meanwhile, two previously released chapters of the same series—Hair is a piece of head (2021, chapter one) and By Mary Jo Freshley (2023, chapter two)—will be shown exclusively as part of a screening program scheduled to run from February to early March 2025.

The exhibition title, Ua a‘o ‘ia ‘o ia e ia (they learned from them, learned, by them, their teaching),” highlights the significance of Hawai‘i—the central setting of the work—and reflects the artist’s approach towards the works. The choice to translate the Hawaiian into Korean (Hangle) phonology illustrates Kim’s inclination for linguistic and cultural juxtaposition. Kim explains that “we can also carry meanings from one place to another by highlighting the similar elements between the two through metaphor. It is insightful to juxtapose two cultures through cross-analogy rather than through excavation or translation. Once can be the metaphor of the other, and vice versa. According to him, Hawai‘i is a metaphor for understanding Korean history.

In the exhibition, Hawai‘i stands not only as a specific location tied to modernization and colonialism but also as a key concept to discuss the knowledge system and its formation within us. By bridging generations, genders, and races, the archipelago transforms into a conceptual space that transcends its geographical boundaries, interweaving the past and present, as well as different cultures and divides. In this way, Hawai‘i becomes a site for new thinking and understanding.

Curated by Gahee Park, Curator at SeMA, with an assistance by Haewon Kim and Sung Hyun Cho, Exhibition Coordinators

Organized by Seoul Museum of Art and Supported by Hermès Korea, Korea Venture Capital Association