Born on Jeju, KR
Based in Glasgow, UK


Sooun Kim is a multidisciplinary visual artist working through music, video and painting. He is interested in hybrid cultures that iterate from the effects of post-colonialism and cultural imperialism. His work, Yellow Fever (2019), marked the beginning of his auto-ethnographic journey, where he collected his grandfather’s biography alongside records of historical figures to recover his personal cultural identity. Further interested in popular culture, he includes audio-visual reflections of his contemporary being as a South-Korean migrant where the past and present collide. Consciously unpredictable, Kim uses image and sound to play with viewer expectations by seducing and repulsing - genre bending to create an undefinable hybrid.


 
EDUCATION

2018-20  MFA, Glasgow School of Art (Distinction), Glasgow, UK

2014-14   Nottingham Trent University, School of Art & Design, Exchange Student, Nottingham, UK

2009-16  BFA in Painting, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, KR  


SOLO EXHIBITION

2025  (Upcoming) WASPS Award, The Briggait, Glasgow, UK

2025  (Upcoming) 16NST Exhibition Open Call, 16 Nicholson Street Gallery, Glasgow, UK

2024  Echoes, Patricia Fleming Gallery, Glasgow, UK

2023  Ramifying Frost (Supported by Creative Scotland), Goethe-Institut, Glasgow, UK


TWO-PERSON EXHIBITION

2021  The Auto-Buzz of Hybrid Kim and Rabbit, Intermedia Gallery of Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK
 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS

2024  198th RSA Annual Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK

2022   KCC Open Call UK X Germany 2022: Begin Again, The Korean Embassy Cultural Centre in London, UK

2022   Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin 2022, Berlin, Germany

2022   KCC Open Call UK X Germany 2022: Begin Again, The Korean Embassy Cultural Centre in Berlin, Germany

2022   Happy Tide Will Flood Again,  5 Florence St, Glasgow, UK

2022   NOWNESS Experiments: Yellow Fever, NOWNESS ASIA, Hong Kong 

2022   Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin 2022, Paris, France

2022   Art Lovers Movie Club: Born Beneath, ArtReview   

2022   CCA Annex: Unmuted Cave, Online, Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK

2021    Fringe Arts Bath Festival, 44AD Artspace, Bath, UK

2021    NOTION-MOTION, The Factory, London, UK 

2021    Carapelli for Art 2021, Online, Florence, Italy

2020   Ingram Prize 2020 Finalist Show, Online, Smartify App, London, UK

2020   CIRCA Class of 2020, Piccadilly Lights in Piccadilly Circus, London, UK

2019    Aesthetica Short Film Festival, King's Manor, Friargate Theater, York, UK 

2019    Bless Your Heart (Performance Featuring), Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, UK 

2019    MFA Interim Show, The Glue Factory, Glasgow, UK


AWARDS

2024  Winner: Outer Spaces Scotland RSA Award, Scotland, UK 

2024  Winner: WASPS Award, Scotland, UK 

2023  Selected: 16NST 2023-2024 Exhibition Open Call, Glasgow, UK

2022  Global Talent Endorsement, Arts Council England, UK

2022  Winner: KCC Open Call UK X Germany 2022, The Korean Embassy Cultural Centre in London & Berlin, UK, Germany  

2022   Selected:  Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin 2022, Germany, France

2021    Finalisted: Bath Open Art Prize 2021, Bath, UK

2021    Honorable Mention: Carapelli for Art 2021, Florence, Italy

2020   Finalisted: The Ingram Prize 2020, London, UK

2020   Selected: CIRCA Class of 2020, London, UK 

2020   Shortlisted: Now & Next, LUX Scotland, BBC platforms, UK

2020   Selected: Intermedia Gallery Programme 2020/21, Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK

2019    Selected: Artist Film Official Selection of Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York, UK


FUNDING & GRANTS

2023  Open Fund for Individuals, Creative Scotland, UK

2022  Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards Fund, Glasgow Life with Creative Scotland, UK

2022   Hope Scott Trust Fund, Scotland, UK

2022   The Eaton Fund, England, UK

2020   Granted by The Glasgow City Council and Intermedia Gallery of Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Glasgow, UK


PRESS & PUBLICATION & REVIEW 

2024  Glasgow International Round-Up: ‘Art in Flats, Art in Shops, Art in a Car’ by Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman   

2024  Echoes Curated by Patricia Fleming Gallery, Daily Art Fair

2022  Review by Dr. Ranjana Thapalyal: Archive and Fiction Intertwine in an Asynchronous Reflection on Korean History, Cultural Memory and Hybridity, NOWNESS ASIA, Hong Kong 

2021   Yes/No/Like/Dislike/Love/Hate/Reply/Share: The Portrait of Korean Pop Culture 2000-2020, Superellipse, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul, KR

2019   Art Takes Centre Stage a Year on from Fire, The Herald Scotland, UK


RESCIDENCY

2025  (Upcoming) 16 Nicolson Street Gallery Rescidency Programme, Glasgow, UK


2024  Outer Spaces Scotland RSA Award Rescidency Programme, Glasgow, UK

©Sooun Kim