Ju Young Kim, Breathing air in Seoul somewhere else, 2022

2022

Medium

Airline trolley, stained glass, LED and aluminum

Dimensions

102 × 80 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156080

"Breathing air in Seoul somewhere else" (2022) is part of the work series AEROPLASTICS, in which Ju Young Kim explores liminal states and transit zones by reshaping industrial transportation modules from airplanes into symbolically encoded works. She combines these with stained glass, cast metal, ceramics and plastic, thus combining high-tech objects with artisanal techniques. In doing so, the artist repeatedly draws on Art Nouveau elements, whose floral formal language at the beginning of the 20th century pursued the goal of integrating nature into the modern world and the onset of industrialization. Taken from their original context, these elements appear in Kim's works in a surreal way, moving between different time horizons and opening up a new perspective on the phenomena of a globalized world. Kim examines the relativity of space and time from the perspective of a transcontinental traveler. Landscape motifs and traditional symbolism meet industrial products and transportation systems to paint a picture of an accelerated society in which different cultural and temporal components collide. The artist examines feelings of parallel existence and instability that arise from living in different places and explores concepts of identity, belonging and home. "Breathing air in Seoul somewhere else" is a discarded airline serving trolley that Kim has transformed. A crescent-shaped stained glass window on the side provides a view of the interior. The functional elements, such as the aluminum drawer compartments, are recoded by Kim with ornamental elements.