Intertwined with history of oil, layers of memory unfold in Kim A-young's show at Hermes

Korea Herald

28-03-2025

Using cutting-edge technologies, Kim brings her memories to new work about her father
Kim A-young is a Korean artist rising fast in the global art scene, her works winning recognition around the world. Kim's newly unveiled video and installation works at Atelier Hermes in Seoul revolve around the history of the late 20th century, with a focus on Arab oil.
While oil has been a crucial motif in several works by the artist who considers the natural resource an engine driving modernism, the artist has visualized this theme for the first time at Atelier Hermes in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. Previously, budget constraints limited her work on oil to sound narratives, the artist mentions in the brochure accompanying the exhibition.
The exhibition 'Plot Blop Plop,' currently running at Atelier Hermes, consists of the video work 'Al-Mather Plot 1991' and installation works. The 20-minute video is set in the Al-Mather Housing Complex in Riyadh, the capital of oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The apartment complex was built in 1981 by Hanyang Corporation, the Korean company where Kim's father used to work.
The first large-scale apartment development in Saudi Arabia remained empty as apartments were unfamiliar to the people at the time and it was not until the 1990-1991 Gulf War that people moved in -- Kuwaiti refugees fleeing the war. Today, the apartments are inhabited by Saudis and foreigners alike.
The video work is based on extensive research, including on-site interviews and the memories of the artist's father who worked in the city. Many Korean construction firms had projects in the Middle East, earning oil money after the oil crisis hit the Korean economy.
'I find it bizarre that while oil had existed since ancient times, it was rediscovered as an energy source only in the modern era and became an explosive undercurrent of modernity,' the artist said in a dialogue with artistic director Ahn So-yeon printed in the exhibition brochure.
'For decades, people have predicted the end of fossil fuels, but they are still alive and well, and they are the cause of many conflicts and endless disputes."
The apartment complex is referred to as the "Kuwaiti compound" among Kuwaitis and "Hanyang apartment complex" among Koreans in the city.
The views of apartment complexes, interviews with residents, and the artist's memories of her father are integrated into the video work, created using a variety of visual technologies.
'My production team enthusiastically utilized a range of image-making methods such as live-action shooting, generative AI video-to-video conversion, LiDAR scanning and game engine animation. We also used diverse forms of traditional optical and post-optical media,' she said.
On the floor is an abstract floor plan of the Al-Mather Apartment Complex drawn with a slight three-dimensional effect. Warm-colored tungsten lights -- rarely seen now but common in the 1990s -- flicker, darken and tremble, recalling the lighting used in the residential interiors. Installations of geometric signs that hang among the tungsten lightbulbs are symbols used for making operational maps for wars.
The exhibition at Atelier Hermes runs through June 1.