Oksun Kim

KAVENGA, 2016, Video, color, sound, 14 min. 12 sec.

, 1000

KAVENGA is the name of the twin types of sailing yacht that Mr. Deutsche built for four years for his trip around the world, which actually launched from the Seogwipo port of Jeju Island on March 8, 2012. The video recorded the seven-day process of moving the yacht to the port, assembling the parts, and launching it. In the 2 channel video the left shows what was seen from Mr. Deutsche’s internal view, whereas the right is about making processes viewed from an outsiders’ perspective taken by the artist. The German national ship KAVENGA, built in Seogwipo, was shipwrecked by the typhoon Bolaven (2012) while waiting to be registered as a Korean ship in order to sail in the sea of Jeju Island. KAVENGA, in this way, has become a symbol of man-made disaster occurring in the name of natural disaster. KAVENGA, in Polynesian, means “sailing following the paths of the stars.”

Oksun Kim

b. 1967. Lives and works in Seoul.
Oksun Kim has spent the last 20 years of her life photographing women, transnational couples and foreign residents living in Jeju Island. Kim’s work is marked by the aimless gaze which is juxtaposed with the gaze directed at the subject. She powerfully captures the nuanced situations and details. The mixed world in her photographs urges the viewer to reorganize one’s perspective and senses to open up and to embrace life that is full of diversity. She majored in photography at the Graduate School, Hongik University. She has been featured at MMCA, Leeum, SeMA in Korea and in overseas art museums in Chelsea, Houston, Santa Barbara, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and Santiago, including MoMA PS1. Kim has been awarded the Dong Gang Photography Award and Daum Artists Award, and her published collections of photography include The Shining Things, No Direction Home, Hamel’s Boat and Happy Together.