Im Heung-soon is an artist and film director based in Seoul and Jeju Island. Among his early works are ‘Seongnam Project’ (1998-1999) that analyzed the problem of unequal capital distribution in Seongnam City through visual culture and ‘Mixrice’ (2002-2004) that discussed various concepts of ‘migration’ in modern society in collaboration with migrant workers.
Read MoreHe started his research with the story of his working family members, and later expanded the theme to social issues of people who endure life under the pressure of society, the state, and capital. He continues to talk about groups located on the margins of social, political, and capitalist ideology, such as victims of national genocide, North Korean defectors, and female workers.
Im Heung-soon crosses various media and presents constraints in Korean modern history by reconstructing them with personal memories. His works, captured from a political but emotional perspective, are realized through various media such as photography, film, public art, installation art, and community art.
Im Heung-soon directed the full-length film (2014) which dealt with the chronology of women's labor in Korea from a female worker in the old Guro Industrial Complex to a female employee in the Guro Digital Complex today, which led him to the first Korean to receive the Silver Lion Award at the 2015 Venice Biennale. He also had solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (2017), MoMA PS1 (2015), and Alternative Space Pool (2001, 2006).
His works are in the collections of famous domestic and foreign art institutions such as Center Georges Pompidou, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Sharjah Art Foundation, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art. In addition, (2018), a video work dealt with the modern and contemporary history of Korea produced in collaboration with the Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Han Kang, was exhibited at Carnegie International.
