Listening to the Narratives of This Week... Young Kim Selected as 'Artist of the Year 2025'

Exploring Migration, Translation, and Community Through Sound and Listening
Presenting New Possibilities for Contemporary Korean Art

Young Kim, an artist who has explored social and political contexts through sound and listening, has been selected as the final winner of the 'Artist of the Year 2025' award, a leading artist support program that provides an overview of contemporary Korean art trends.

'Artist of the Year 2025' Final Winner Young Kim. Courtesy of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art announced on January 15 that Young Kim has been chosen as the final winner of the 'Artist of the Year 2025' award. Since 2012, the 'Artist of the Year' award has been jointly operated by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the SBS Foundation, serving as a prominent artist support and award program in the field of Korean contemporary art. Each year, it discovers and supports artists who represent the current trends in contemporary art.

Young Kim, selected as the final winner this year, is an artist who has investigated sound and listening within political and social contexts. Focusing on specific historical conditions and the listening practices formed within them, Kim has continued multidisciplinary work surrounding sound. Based on 'sound ethnography,' the artist delicately documents sounds accumulated across various times and places, revealing everyday landscapes from new perspectives that are often overlooked. In the new works "Listening Guest" (2025) and "Go Back To Your" (2025), Kim closely examined the process by which communal ways of life are formed beyond the individual, under the conditions of diaspora migration and translation.

Exhibition view of artwork by Kim Young-eun. Courtesy of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Kritaya Kaewwong, Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center in Thailand and a member of the judging panel, commented, "I was impressed by how the social theme of immigration was organically connected to personal experience." Judge An So-yeon, Artistic Director of Atelier Hermes, said, "Kim is an important artist who uses sound as a primary medium in the field of visual arts, sharply capturing the social and political contexts inherent in sound." Jordan Carter, curator and co-head of department at the Dia Art Foundation in the United States, remarked, "The conceptual approach stands out, and the works have a powerful resonance without excessively emphasizing visual effects."

Kim Sunghee, Director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, expressed gratitude to all four supported artists, stating, "I would like to thank all four sponsored artists who demonstrated the capabilities of Korean contemporary art through this exhibition."

The 'Artist of the Year' program selects four artists (or teams) annually, supporting the production and exhibition of new works and sponsoring various activities, including participation in overseas projects. This year, Young Kim, Kim Jipyung, Unmake Lab, and Lim Youngju were supported as sponsored artists.

Since 2023, the program has also exhibited major existing works alongside new pieces to provide a more comprehensive view of each artist's practice. For the 'Artist of the Year 2025,' the process began with a curator-accompanied exhibition tour on January 12, followed by a participatory roundtable discussion between artists and judges on January 13, and a closed final review on January 14, after which the winner was confirmed. The final winner is named '2025 Artist of the Year' and receives an additional 10 million won in sponsorship. The exhibition runs at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, until February 1.