Professor Kim Young-nam of Suncheon National University Wins 'Grand Prize' at Gwangju Shinsegae Art Festival

Published 31 Aug.2023 15:17(KST)

Professor Kim Young-nam's Creative Group 'Goonam Collective' Honored with Grand Prize

Suncheon National University (President Lee Byung-woon) announced that on August 25th (Friday), at the awards ceremony of the '24th Gwangju Shinsegae Art Festival' held at the gallery on the first floor of the Gwangju Shinsegae Main Building, the literary creative writing professor Kim Young-nam participated in the team 'Goonam Collective (Koo Hye-young, Kim Young-nam)' which won the grand prize.

Goonam Collective is the name of a creative group formed by Kim Young-nam, a professor in the Department of Creative Writing who has worked as a film director and visual artist, together with artist Koo Hye-young, who graduated from Chung-Ang University and Goldsmiths, University of London.

Professor Kim Young-nam Wins Grand Prize at Gwangju Shinsegae Art Festival_Work Photo [Photo provided by Suncheon National University]

The Gwangju Shinsegae Art Festival is a contest held by Gwangju Shinsegae since 1996 to discover talented artists from Gwangju and Jeonnam and support their creative work, contributing to the creation of a future-oriented regional art culture.

This year, the Gwangju Shinsegae Art Festival selected eight artists, including Goonam Collective (Koo Hye-young, Kim Young-nam), as the first-round selected artists through individual evaluations of submitted materials by an external judging panel composed of reputable figures in the art world, followed by a final deliberation.

On the 17th, the judges conducted a second round of artwork evaluation by directly viewing the works at the Gwangju Shinsegae Gallery, where the first-round selected artists' exhibition (August 17 to September 19) was ongoing, and held individual interviews with the eight first-round selected artists to select the final awardees of the year.

The judging panel for this art festival included Seo Jin-seok (former director of Ulsan Museum of Art), An Jin-guk (art critic), and Jung Joo-young (artist and professor at Korea National University of Arts). The grand prize winner receives a prize of 10 million KRW, and the emerging artist award winner receives 5 million KRW. Additionally, the winners will be supported with a separate creative grant the following autumn and will hold a solo invitational exhibition at the Gwangju Shinsegae Gallery.

In this exhibition, Professor Kim Young-nam presented a total of seven video works, including , addressing themes such as life and death, nature and consumption, and the boundaries between consciousness and unconsciousness (surrealism).

His works are based on scripts/scenarios he personally wrote, incorporating various genre elements such as film/media video, performance, installation, and live performance, aiming to convey the concept of ‘boundaries,’ the root of humanity’s dichotomous thinking, through their unique artistic language.

His films and video works have been exhibited and screened at international film festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, Busan, Jeonju, Tokyo, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Kerala, New York, LA, Milan, Barcelona, Nancy, and Buenos Aires, as well as at domestic and international galleries in Cologne, Arnhem, Girona, San Jose, and New York.

Currently, Professor Kim Young-nam is also dedicated to nurturing talent by guiding drama creation for broadcasting and film in the Department of Creative Writing at the National Suncheon University.

Regarding this award, he said, “The works introduced are mainly those created after my appointment at the university, which makes this recognition even more meaningful. I am grateful to everyone who supported my research and creative activities, and I will devote myself to interdisciplinary research and creation in the humanities and arts. Above all, I will do my best to strengthen the creative capabilities of the students in the Department of Creative Writing and help realize their dreams.”