Based on a critical stance toward issues of modern and contemporary history, social structures, cultural practices, and education systems, Sung Hwan Kim weaves together personal histories with fantasies, rumors, politics, and culture; blending media such as installation, video, performance, music, light, and drawings in work in which the exhibition itself becomes art in its own right as it responds to the architecture of its specific setting. To present the different elements that have recurred in his work over the past two decades, the Night Crazing exhibition will be taking place in mixed media installation form at two locations: Barakat Contemporary 1 (36 Samcheong-ro 7-gil in Seoul’s Jongno District) and Barakat Contemporary 2 (58-4 Samcheong-ro, also in Jongno). Each exhibition space consists of a key video work by Kim, along with drawings and installations that interact with it.

Through layering that reflects the passage of time and the psychological and physical marks that are acquired with it, the exhibition’s content and structure shows not only the artist’s ongoing interest in how his work renders relationships with history visible, but also the temporal and spatial layers that imbue our perceptions of story and our position in the surrounding world. Sung Hwan Kim’s solo exhibition provides an opportunity to experience the full range of work by an artist active on the international stage, including a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2021, and other major exhibitions at Tate Modern, Kunsthalle Basel and many other international institutions. It was intended as part of an ambitious plan to show the fruits of Barakat Contemporary’s efforts over its past years as a gallery. We invite you to immerse yourself in the elaborate composition of Sung Hwan Kim, in which works are connected through meticulously crafted installations and devices, a world where the layers of time overlap with the present moment for the viewers observing his work.