Video artist Kim Hee-cheon brings back early 2000s horror with Hermès exhibit

What began as an idle daydream turned into the 35-year-old artist’s latest two-channel video installation, “Studies,” now on display at the Atelier Hermès exhibition space in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

A still from the ″Studies″ video installation by Kim Hee-cheon, on display at Atelier Hermès in Gangnam District, southern Seoul [FONDATION D'ENTREPRISE HERMÈS]

Kim Hee-cheon, an avid fan of horror films, wondered why the latest generation of films haven’t been as scary as those from the past, like the Japanese classic “Ju-on” (2000).

The conclusion was: “because the picture quality is too high in resolution these days.”

What began as an idle daydream turned into the 35-year-old artist’s latest two-channel video installation, “Studies,” now on display at the Atelier Hermès exhibition space in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Kim is the winner of the 20th Hermès Foundation Missulsang.

The Missulsang, which translates to art award in Korean, has recognized Korean contemporary artists since being established in 2000 by Hermès Korea. The previous edition’s winner was Ryu Sung-sil.

Kim Hee-cheon, winner of the 20th Hermès Foundation Missulsang [FONDATION D'ENTREPRISE HERMÈS]

“Studies,” described as a horror genre piece, runs for 40 minutes and follows Chan-jong, the head coach of a high school wrestling team. He suffers from depression and plans his own death after his team competes in a national wresting competition.

But he soon learns that several students have started disappearing and he begins to forget who they even were altogether. Even when he plays back his students’ training videos, he sees that the missing students have evaporated from the footage, while the remaining students are bizarrely shown to be shadow boxing. Chan-jong must now face his fears to unravel the truth.

Kim intentionally made the picture quality grainy and the edits faulty for many scenes to give off feelings of uneasiness and a lost sense of reality. He uses seven loudspeakers at the exhibition to blast unidentifiable noises at some points, with nothing showing on the screens and the exhibition room made pitch black.

“I think one of the biggest fears for a human is when your mind is unable to process what’s exactly happening at the moment,” he said during a press conference at the exhibition last week. “It can be distressing and stifling.”

An installation view of Kim Hee-cheon's solo exhibition ″Studies″ at Atelier Hermès in Gangnam District, southern Seoul [FONDATION D'ENTREPRISE HERMÈS]

The fact that wrestling is a sport that requires two people prompted Kim to explore the sport for “Studies.” He attempted to emphasize the concept of incompleteness by creating a wrestling match without an opponent, void of outlines and instead showing warped, distorted images.

Since his debut in 2015, Kim has exhibited his video works at numerous art exhibitions nationwide, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Art Sonje Center, the Gwangju Biennale and Seoul Museum of Art, as well as in France, Germany and Egypt.

“Studies” continues until Oct. 6. Atelier Hermès is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, except for Wednesdays and during the Chuseok holidays. The exhibition is free.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]