In Film-Literature, Ho Bin Kim embarks on a cinematic journey inspired by Jonas Mekas’s celebrated film diaries, transposing the raw, unfiltered essence of personal narrative into the medium of video. Presented as a 4-channel video installation, the exhibition unfolds through devices used during travels across distinct destinations, forming an evolving portrait of life as lived, observed, and documented.

    Drawing from the contrasting approaches of novelists—plotters and pantsers—Kim identifies with the latter. While plotters meticulously outline their narratives, pantsers embrace spontaneity, discovering their stories as they write. Similarly, in Film-Literature, Kim adopts an improvisational approach to both life and art, living without predetermined plot points and allowing serendipity to shape experiences and relationships. Here, Kim becomes both the protagonist and the author, navigating through uncertainty with trust that the unfolding narrative, however unresolved, will find coherence and meaning in hindsight.

    The videos reject contemporary trends of hyper-smooth transitions and AI-enhanced precision. Instead, they embrace imperfections—jittery frames, abrupt cuts, and unpolished aesthetics—deliberately preserving the authenticity of human touch. This decision is a poignant response to the accelerating dominance of AI in creative industries, particularly moving images, as 2024 stands as a potential final year before AI reshapes the cinematic landscape. The work becomes a commemorative act, celebrating a vanishing era of handmade, unrefined artistry.

    Spanning three years, from the winter of 2022 to the winter of 2025, this ongoing archive will culminate in a feature-length documentary. Film-Literature is not just a homage to Mekas but also a deeply personal experiment in writing life as literature in motion—a testament to spontaneity, imperfection, and the beauty of uncertainty.