Literature/Visual Art
Ho Bin Kim
hk1983nyu.edu
Network: ✎
<Self-Portrait>
Work acquired by Swatch Group in 2024
This four-channel video installation traces the artist’s evolving relationship with communication across four pivotal phases of their life, each presented on a popular television model from the respective era and location where the artist lived: Japan, Korea, the United States, and China. The work examines the transition from instinctive sounds to increasingly complex forms of communication, aligned with technological advancements in media. The process of acquiring different languages and culture also came a frequent identity/existential crisis. Each screen captures the artist’s personal and cultural journey through instintive sound -> text -> photography -> videography.
Channel 1: Sony KV-SF29T80 (1999)
(Japanese)
This first channel features one of the most popular CRT TV models from the artist's time in Japan. The screen visualizes a soundscape of primal human expressions—yells, howls, taps—evoking a time before structured language. This early phase reflects the artist’s initial life stage, where instinctive forms of communication dominated. The warm, earthy palette draws inspiration from early cave pigments, as well as from the Japanese landscape.
Channel 2: Panasonic TC-29P40R (2002)
(Korean)
The second channel presents a widely-used TV model from the artist’s transitional years in Korea, as they moved toward the acquisition of language. Text appears onscreen, reflecting their emotional experience during this period, untranslated to emphasize the barrier of understanding without lived experience. The shrinking frame of the TV, compared to the earlier model, symbolizes the artist’s sense of limitation in expression and the constraints of language, while also signaling a narrowing focus toward self-expression through words.
Channel 1: Sony KV-SF29T80 (1999)
(Japanese)
This first channel features one of the most popular CRT TV models from the artist's time in Japan. The screen visualizes a soundscape of primal human expressions—yells, howls, taps—evoking a time before structured language. This early phase reflects the artist’s initial life stage, where instinctive forms of communication dominated. The warm, earthy palette draws inspiration from early cave pigments, as well as from the Japanese landscape.
Channel 2: Panasonic TC-29P40R (2002)
(Korean)
The second channel presents a widely-used TV model from the artist’s transitional years in Korea, as they moved toward the acquisition of language. Text appears onscreen, reflecting their emotional experience during this period, untranslated to emphasize the barrier of understanding without lived experience. The shrinking frame of the TV, compared to the earlier model, symbolizes the artist’s sense of limitation in expression and the constraints of language, while also signaling a narrowing focus toward self-expression through words.
Channel 3: Samsung LA32C360E1 (2010)
(English)
The third channel, displayed on a Samsung model popular during the artist’s time in the United States, marks the end of the analog era. In this segment, the artist chooses photography as the primary medium, showcasing images from their personal Facebook archive. The photographs narrate their journey through the U.S., depicting moments of adaptation, alienation, and self-discovery. The move to digital communication underscores the artist’s evolving relationship with both media and identity.
Channel 4: Xiaomi L32M5-AZ (2017)
(Chinese)
The final channel presents a Xiaomi TV model, widely available during the artist’s years in China. Videography becomes the central medium of communication, charting the artist’s transition to more dynamic, fluid forms of expression. 2017 also marked the beginning of the artist’s writing career with the drafting of SALT, his first book. The progression from instinctive sound to text, photography, and finally video reflects not only a personal but also a global transition in the ways humans connect and communicate.
(English)
The third channel, displayed on a Samsung model popular during the artist’s time in the United States, marks the end of the analog era. In this segment, the artist chooses photography as the primary medium, showcasing images from their personal Facebook archive. The photographs narrate their journey through the U.S., depicting moments of adaptation, alienation, and self-discovery. The move to digital communication underscores the artist’s evolving relationship with both media and identity.
Channel 4: Xiaomi L32M5-AZ (2017)
(Chinese)
The final channel presents a Xiaomi TV model, widely available during the artist’s years in China. Videography becomes the central medium of communication, charting the artist’s transition to more dynamic, fluid forms of expression. 2017 also marked the beginning of the artist’s writing career with the drafting of SALT, his first book. The progression from instinctive sound to text, photography, and finally video reflects not only a personal but also a global transition in the ways humans connect and communicate.