Kim Ayoung, the inaugural recipient of the “ACC Future Prize,” has gained recognition in both domestic and international art circles for her ability to craft a distinctive art universe. Her work often reconstructs grand narratives—such as migration, capitalism, and national ideologies—into speculative, layered narratives rich with elements of archaeology, futurism, and science fiction. “ACC Future Prize 2024: Kim Ayoung – Delivery Dancer’s Arc: Inverse” is a large-scale project comprising a multi-channel video installation that incorporates game-engine–based computer graphics and generative artificial intelligence (AI). In this work, Kim Ayoung focuses on the numerous traditional calendar systems and worldviews that have vanished in the wake of Western modernization. Although each culture has historically developed its own unique concepts of time and calendars, the Gregorian calendar now prevails globally. This standardization is closely tied to the forces of imperialism and political power that shaped modernization and globalization. Through this project, Kim Ayoung explores these lost cosmologies and time systems, aiming to restore them through the lens of contemporary art.
In the previous work, “Delivery Dancer’s Sphere,” the protagonists Ernst Mo and En Storm raced through a virtual Seoul, navigating a maze of delayed time. As they inadvertently begin delivering artifacts containing ancient, supposedly extinct conceptions of time, they delve into the conflicts and clashes that arise between different temporalities and worlds. The title of this exhibition, “Delivery Dancer’s Arc: Inverse,” evokes the concept of temporality while referencing the curves found in sundials and the calendar plates featured in the work. These curves symbolize the pathways connecting time, space, humans, history, and the “escaping” space. The term “Inverse” suggests a reference to time, much like the reciprocal of speed in physics, or more generally, an inverse relationship. It hints at the coexistence of different small worlds within the gaps of alternate spaces and times created by the intense pace of competition. This “transformation” of time “connects” different dimensions, creating pathways that allow marginalized and disappearing indigenous worldviews to critically examine the power dynamics of Western modernization.
In “ACC Future Prize 2024,” Kim Ayoung actively engages with the tense of the future through collaboration with AI. The computational outcomes of the AI system, rooted in her speculative narratives, encompass not only imaginative futures but also continuously calculated ones. Calendar system markers originating from antiquity are reinterpreted in the exhibition as elevated indicators of the future, guiding us into a deterritorialized virtual world infused with futurist rhetoric. The artist explores the hybridity of time and space, the subtle psychological conflicts between the two protagonists, and the flaws or errors that emerge in the seemingly perfect virtual world. These elements are developed through a fragmented and speculative narrative style, utilizing algorithms that disrupt causality and montage techniques. Kim Ayoung’s recursive imagination, which manifests in sensory variations, blurs the boundaries between reality and the virtual. This exhibition transcends time and space, venturing into a realm of possibilities where seemingly unrelated entities are connected. It also encourages viewers to reconsider the cultural and historical power dynamics between nations, politics, and religion in the context of modernization and to reflect on the imagination of dislocated time and space. We hope that “Delivery Dancer’s Arc: Inverse” broadens viewers’ horizons, offering new experiences and unfamiliar sensations as they navigate the infinitely proliferating labyrinth of time and space.