Kidows Kim

Kidows Kim’s practice is a crossover between writing and drawing. For several years now, he has been adding to his dictionary of fan-tastical creatures: a collection of monsters, memories and familiar situations. The artist draws his conception of monstrosity – the cen-tral them of his current work – from the transfiguration of reality and fiction. Monsters are a metaphor for confronting reality, in particular questions of hierarchy, domination, and standards. In line with this angle, the solo Cutting Mushrooms explores a thwarted bodily transformation, constantly reshaped by the violence of its hospital surroundings. Via perpetual movement and the distortion of what is normal for the body, voice, sound and language, the artist brings about the emergence of a sort of inconstant monstrosity. Is engaging transformation a way of existing? Of protecting oneself, communicating or being included?  Is it an adaptation and/or a resistance? Giving body to an ambiguous and elusive figure, Kidows Kim shows his current transformation by going back over his past transformations.

Born in South Korea, Kidows Kim graduated as a mime artist in 2015 and then studied dance at the CNDC in Angers and the CCN in Montpellier from 2018 to 2020. His creations compose an intimate cosmogony as a dictionary of fantastic creatures. He unveiled the first chapter in 2021 with the solo Funkenstein. He opened the second chapter, Cutting Mushrooms, in 2023. At the same time, he is working on specific and ephemeral performances based on an obsession with manga.