Jungwoon Kim

Jungwoon Kim (*1981, Seoul, South Korea) lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. She studied Fine Arts at Hongik University in Seoul and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Professors Rita McBride and Martin Gostner. Since graduating in 2014, Kim has participated in a variety of projects. She has been awarded numerous scholarships and participated in several artist residencies, which have taken her to cities such as Chongqing, Detroit, and Bucharest. Kim is also a member of the artist collective Mother of Pearl. Her recent exhibitions and projects include Fishing in Green, Living in Yellow at The Pool, Düsseldorf (2025); Und wir fangen gerade erst an at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2025); Worlds of Structure at Atelierhaus Aachen e.V., Aachen (2024); Waiting in Loop at Gallery Cubeplus, Kiel (2023); 20 Jahre dHCS-Stipendium at Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf (2023); Out to Lunch part 1 Bloom in Düsseldorf (2023); Out to Lunch part 2 at 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg, Sweden (2023); Die Grosse at Kunstpalast Düsseldorf (2023); yesterday, today, tomorrow at Zero Foundation, Düsseldorf (2022); and 14. Salon der Künstlerinnen* at Museum Kurhaus Kleve (2022).

Jungwoon Kim’s artistic practice explores the quiet resilience of materials in transitional states — between vitality and decay, the natural and the artificial, the immediate and the remembered. Her interest in residual forms and fragile vitality also reflects her conflicted relationship with nature itself. The “nature” she has internalized — shaped by urban environments and media — is often curated, controlled, softened, and romanticized. In contrast, real encounters with nature affect her on a visceral level: spring allergies disrupt her body, unpredictable weather alters her mood, and climate anxiety casts a shadow over daily life. This dissonance — between the artificial, mediated nature she has grown up with and the overwhelming, destabilizing forces of the real — creates a generative tension that runs through her work. She sees sculpture as a way to hold and articulate this gap. Her works do not ask to be interpreted, but to be experienced — through the skin, through emotional echoes, and through an awareness of what lingers.

During the Borderland Residency, she will investigate the lingering presence of plant-based materials in liminal states — suspended between growth and decay, natural and synthetic, living and fading. Set in Eupen, the project will begin with the collection of local plant remains and everyday residues. These materials, gathered from the immediate surroundings, will be combined with materials such as silicone and aluminum to create sculptural works that quietly embody tension, transformation, and resilience. She is particularly interested in the subtle abundance of withered or artificial vegetation — ornamental houseplants, remnants of tropical desire, faded symbols of care.