Sanghyun Kim (b. 1998, Seoul, Korea) is currently living and working in Japan. He mainly works on kinetic art installations, utilizing various technology-based media such as metal materials, programming, and electronic circuits in his work. He received his BA and BS degrees in Digital Art from Yonsei University, Wonju Campus in Korea. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Global Art Practice at Tokyo University of the Arts.
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Sanghyun Kim is an artist and engineer whose multidisciplinary practice centers on kinetic installations that interrogate the boundaries between humans, machines, and so-called inanimate entities. His work originates from a pure technical curiosity about machines, exploring human-machine beings, their relationships, and boundaries in an era of unprecedented technological advancement. Instead of viewing machines only as tools, he considers them—and other presences he encounters, such as stones, branches, or atmospheric phenomena—as “targets” (objects) for inter-action. He asserts that what truly matters is not whether something fits the traditional definition of “life,” but how significance emerges in the process of inter-action and mutual experience. He frames every encounter as a network of inter-actions, challenging the fixedness of boundaries between the living and non-living, the human and non-human. In his work, meaning is not inherent in an entity, but is generated through direct inter-action with the perceiving subject, through sensation, engagement, and interpretation. He contemplates the conditions of existence and meaning, as well as the ways in which different entities form relationships. Through such inter-action, he believes that all beings—whether animate or inanimate—can exist on equal terms with humans. Rather than adhering to fixed criteria, he focuses on the emergence of meaning that arises from encounters and inter-actions. Through kinetic technologies and diverse media, his installations reveal and reimagine these inter-actions, inviting to question the foundations of perception, agency, and significance within all relationships.
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Sanghyun Kim is an artist and engineer whose multidisciplinary practice centers on kinetic installations that interrogate the boundaries between humans, machines, and so-called inanimate entities. His work originates from a pure technical curiosity about machines, exploring human-machine beings, their relationships, and boundaries in an era of unprecedented technological advancement. Instead of viewing machines only as tools, he considers them—and other presences he encounters, such as stones, branches, or atmospheric phenomena—as “targets” (objects) for inter-action. He asserts that what truly matters is not whether something fits the traditional definition of “life,” but how significance emerges in the process of inter-action and mutual experience. He frames every encounter as a network of inter-actions, challenging the fixedness of boundaries between the living and non-living, the human and non-human. In his work, meaning is not inherent in an entity, but is generated through direct inter-action with the perceiving subject, through sensation, engagement, and interpretation. He contemplates the conditions of existence and meaning, as well as the ways in which different entities form relationships. Through such inter-action, he believes that all beings—whether animate or inanimate—can exist on equal terms with humans. Rather than adhering to fixed criteria, he focuses on the emergence of meaning that arises from encounters and inter-actions. Through kinetic technologies and diverse media, his installations reveal and reimagine these inter-actions, inviting to question the foundations of perception, agency, and significance within all relationships.