she/they
Born in Seoul, South Korea
Yidan Kim uses olfactory materials and sensations to create either intangible or tangible sensory imagery. The artist focuses on the sense of smell, which has been undervalued in the hierarchy of senses, exploring humans as sensory beings. Kim aims to provoke the expansion of sensory perception and cognition by emphasizing the sense of smell. Kim delves into the boundaries between human and non-human beings, and endeavours to shift the human-centric perspective to that of non-human entities, thereby focusing on non-material objects that exist beyond the realm of human perception.
Awarded the Gilbert Bayes Award 2025 by the Royal Society of Sculptors, Kim completed her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2024. Earlier in their career, Kim studied the techniques of fragrance oil perfumery and Hyang-do, a traditional Korean fragrance ceremony rooted in East Asian culture. Kim has conducted on-site research into olfactory object-mediators across different cultures, gathering a diverse range of olfactory materials. Drawing on the craft of incense-making and the techniques of fragrance oil perfumery, Kim manifests olfactory imagery synesthetically through sculpture, installations, and performances.
김이단은 후각 재료와 후각 감각을 사용하여 무형, 혹은 유형의 감각적 심상을 구현한다. 작가는 감각의 위계에서 저평가되어온 후각 감각에 초점을 맞추어 감각적 존재로서의 인간을 탐구하며, 감각의 확장과 그로 인한 인식의 확장을 촉발시키고자 한다. 나아가 인간과 인간이 아닌 것의 경계를 탐색하거나 인간중심적 시선을 비인간존재들의 관점으로 전이시키는 시도를 통해 인간 인식의 영역 너머에 존재하는 비물질적 객체들에 주목하여 작업을 전개해나가고 있다.
작가는 2025년 영국 왕립조각가협회에서 길버트 베이스 상(Gilbert Bayes Award)을 수상했으며, 2024년 영국 왕립예술대학에서 조형 석사 과정을 졸업했다. 또한 2016년부터 향료 조향 기술과 동아시아 문화에 뿌리를 둔 한국 전통 향 의식인 향도를 공부했다. 이에 더해 여러 문화권의 후각적 매개체를 현장에서 연구하며, 다양한 종류의 후각 재료를 수집해 왔다. 작가는 향(incense) 제작 기술과 조향 기술을 기반으로 구현한 후각적 심상을 조각, 설치, 퍼포먼스 등의 형태를 통해 공감각적으로 펼쳐낸다.
Solo Exhibition / Performance
2021 Ecology of Death and Annihilation : A Ceremoy for Things that Wither
(Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), Oil tank cultural park, Seoul, KR
2020 Human Nosework Training - expanding perception, Seoul Art Space Seogyo, Seoul, KR
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Hazy Horizons, Noho galleries, London, UK
2024 My Room is another fishbowl, Westbournegrove church, London, UK
2024 Sixth Sense, Standpoint Gallery, London, UK
2024 Rites and Rituals, Safehouse, London, UK
2023 Lawless Imagination, RuptureXIBIT, London, UK
2021 Re : Soil-Sand-pebble, Korean International Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, KR
2021 Creating moving nature together, Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon, KR
2021 Momentariness, 117-8 Choryangsang-ro, Busan, KR
2021 Properties of Night, Yeon Nam-dong 245-33, Seoul, KR
2020 The moment, Post territory Ujeongguk, Seoul, KR
Selected Performances
2024 Contemperament Music Festival (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), Goldsmiths University, London, UK
2024 Sound/Image Festival 2024 (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), Universtiy of Greenwich, London, UK
2024 Mirror, Gallery Rosenfield, London, UK
2024 Experimance Sound Art Festival, Sektor Heimat, Saarbrücken, DE
2024 Restructured Object-scape (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), Studio DaDaDa, London, UK
2024 Winter Solstice (4-hour Improve performance), Safehouse1, London, UK
2023 Ceremony For the Last Humanity (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), The Hanger Gallery, London, UK
2023 Ceremony For the Last Humans (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), IKLECTIK , London, UK
2023 Line-Rhythm(Yidan Kim, Heejin Jang, Liyoun Kim), MINBOKJIN Museum of Art, Yangju, KR
2022 Poetics of the olfactory sense (Yidan Kim, Sono Kim), PACK WEEK 2022, Platform L, Seoul, KR
2021 A ceremony for 2021 (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), WeSA Festival 2021 TOUCH, Seoul, KR
2019 Scent & Sound performance (Yidan Kim, Haedong Lee), Peters Burg Art Space, Berlin, DE
2019 The Moment (Group 8491), JeongDong Theater, Soorim Art Center, Seoul, KR
2019 The Moment (Group 8491), Shanghai International Paper Art Biennale 2019, Shanghai, CN
2018 DOKKAEBI PLAY, Group HAEDONGSEOUNGGUK, Studio Log, Seoul, KR
Project/ Curation
2021 Incense kit ‘ECSTASIS’ Release
2019 L’air du temps - TOKKIKO SMELL TRIP, meditation and opening senses workshop, 20sessions, Seoul, KR
2019 TOKKIKO CEREMONY 190728, Sensory gathering, studio Senggi, Seoul. KR
2019 TOKKIKO CEREMONY 190623, Sensory gathering, ZakEunMul, Seoul, KR
2018 Album ‘DOKKAEBI PLAY KIT’ collaborative olfactory creation (Incense Kit production)
2017 Album ‘CALI DANCE’ collaborative olfactory creation
Olfactory Directing
2024 Tides of Time Beneath the Surface, Minhee Kang, Platform L, Seoul, KR
2023 Museum X, scent design and installation, Sokcho, KR
2023 Mouvement - Sculptural lines, scent directing and installation, MINBOKJIN Museum of Art, Yangju, KR
2021 GUL, Hee-eun Jeong (Choreography performance), scent design and installation, Seoul, KR
2017 Transformation (play), yeonhee702, scent design and directing, Yeon-hee 702, Seoul, KR
2017 Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (play), studio Nanadashii, scent directing (Scentory), Theater Arko, Seoul, KR
Workshop / Teaching Experience
2021 Creating Moving Nature Together (Natural scent-making workshop), Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon, KR
2020 Sensory Expansion Training, with Jeong Ga Ak Hoe (Korean traditional vocal music group, VELOSO, Seoul, KR
2018 Traditional Korean Incense Class, Namsangol Hanok Village, Seoul, KR
2018 ‘Scent of Nepal’ lecture, Perfumery School Scentory, Seoul, KR
Grant / Award
2024 Gilbert Bayes Award 2025
2024 Gilbert Bays RCA Awards
2023 Sumi Scholarship Foundation
2021, 2020, 2019 Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture
Education
2024 M.A Sculpture, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2016 B.A Communication and Journalism, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, KR
Certificate / Residency
2024 Standpoint Gallery Residency, London, UK
2019 Tea Ceremony course, 喫茶去 (kkikdageo), Tea Culture Institute, Seoul, KR
2019 ‘HYANG DO - Incense Ceremony' course 13th, Korean Traditional Incense Cultural Association MUN-HYANG (聞香), Seoul, KR
2016-2017 PerfumeryⅠ, PerfumeryⅡ, Perfumery school Scentory, Seoul, KR
Others
2024~ Member(GBA) of the Royal Society of Sculptors
2019~ Member of Korean Traditional Incense Cultural Association MUN-HYANG (聞香)
2019~ Received personal guidance from Ven. Nueng Hye (Former chief monk to the spiritual leader of Haeinsa temple / CEO of Chiwun incense manufacturing company)
2017 Studied traditional Nepali/Tibetan incense making at Kopan Nunnery, Kathmandu (NP)