Poster image of Hanbee Kim’s solo exhibition "AGA" at Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul (October 28, 2022 - November 20, 2022). Courtesy of Alternative Space LOOP.Hanbee Kim (b. 1996) creates spaces, performances, and interactive artworks to express the changing meaning of the body as technology advances.
As a female artist in her 20s, Hanbee Kim presents works that touch on issues surrounding the current low fertility rate in Korea. “AGA,” which means “baby” in Korean, is a companion machine that requires human care and an object that represents the social perspective of the younger generation. The movement of “AGA” is based on energy harvesting and hall sensor devices and is entirely dependent on the audience’s movement.
The artworks in the exhibition encourage the audience to consider the social problems that contribute to low birth rates, such as the gaps in the labor market, intensifying competition in society, inflexible family norms, real estate price problems, increased financial burden, and a growing sense of relative deprivation among society members. Kim also suggests that these problems in Korean society are not limited to a specific class but rather affect all members of society and require everyone’s participation to be resolved.
Artist Hanbee Kim has had a solo exhibition at Osisun & Underground Theater (Seoul, 2021) and participated in group exhibitions held at Gallery Raon (Seoul, 2020) and Art Space the Necessaries (Seoul, 2020).
