Sungeun Kim is a filmmaker, audiovisual researcher, and collaborator based on Jeju Island, South Korea. Shaped by long-term field research on Jeju’s volcanic geology, layered histories, and sites of resistance, their practice explores how different temporalities unfold across bodies and landscapes, forming unexpected relations. Moving between documentary and expanded cinema, they approach cinema as a performative medium, reconsidering sound recording as a method of filmmaking grounded in listening and discovery. Through collaboration rooted in care, they seek to create conditions for improvisation and remain open to the possibility of subtle, sustained forms of resistance.
김성은은 제주도를 기반으로 활동하는 영화감독이자 시청각 연구자, 협업자이다. 제주의 화산 지질과 중첩된 역사, 저항의 장소들에 대한 오랜 현장 연구를 바탕으로, 몸과 풍경을 가로질러 서로 다른 시간성들이 어떻게 펼쳐지고 예기치 않은 관계를 맺는지 탐색한다. 다큐멘터리와 확장영화를 오가며, 영화를 수행적 매체로 접근하고 사운드 레코딩을 듣기와 발견에 기반한 영화 제작의 방법론으로 새롭게 사유한다. 서로를 돌보고 협업하는 과정에서 즉흥성이 발현될 수 있는 조건을 마련하고자 하며, 미세하고 지속적인 저항의 가능성을 향해 열려있고자 한다.
Meisterschüler in Media Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin
BFA in Studio Art, New York University, New York City
Archives
Map without Island, 91 min, 2021
The Memory of the 25th Hour, 78min, 2017
Short
Some Queer Bo-ki, 10min, 2020
The Will, 20min, 2018
Compilation
Spring Wind Project - We are here, 114min, 2022
Spring Wind Project 2 : Meet comrades again, 87min, 2024
MUBI
KMDb
indie ground
Selected Exhibitions & Screeningss
Unmute Water: A Walk in Oscillation, Sanjicheon Gallery, Jeju, Korea, 2024
Unmute Water: The Sound of Muted Water, Gamjeo Gallery, Seogwipo, Korea, 2023
Busan MoCA Cinemedia Climate of Cinema: Isle, the Planet and Postcontact Zone, 2023
Korean Film Archive Cinemateque (KOFA) Independent Film Showcase, 2022
feels good to know you exist, Datsuijo, Tokyo, 2022
Solo Exhibition: From Afar Valley Deepens, Space Bisugi, Seogwipo, Jeju Island, 2021
The Line Stretched Toward You, Post Territory Ujeongguk, Seoul, 2021
Art Alumni Show, NYU Department of Art and Art Professions, New York, 2018
Illuminating Shade for Big Window, Jenny Cho Solo exhibition at Sindowh Culture Space, Seoul, Korea, 2017
Mitte Media Arts Festival, Fata Morgana, Berlin, Germany, 2017
Interrupted Survey : Fractured Modern Mythologies (part of “Refrain” by Angela Melitopolous), ACC, Gwangju, Korea, 2016
Jajaja Nenene, Fata Morgana, Berlin, Germany, 2016
Observation 6-Freie Universität Visual and Media Anthropology G6 Exhibition, Keller, Berlin, 2014
Gangjeong, Breath, Suwon City Museum, Suwon, Korea, 2014
Thinking Media III, Choong-mu Art Hall gallery, Seoul, Korea, 2013
The Rencontres Internationales, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany, 2013
Screening Week, Cruise & Callas gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2013
More or Less, WCW gallery, Hamburg, Germany, 2013
Limited Space: Sarajevo / Berlin, designtransfer, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany, 2012
Between Walls and Windows Architecture and Ideology at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany, 2012
NORMALLY when the birds sing HE WAKES UP, live AV performance at Expanded Music Festival, Hans Eisler hochschule für Musik, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Esrever, live AV performance at Agora Collective, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Incite, 21st International Video festival Bochum, Bochum, Germany, 2011
Interferenzialistische Konferenz, live AV performance, Altes Finanzamt, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Klein Kunst, Platoon Kunsthalle, Seoul, Korea, 2011
Shor-Term Deviation, efa Project Space, NYC, USA,2010
Korea Experimental Arts Festival, Seoul, Korea, 2010
BITT Festival, Atlang Gallery, Seoul, Korea, 2010
Außenwelt der Innenwelt der Außenwelt, Shanglhangle gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2010
NYU Studio Art Graduation Group Exhibition, The commons at NYU, NYC, USA
I made your mother period, I made her period period, Rosenburg gallery, NYC, USA, 2008
Klein Geld, NYU Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2007
Selected Conferences & Forum
Edges of Empire/Pacific Rim, ASAP: The Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present, UCLA, USA, 2022
Antimilitarism in the Pacific Islands, Asian American & Pacific Islander Studies, UC San Diego, USA, 2021
Radical Film Network Meeting, silent green Berlin, Germany 2019
German Anthropological Association Conference at Freie Universität, Berlin, 2017
The Social:the 4th International Association for Visual Culture Biennial Conference at Boston University, Boston, 2016
Anthropologies Numériques, Le Cube, Paris, France, 2016
Selected Performances
Today is 11th June 1993 (dir. Clarissa Thieme), 2018
A Game of Fives (dir. Enrico Stolzberg) at 13. Münchener Biennale, International Festival for New Music Theater, Munich, Germany, 2012
A Game of Fives at UNIT.T-Theater, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany, 2012
Expanded Music Festival, Hans Eisler hochschule für Musik, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Esrever, Agora Collective, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Incite, 21st International Video festival Bochum, Bochum, Germany, 2011
Interferenzialistische Konferenz, live AV performance, Altes Finanzamt, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Books
Lee Youjin, Choi Yoomi, Cho Hyesoo, Jaka Sumitomo, Fumihiko, Kim Sungeun (Grace), Saeng Saeng and Park Eunae. Outward: Rirkrit Tiravanija and the Aesthetics of Noji, Chroma Editions, 2025.
Anpak, Black Panther, Kim, Han Jino, Heeum, Jeon Solbi, Kim Sungeun, Kim Youngok, and Noh Soontaek. Collaborators Inside the Mouth. Total Museum Press, 2024.
Kim, Sungeun. “Sensory Trajectories Toward The Map Without Islands.” 2022 Independent Film Showcase, Korean Independent Film Association, January 2023, pp. 254–274, 2023