For sure, art impacts culture. Art may not wholly change the society — artists don't develop practical solutions. However, I think art provides perspective and, for me, art impacts society by making voices.
Yiyun Kang
New media artist and visiting lecturer at Royal College of Arts in London.
You can find more about her here and here.
Q & A
Basic Questions:
1. What’s your name?
My name is Yiyun Kang.
2. Where are you from and where are you currently?
I'm originally from South Korea but I'm based in London at the moment.
3. What do you do?
I am an artist and I am teaching at the Royal College of Arts as a visiting lecturer.
Specific Questions:
1. Are other forms of art/ expression of interest to you? If so, which ones and why?
As I have mentioned, I always dreamed about being a painter. So, painting is a form of art that inspires me a lot. Now, I also work with a lot of audio-visual installations, thus, music is another source of inspiration. Besides that, I express myself through writing, partially because I did my PhD, but also because I have always enjoyed reading: it's a totally different form of language.
2. Has a novel inspired you to make something?
To be honest, I haven't read many novels lately but I still consider reading fiction important for my imagination. Creative writing has a distinctly unique form of storytelling in contrast to the visual arts which makes it exciting.
3. How has art emotionally impacted you?
Yes, of course. There are lots of different emotional engagements throughout the artistic process.
However, the development aspect is not emotional — it's more academic and analytical. I also spend a lot of time with my technical team including musicians and performers to create the art itself. So, the most emotional part is probably meeting the audience, especially because my work has a temporal and spatial dimension to it. Unlike paintings or sculptures, the viewers have to immerse themselves to experience what I’ve created and that’s special. In fact, I always love to just watch them in the dark area, which is a little weird. But at the same time, I also love to talk with random audiences. I'm not talking about the art critics or journalists, I'm talking about the random kids or whoever. I love to talk to them and love to hear what they're thinking about. Their feedback frequently makes me emotional, I think/
4. To what extent can art impact culture or society?
For sure, art impacts culture. Art may not wholly change society — artists don't develop practical solutions. However, I think art provides perspective and, for me, art impacts society by making voices.
5. What do you think about the view that the sciences are more important than the arts? Do you agree or disagree?
I disagree with it because I'm an artist, but at the same time, I am working in an area where technology, science and art merge together. So, I often communicate with different technicians and engineers. Together, we create an artistic project and deliver it to the audience. I like to take an interdisciplinary approach, you see. Thinking critically and producing creatively, I see value in both art and science. I also think they work well together, especially in my field of new media art.
6. What challenges have you faced so far in your career?
I’ve faced a lot of challenges. Because I have been trained as a painter, I had no experience in computer software or hardware when I started to transition into more video/ technology-based work. So, changing my artistic medium has been the biggest challenge. In addition, I had to move countries from South Korea to the United States to the UK. So for me, changing the medium, followed by changing cities, and then subsequently adopting new cultural backgrounds and different languages have all been very challenging.
4. What was your dream as a child and what is your dream now? Has it changed?
My dream was always to be an artist, and more specifically, to be a painter. So, I can say my dreams have never really changed.
5. Who is your biggest role model?
I don't think that I have a specific role model, just people who inspire me.
6. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Interesting question. I think I'll probably be in a different institution or organisation. However, I'll continue to be an artist.
7. Are there any obstacles you think that female and/ or Asian artists face in particular?
Yes, I think there are obstacles. I think surviving as a female professional, in general, can be difficult. I noticed that especially in Asian countries to be honest. Having said that, I have been really fortunate to not be exposed to any direct threats. However, I think that it's true that we have to work much harder. I also have had to adjust myself in different cultural contexts as I’ve said before, which has been difficult. Regardless, I stay positive because it was my choice to do this, you know, expose myself to unfamiliar circumstances. I want to have full responsibility. So, I try not to complain. I chose this life.
8. What are specific ways the art industry can improve to become more inclusive?
I think that's a very interesting question because it implies you assume that the art industry is exclusive.
So, I think this links back to question 6. I didn't plan it, but somehow I ended up in the minority section. I'm a female Asian artist who works in new media which was widely ignored for a long time. However, in the last five years, I have seen a huge change from exclusive to inclusive in all aspects where were necessary. Having said that though, I still think the most important thing is your quality of work. It doesn't matter whether you're a female, whether you're Asian, it doesn't matter. If your work is good then people want to see more and you start to become included. Still, for further improvements, I think we can utilise education and systematic support.
9. How do you feel your role as a university lecturer differs from your role as an artist?
It’s very different, I must say. Being an artist is all about me. Pretty much. Being a university lecturer is all about helping others and supporting others. So, doing both helps me to keep some balance in my life because being an artist can be too self-oriented sometimes. Plus, being a teacher forces me to keep up to date. I have to know about the latest research and updated practices in the field so that I can teach them well.
10. You mentioned that being an artist is very self-oriented… would you say being an artist is a narcissistic profession?
My work is a very true representation of myself. I feel sometimes art can be very narcissistic and self-oriented, but at the same time, audience engagement is the most important aspect. So, I’m kind of using art as a vehicle to communicate my ideas and messages to the public.
11. Is there a specific student/ student's question/ student's work that has made a lasting impression on you?
Yeah, there are several. There was one student, I remember, who graduated two years ago and really cared about climate change. His work was so heartfelt because, by now, everybody knows that climate change is a problem but we can’t actually feel it. Numerical data is not engaging to our emotional psyche. So, even if we know that global warming is an issue, we often don’t take action. However, this student went on an independent trip to Iceland and spent several weeks there. He's Taiwanese, but he went there to interview a number of local people and get their real perspectives on what it’s like to be directly impacted by climate change. Then, his artistic outcome was a very big audio-visual installation and he won numerous awards for it. For me, though, what was so touching about his work was the whole process behind it, not just the result.