October 2026
Na Kim Presents Oblique Time at KAIST Art Museum, Daejeon, Korea
Na Kim's solo exhibition Oblique Time is on view at the KAIST Museum in Daejeon, Korea. Kim explores personal experience and the layers of time through objects, images, and texts. In particular, crossing the boundary between design and art, she collects objects, events, phrases, and images from everyday life and realizes the dissonance and order embedded within them in a range of forms, including installation, publication, and documentation.
For the first exhibition held in the rooftop space since the museum opened, Kim presents three site-specific installations. Vertical Drift (2026) is a flag structure on the lower terrace that visualizes the flow and traces of the wind. Disassembled tote bags are installed in the form of a flag on each of thirty-six steel columns, holding memories of the past while serving as indicators of the wind in the present, and functioning as a visual language that cuts across time. Split Horizon (2026), a set of inclined staircase structures on the upper terrace, is derived from the existing stairs of the site. Paint traces flowing along the sides and objects placed on the steps reveal stratified layers of time. Placed alongside is Between Platforms (2026), a circular mirror structure designed to be moved, reflecting the sky, the surrounding structures of the space, and the viewer, and prompting an awareness of a constantly shifting gaze rather than fixing a single viewpoint. In this way, premised on the movement of the viewer, Kim leads visitors to engage their senses actively within the space.
In the open setting of the rooftop, the artist guides visitors to perceive both surroundings and themselves anew through a sequence of walking, climbing, and pausing. At the same time, she transforms the space, beyond its physical structure, into a site that mediates time and experience. Revisiting senses easily passed over in daily life, she proposes a time for each visitor to gaze inward.
For the first exhibition held in the rooftop space since the museum opened, Kim presents three site-specific installations. Vertical Drift (2026) is a flag structure on the lower terrace that visualizes the flow and traces of the wind. Disassembled tote bags are installed in the form of a flag on each of thirty-six steel columns, holding memories of the past while serving as indicators of the wind in the present, and functioning as a visual language that cuts across time. Split Horizon (2026), a set of inclined staircase structures on the upper terrace, is derived from the existing stairs of the site. Paint traces flowing along the sides and objects placed on the steps reveal stratified layers of time. Placed alongside is Between Platforms (2026), a circular mirror structure designed to be moved, reflecting the sky, the surrounding structures of the space, and the viewer, and prompting an awareness of a constantly shifting gaze rather than fixing a single viewpoint. In this way, premised on the movement of the viewer, Kim leads visitors to engage their senses actively within the space.
In the open setting of the rooftop, the artist guides visitors to perceive both surroundings and themselves anew through a sequence of walking, climbing, and pausing. At the same time, she transforms the space, beyond its physical structure, into a site that mediates time and experience. Revisiting senses easily passed over in daily life, she proposes a time for each visitor to gaze inward.
