The sixth seminar was led by the artist Yunchul Kim, whose multi-disciplinary projects take an organic form between art and science. Kim is also currently the research director of ‘Materiality’, a research group in the KIAS transdisciplinary research program.

Kim’s recent works focus on the artistic potential of hydrodynamics and in the context of metamaterials (photonic crystals) and magnetohydrodynamics. When looking at the world from a non-human-centered point of view, the mankind would also be perceived in terms of its material composition, as another flat-object. The artist focuses on such physical properties and matter of astrophysics in order to look at the world in a more fundamental dimension. In particular, Kim bases his work not so much on the conventional notions of the so-called artistic (impulsive and relying on the emotional), but on his experimentation and production of the material and essence beyond the image and form.

Traversing across the fields of hydromechanics, material and mechanical engineering, Kim approaches the metamaterial and actualizes it in reality through time and repetition using his own eyes and hands. Kim’s research led to the introduction of his recent activities at Cern, Switzerland, as well as the various experiences and ideas he previously shared in collaborations with other scientists. Kim’s testimonials demonstrate that actual scientists also search for ‘aesthetics’, and that art and science share points of commonality in their pursuit for the origin of the world in the ‘particle’. Kim also raises the awareness for a need to newly approach multi-disciplinary projects that are becoming more of hyped-up events with the recent overused keyword ‘convergence’.