IM Youngzoo
IM Youngzoo explores how superstition, belief, and religious faith take shape and are embraced within contemporary society through a range of media, including video, installation, performance, publications, and virtual reality. Her practice contrasts the desires embodied by modern science and technology with the persistent presence of irrational beliefs in everyday life, emphasizing the boundary where the two realms intersect.
By paradoxically juxtaposing spiritual domains such as religion and superstition with scientific modes of thinking, she foregrounds their unexpected similarities rather than their differences. Beginning with a single image or sound, Youngzoo delves into research that interweaves personal narratives with collective memory—drawing from tradition, history, politics, and science. Her works often traverse the supernatural and the (pseudo)scientific, invoking themes that extend beyond the reality: death, apocalypse, and outer space.
IM Youngzoo has been shortlisted for the Korea Artist Prize 2025 and Frieze x Chanel NOW & NEXT. Her solo exhibitions include 미련 未練 Mi-ryeon at Perigee Hall & Gallery, Seoul (2024); M, Outsight, Seoul (2021); Human/I, Hall 1, Seoul (2021); Ghost White (#F8F8FF Opacity 75%) 幽靈白, Gallery Chosun, Seoul (2020); AEDONG, Doosan Gallery, New York (2019); and Gristle and Synovial Fluid, Doosan Gallery, Seoul (2018), among others.
She has participated in numerous group exhibitions at institutions such as Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (2024); One and J. Gallery, Seoul (2024); Doosan Gallery, Seoul (2023); Salihara Arts Center, Jakarta (2023); Oil Tank Culture Park, T4, Seoul (2023); Ludwig Museum, Koblenz (2023); Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems (2022); Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2021); Taipei Contemporary Art Center (2019); Vietnamese Women’s Museum (2018); and SFMOMA, San Francisco (2018). Her work has also been featured in biennales and international festivals including e-flux Screening: Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul (2022); Anyang Public Art Project (2019); Busan Biennale (2018); and CROSSROADS (2018).