Bass School Professor Hosts Inaugural Multimedia Exhibit At New Athenaeum

An immersive installation co-created by Dr. Laura Hyunjhee Kim is one of the inaugural exhibits at the newly opened second location of the Crow Museum of Asian Art at the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum.

“Kinmakers: Hidden Songs in Our Mother’s Dreams,” a collaboration between Dr. Kim and New York-based multimedia artist Surabhi Saraf, is on display at the University in the multimedia gallery of the museum m  through March.

At UT Dallas, Dr. Kim is an assistant professor of visual and performing arts at the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. Her work often combines various aspects of digital technology, visual art, and performance to poetically illustrate the lived experience of the everyday.

“I portray things that I’m intuitively sensing, seeing and listening, feeling into conversations that are floating by,” Dr. Kim said. 

The multimedia installation  invites the public into a large room where three walls display a video of a shimmering blob moving to a composed sound in a night-sky-like environment.

In the center of the room is an oyster-shaped vessel, projection-mapped with a video loop of Kim’s and Saraf’s hands moving gracefully, accompanied by poetic utterances written by both artists.

The room is dim, illuminated by the projections on the walls and the sculpture. The sound is soft and soothing, with gentle humming and slow beats. The blob moves slowly and languidly to the rhythm of the sound, as if floating in an ocean.

Combined with an arrangement of blobby beanbag-like chairs, the installation creates an inviting environment for relaxation and reflection. It allows visitors to engage in a sensory and immersive experience, encouraging them to slow down and ground themselves as they listen and hum inwardly and outwardly. The work is inspired by and grounded in the practice of Quantum Listening, brought to life by composer, musician, and activist Pauline Oliveros.

“The exhibition concept of making kin or ‘kinmaking’ is about blurring the boundaries between self and the other; becoming porous bodies,” Dr. Kim said. “Quantum Listening is a lifelong practice of listening that opens the body to simultaneously listen to multiple realities all at once. ‘Listening to the wholeness of time/space impartially.’ Not discriminating one sound from another.”

The Sept. 24 unveiling of the O’Donnell Athenaeum also marked the groundbreaking for a state-of-the-art performance hall and music building for the Bass School.  With a focus on excellence in technology and sound engineering, the new space will include a world-class stage, practice rooms and studios for faculty and students.

“Kinmakers: Hidden Songs in Our Mother’s Dreams” is Dr. Kim’s and Saraf’s first solo exhibition as an artist duo. On Sept. 28, the artists will host a performance at 1 p.m. as part of the O’Donnell Athenaeum’s Community Open House. The performance will feature an improvisational showcase with live movement and sounds that evoke deep relaxation, followed by a talkback session with the artists.