Ayoung Kim, widely recognized for her innovative media art practice that traverses reality and the virtual, has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 LG Guggenheim Award.

Since its launch in 2023, the LG Guggenheim Award has been an internationally recognized prize dedicated to supporting artists who expand the horizons of contemporary art through innovative use of technology. A distinguished jury—comprising museum directors, curators, scholars, and art professionals of global standing—conducted a four-month evaluation of artists nominated from around the world before selecting Ayoung Kim as the 2025 award recipient.

Upon receiving the award, Ayoung Kim expressed her appreciation: "As technology advances, human life inevitably becomes more complex. What artists can do through technology is to explore its uncertain possibilities—ones that may yet remain latent—and express them in the most intuitive way. I am neither a technological determinist nor a pessimist, but I have always strived to use technology as a medium to critically reflect on its impact on our society. I deeply appreciate the commitment of LG and the Guggenheim Museum in supporting artists to continue these vital artistic discourses."

The celebration of Ayoung Kim’s LG Guggenheim Award will take place at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on May 8. Additionally, the artist will engage with audiences in a special event, offering insight into her artistic practice and creative vision.

Now in its third year, the LG Guggenheim Award is the flagship program of the LG Guggenheim Global Partnership, established by LG and the Guggenheim Museum in 2022. The inaugural award was presented to AI artist Stephanie Dinkins, followed by Shu Lea Cheang, a pioneering figure in Net Art from Taiwan, in its second year. The program will continue to select one artist annually through 2027.

Meanwhile, Ayoung Kim is preparing for a solo exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin, running from February 28 to July 20, followed by a grand-scale solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 in New York this November. Titled 《Many Worlds Over》, the exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in Berlin.

The exhibition happening in MoMA PS1 is Ayoung Kim's first grand-scaled solo exhibition in the States. Showcasing a carefully curated selection of her key works, the exhibition will encompass both representative pieces that define her artistic vision and her most recent works. Notably, this exhibition will be the first time all three works from the ‘Delivery Dancer’ (2022–present) series are presented together in one space. The exhibition will be on view from November 6, 2025, to March 16, 2026.

References

• 갤러리현대(Gallery Hyundai), Ayoung Kim 김아영 : the recipient of 2025 LG Guggenheim Award, 2025.02.25
• LG 구겐하임 어워드 (LG Guggenheim Award)

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.