Photographer LIM YOUNG KYUN (b.1955) is going to present his photo exhibition of Library in the Library curated by 2GIL29GALLERY from this June 1 to Aug.30 to celebrate reopening of YANGJAE Library in the Seocho-gu district in Seoul. Delicately selected photos that will be featured in the exhibition had been taken by the photographer LIM for past 6 years in about 50 libraries in 12 countries, which include the New York Public Library, Paris Bibliotheque Nationale Richelieu, Amsterdam Cuypers Library, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Strahovska Knihovna, Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar that are all put on UNESCO’s List of Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In this exhibition, magnificent views of those palatial libraries that show enchanting symmetry with an abundant variety of aesthetic beauty will be exhibited. So to speak, this photo exhibition features photo works literally presenting images of ‘a library of libraries’.  

 

Among all libraries shown in this exhibition, Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar was where one of the greatest German writer, Goethe spent last years of his life until 1832 working as the director of the library for 40 years from his younger days since 1797, while having been writing “Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre(1829)”, “Faust(1832)”, and other his masterful literary pieces. This library stately stands out having rare collections of 1,000,000 volumes such as the original copy of “Faust” by Goethe. Even though it has been 200 years since Goethe passed away, it has been getting a name for itself drawing people all over the world who love Goethe. Moreover, it had been beloved by Maria Theresia of House of Habsburg who was a de facto ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, and also inspired Italian semiologist, Umberto Eco, so did his novel and the film version of it of “The Name of the Rose”, which is unfolded set in Melk Abbey in Austria including a mysterious library in there. 

 

In particular, LIM has special recollections with the New York Public Library, which he has been holding ever dear. One day of December in 1980, he made his first visit there, and saw and touched the photo book of “Les Américains” of the legendary photographer Robert Frank by borrowing the book from a librarian in person. At that time, he was surprised at the fact that it was open to any visitor to there and borrowed anyone their books. Also it is the library that gave him precious time that he could broaden his horizon by letting him experience how different impression photo can give depending on the time it is seen, if it is in the morning or at night, when he carefully kept the book of “Les Américains“ in his bosom until he got back his home in a cold day of winter in New York. There shows reflection of sky scrapers standing in 42nd Street between Fifth Avenue & Sixth Avenue, the center of New York, on the windows of the New York Public Library shot in the early morning of Nov. in 2018.

 

In fact, there have been many renowned photographers oversea who take photos of libraries in the world including Reinhard Görner of famous German architecture photographer, Massimo Listri of Italian photographer, Thibaud Poirier of French photographer, Candida Hofer of German photographer, and etc. But as a Korean photographer, LIM is the first to work on a series of photo works about a library. And even if those photos were taken in the same library as other photographers took, as Matthias Harder once remarks, who is a chief curator in Museum für fotografie, photo works of LIM emanate meditative serenity and poetic sentiment. And as a subject of his creation that reflect his perspective, mind, and flow of his consciousness, they lead viewers to a state of calm meditation. We expect that through this exhibition, visitors can get a chance to rethink of library as not only an educational place but also an artistic place experiencing various facets of library.  

 

Biography

LIM YOUNG KYUN was born in Daegu, Korea. After completing his B.F.A at Chung-Ang University, M.F.A at New York University, he studied in International Center of Photography (I.C.P), New York. Starting with the Grand Priz in 1973 at Photo Contest for High School Students granted by Korea photography Association he has been awarded Top 10 Photographers nominated by curator Mary Forest who had worked at Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C, in 1985, and granted Fulbright Award  in 2000 and etc, and he also had the invitational exhibition at British Museum in 2007. He worked as a reporter of Chung-Ang Daily Newspaper in New York(1983-1988) and contributed his writing and photo work to daily newspaper and magazines in Korea as well. He used to teach in New York University and Chung-Ang University. His works have been collected by Museum of Modern Art (New York), International Center of Photography (New York), Kodak Photography Museum, Landesmuseum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Oldenberg (Germany), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwacheon, and other major museums in the world. His publications are Destiny(Munster stadt Museum), Daily Life Landscapes (Youlhwadang), Portrait of Artist ( Ahn Graphics Publishing Co.), Young Kyun Lim Art Vivant, (Sikong sa Publishing Co.), Nam June Paik, Now Here (2GIL29 GALLERY), and etc. 

 

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