Art Sonje Center is pleased to present 𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘩 𝘏𝘢𝘮: 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 from July 31 through October 4, 2026, across the museum’s three floors. The exhibition focuses on Yang Ah Ham’s ongoing long-term research project 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 (2018–), which aims to reconsider our ways of understanding the world. In addition to Ham’s new work 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 4.0 (2026), the exhibition will also include other works created over the course of her project, alongside archival materials.

Since the mid-1990s, Ham has pursued long-term projects that explore the relationship between social structures and human beings. Throughout the process, she has continued to pave new roads to the world that surrounds her. 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 is an extension of this journey, being a project that involves commenting on the world and creating new narratives through what Hannah Arendt described as the “Amor Mundi (for love of the world).” The project emerged from a tragic disaster that happened in Korea back in 2014. It developed from the examination of systemic failure and the ultimate suffering inflicted on individuals and communities, as Ham grappled with the fundamental question: “What should an artist do?”

𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘩 𝘏𝘢𝘮: 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 raises questions about which stories we have put our faith in, as people situated between an unfathomable present and an unpredictable future—and which stories we can imagine. From the rise of neoliberalism in the late 1970s, undergoing globalization; financialization; the digital revolution; the COVID-19 pandemic; and the climate crisis, Ham traces both the construction and fragmentation of narratives that have been long trusted by humanity. At the same time, she demonstrates how these narratives have shaped our lives at the most minute scales, such as through individual bodies, daily experiences, and emotions. Within a cyclical narrative structure where the end becomes a new beginning, the exhibition invites the viewer into a shared space for reflecting on the stories we believe in and writing the next stories together.

About the Artist
Yang Ah Ham (b. 1968)
Yang Ah Ham is an artist based in Seoul and Amsterdam. After graduating from Seoul National University with an undergraduate degree in Western painting and a graduate degree in art theory, she pursued her graduate studies in Media Art at New York University. Grounded in her experiences living in regions such as the US, China, the Netherlands, and Türkiye, her work focuses on individuals, groups, and their socialized nature that exist within social systems. She has held solo exhibitions at transmediale (2021, Berlin), Alternative Space LOOP (2019, Seoul), Art Sonje Center (2010, Seoul), the Kumho Museum of Art (2005, Seoul), and Artpace (2000, San Antonio), among other major institutions and museums. She has also taken part in group exhibitions and events at the Asia Triennial Manchester (2025, Manchester), the Gwangju Biennale (2024, Gwangju), the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2018, Taipei), the Asian Art Biennial (2017, Taichung), the Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2016, Seoul), the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (2013, Seoul), ZKM (2013, Karlsruhe), the Shanghai Biennale (2008, Shanghai), the Palais de Tokyo (2006, Paris), and de Appel Amsterdam (2003, Amsterdam). She received the Daum Prize in 2004 and the Korea Artist Prize in 2005. Between 2006 and 2007, she took part in a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.

ASJC Reading List: Yang Ah Ham: Undefined Panorama
Date: Thu, July 2, 2026 at 19:00–20:30
Venue: Online (Zoom)

Artist Talk: Yang Ah Ham
Date: Sat, August 1, 2026 at 14:00
Venue: Art Hall, Art Sonje Center
*The talk will be only in Korean.

Lecture: The Operating Method of a Panoramic Imagination
Date: Sat, August 29, 2026 at 14:00
Speaker: Jung-Yeon Ma (Professor, Kansai University/Guest Curator, The National Museum of Art, Osaka)
Venue: Online (Zoom)