Kim A-young's Speculative Fiction Reimagines Seoul
The Chosun Ilbo · Byun Hee-won ·
Kim A-youngs Speculative Fiction Reimagines Seoul Artist merges reality with fiction using LiDAR, game engines in Delivery Dancer series
The delivery food arrived piping hot, but the person who brought it vanished as if fleeing. Kim A-young, 47, an artist who relied on delivery apps for meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, became curious: “Where do these people come from, and where do they disappear to?” She tracked down a female delivery rider and hopped onto the back of a motorcycle. Notifications blared incessantly on the rider’s smartphone, and their fingers danced across the screen. “The riders were staring at the app screen more than the road. I felt reality had already split into two paths,” Kim said. This marked the beginning of her representative series, *‘Delivery Dancer’*.
Media artist Kim A-young, winner of the 38th Lee Jung-seop Art Prize, held an artist talk commemorating her award on the 5th at Art Chosun Space in Jung-gu, Seoul. About 50 people gathered at the same venue where the award ceremony had taken place a week ago. She remarked, “I started modern art late and have worked for about 19 years, gaining international attention only in the past three. The Lee Jung-seop Art Prize feels like a period placed on that time.”
During the talk, Kim shared her stories and creative process. She calls her genre “speculative fiction”—imagining alternative possibilities by inserting “what if” into reality. Examples include “What if a stone could speak?” or “What if an app called *‘Delivery Dancer’* currently operates 58,247 delivery riders across Seoul?” Though often classified as science fiction (SF), Kim distinguishes the two: while SF relies on scientific imagination, speculative fiction “doesn’t require a scientific basis or aim to depict the future.” It can also explore how history might have unfolded differently.
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