SDF

KIM Youngsun first learned to play E flat alto horn in his youth as a member of the Salvation Army band. Every Christmas, he and his bandmates would perform carols on the streets of Myeong-dong, and he would try to thaw his frozen hands and instruments with his breath. Despite always shivering from the cold, he remembers how glad it made him to see donations being placed in the red kettle. In primary school, Youngsun liked to read Franz Kafka, Herman Hesse, Albert Camus, Jean-Jacques Russo, and Fabre’s Book of Insects. As a middle school student, he found dependable solace in the companionship of the 400-year gingko tree that stood in the athletics field across from his house. The emotions he felt then have shaped and continue to shape him to this day, even as he nears 50 years old.

Youngsun decided to major in music after becoming enthralled with the sound of an instrument he heard on the radio during his first year of high school. But even after graduating from a music school, he felt he didn’t know what made music good, and what kind of music could be considered “art.” Thus, he embarked on his own journey to discover and understand what art truly is. In the process, he discovered a field of study that saw sound itself as art – music production and sound engineering. He is still on his journey today, producing and recording music and creating works that explore – and allow him to experience and encounter – sound.

Youngsun’s major works include the albums “Project21AND” (Albums 2-6), and “planted” (Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, 2014, with support from Chungnam Culture Technology Industry Agency). He is currently a professor of music in the Graduate School at Seoul National University.