Vona Kim
IN CONVERSATION
29.07.26
F R A G M E N T S
Vona Kim is a sculptor based in Seoul. Through her practice, industrial structures detached from their intended functions begin to resemble organisms, fossils, or traces of evolution.
For our readers encountering your work for the first time, please take us through your background.
I am a sculptor based in Seoul, South Korea. I studied both Fashion Design and Sculpture at Chung-Ang University, and my practice has evolved through the intersection of these two disciplines.Fashion taught me how structures wrap, protect, and define the body, while sculpture encouraged me to think about form beyond the body itself. Although they appear to be different fields, both ultimately led me to the same question: how does form generate meaning?
I often observe industrial products, architectural components, mechanical parts, and digital interfaces in everyday life. While most people see them as functional objects, I find myself drawn to their underlying visual order; the rhythm, proportion, and logic embedded within their forms.
What fascinates me is that once these structures are detached from their intended functions, they begin to resemble something entirely different: organisms, fossils, or traces of evolution. My work begins at that point of transformation. I am interested in asking whether form can continue to communicate after function has disappeared.
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It seems like 'Lost Function' comes up across a few of your works. Can you tell us more about the concept behind it?
'Lost Function' began with a simple question: What happens when function disappears but form remains? We normally understand industrial objects through what they do. Their purpose allows us to recognize and categorize them. I became interested in separating function from form. Once an object's purpose is removed while its visual language remains, it enters an unfamiliar yet strangely recognizable state.
In this series, industrial structures no longer operate as machines. Instead, they begin to resemble biological organisms, fossils, or fragments of an unknown species. I combine geometric systems derived from manufacturing with organic structures inspired by growth and evolution. However, 'Lost Function' is not about broken machines. It is about perception. I am interested in the moment when viewers can no longer rely on function to understand an object and are instead invited to engage with form itself.
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Where do you draw inspiration from?
I find inspiration where different formal languages overlap. Industrial manufacturing, technical manuals, digital interfaces, architectural systems, and mechanical components all embody a visual language built upon geometry, repetition, and precision. Living organisms, on the other hand, evolve through entirely different principles. Rather than treating these systems as opposites, I explore how they might coexist within a single object. I often pay attention to construction panels, drainage systems, ventilation grilles, and industrial infrastructure. Interestingly, when these structures are isolated or enlarged, they begin to resemble cells, skeletons, or biological tissues. Those moments of unexpected transformation often become the starting point for my sculptures.
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Is there a piece you're particularly drawn to right now?
At the moment, I feel closest to my recent works in the 'Lost Function' series. These sculptures bring together many of the questions I have been exploring over the past several years. Within industrial frameworks, organic forms appear to emerge, grow, or erode from the inside, allowing technological and biological systems to coexist within a single visual language.
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