ACC Future Prize exhibition transforms nine historical poems into a 60-minute spatial sound installation

Sound and installation artist Kim Young Eun is presenting “To Future Listeners: Migrating Sounds” at the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju.

Organised as part of the 2026 ACC Future Prize, the exhibition examines histories of movement and migration in Asia through sound and listening. Its subjects include colonial violence, war, displacement, conscription and exile.

The newly commissioned title work is a 60-minute installation comprising 115.4-channel sound, three-channel video and lighting. A total of 115 speakers are positioned across the floor and ceiling of an exhibition hall measuring 25 meters wide, 60 meters long and 15 meters high.

Kim uses Wave Field Synthesis and spatial audio technology to control the perceived location and movement of sound. As visitors walk through the installation, the direction, distance and overlap of voices and music change according to their position.

The work begins with nine poems written in different periods and languages. Their speakers describe experiences including wartime flight, journeys by sea, exile and separation near national borders.

Kim researched historical recitation practices through written records and consultation with specialists. She then collaborated with composers to transform the nine poems into nine pieces of music. Rather than attempting an exact restoration of voices that no longer survive, the project constructs new sounds from incomplete linguistic and oral evidence.

Text appears across three screens while voices, singing, clapping and instrumental sounds move through the space. The installation uses listening to approach narratives that have often remained outside visually oriented historical records.

The exhibition runs through Feb. 14, 2027, at ACC Creation Space 1. It is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Admission is free.

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