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Academic CV
Last Updated on Feb 15, 2017

Vicki Sung-yeon Kwon 

 

University of Alberta

3-98 Fine Arts Building 

Edmonton, Alberta

T6G 2C9 Canada

vkwon@ualberta.ca

last update 2021/01/10

Education

PhD. History of Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Alberta (2015—2022)

  • Focused on modern and contemporary art, East Asian art in relation to global contemporary art, socially engaged art, transnationalism

  • Tentative title of dissertation: Connection in Friction: Participatory Art of East Asian Artists in Contact Zones

  • Supervisory committees:

Masters of Arts, Art History, University of Toronto (2011–2012)

Hons. Bachelors of Arts, Art History, University of Toronto (2007–2011)

  • Specialist in Art History   I   Minor in Semiotics and Communication Theory

  • Graduate with a distinction

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Research Fellowship & Grant

  • Junior Fellowship, International Center for Korean Studies in Kyujanggak Institute, the Seoul National University (2019-2020)

  • International Researchers Residency, The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea (2019)

  • The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSRHC) Doctoral Fellowship (2017-2019) 

  • 2016 Korea Arts Council Exhibition Project Grant (co-curated with Wonseok Koh) for the exhibition Mass and Individual: <The Archive of the Guyanese Mass Games 군중과 개인: 가이아나 매스게임> (2016)

  • Guest Researcher, Asia Culture Centre, Asian Culture Information Agency, "Performing Arts in Asia: The Guyanese Mass Games archive research" (2015)  

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Awards & Scholarships

  • University of Alberta President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction (2017-2019)

  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship, University of Alberta (2016) 

  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship, University of Alberta (2015-2016)

  • Graduate Student Association Professional Development Award, University of Alberta (2017)

  • Art and Design Travel Grant, University of Alberta (2015) 

  • Graduate Student Association Professional Development Award, University of Alberta (2015)

  • University of Toronto Art Centre Awards, University of Toronto

  • Victoria College Award, University of Toronto Undergraduate Scholarship (2011)

  • The John Hamilton Watson Award for Summer Abroad, University of Toronto (2011)  

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Teaching & Lecture

  • Principal Instructor, HADVC 211: 20th Century Art in East Asia, University of Alberta (2017–2020)

  • “Collaboration of North Korean and Guyanese Artists creating Mass Games in the 1980s.” Guest lecture in Dr. Yonsun Ahn’s undergraduate course at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University of Frankfurt (2017/07/31).​

  • "Performance Art since 1970s." Guest lecture in Dr. Kristen Hutchson's undergraduate course ARTH 246: 20th Century Art 1940-1975, University of Alberta (2016/03/29)

  • “Art and Activism in East Asia.” Guest lecture in Dr. Natalie Loveless’ undergraduate course ARTH 256: Themes in Contemporary Art, University of Alberta (2015/11/06) ​

  • “Performance Art in Asia— Guyanese Mass Games: Preliminary Research and Archive collection.” (아시아의 공연예술—가이아나 매스게임 자료수집을 위한 사전 연구사업).  Asia Culture Centre Asia Information Agency, Gwangju, Republic of Korea (2015/05/23)​

  • Teaching Assistant

    • Undergraduate course, 20th Century Art 1940-1975, University of Alberta (2016)

    • Undergraduate course, Baroque Art and Architecture, University of Toronto (2012)

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Publications 

Peer-reviewed Journal articles

​

Book

  • ​Mass and Individual: The Archive of the Guyanese Mass Games / 군중과 개인: 가아아나 매스게임 (Korean). Edited by Vicki Sung-yeon Kwon. Korea Arts Council, Arko Art Centre, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2016.

Essay in Exhibition Catalogue ​

  • Vicki Sung-yeon Kwon, "Crossing Boundaries Surrounding the Korean War: Diana Yoo’s Across Boundaries” / “한국전쟁의 기억을 둘러싼 경계들을 넘어: 다이애나 유” (Korean). In Diana Yoo: Across Boundaries in Orange and Blue, exhibition catalogue. Curated by Carla Garnet at John A. Baired Gallery, Toronto, ON June 2016.

Art Review​

  • “Aaron Veldstra — Our Anaerobic Future.” Canadian Art 32, 3 (Winter, 2016).

  • “Her Name is Beatrice. My Name is Lara.” A.Centric (University of Toronto Student Voices on Art and Design) September 2009.

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Curated Exhibitions

  • Curator, <Designing Connection in Friction> (2018/09/20–30) Edmonton Design Week program at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre Main Gallery, presented by University of Alberta Graduate Students Association​, Edmonton.

  • Curator, <Mass and Individual: The Archive of the Guyanese Mass Games> (2016/04-2016/11) <군중과 개인: 가아아나 매스게임> at Arko Art Centre, Seoul, Republic of Korea (2016/10/21-11/27). Co-curated by Wonseok Koh Winner of the 2016 Arts Council Korea visual art exhibition competition grant (2016 시각예술창작산실 전시지원 공모사업 선정작) ₩80,000,000 KOR/$92,640 CAD https://massandindividual.net/​

  • Juror and Curatorial Coordinator, <Between Among and Away> (2016/04), the 5th University of Alberta Art and Design Graduate Students’ Association (ADGSA) annual juried exhibition held at dc3 Art Projects, Edmonton (2016/04/22-30)

​​

Relevant Work Experience

  • Project Manager, The VACCINE PROJECT: Uniting Art, Evidence, and Advocacy  (2015/01—2018/01)

    • Managed all aspects of administration, logistics, and communication for the workshop, exhibition, and publication for “The VACCINE(S) Project,” an interdisciplinary project to explore opportunities for uniting evidence, art, and advocacy as a strategy for improving global health decision making—in particular, vaccination. 

    • Collaborated with high-profile international artists, scientists, advocates to curate an exhibition at the UN headquarters, in either New York or Geneva in 2015 (Principal investigators: Dr. Steven J. Hoffman, Global Strategy Lab, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Dr. Natalie S. Loveless and Prof. Sean Caulfield, Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta)

    • Project managed two international exhibitions <Immune Nations> at Galleri KiT, Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Norway (March 2017) & UNAIDS, Geneva, Switzerland (May-June 2017)

  • ​Project Coordinator, New Maternalism: Redux, University of Alberta (2015/05-2016/06)

    • Assisted with installation, promotion, and communication for the exhibition <New Maternalism: Redux> FAB Gallery (2016/05-06), curated by Dr. Loveless, funded by SSHRC.

    • Assisted with coordinating a 3-day colloquium “Mapping the Maternal: Art, Ethics, and the Anthropocene,” held at the University of Alberta, Art Gallery of Alberta, Garneau Theatre, and Remedy Cafe (PI: Dr. Loveless and Dr. Sheena Wilson).

  • Program Committee, Conversation with Curators, Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2013/08–2014/04)

    • Initiated a monthly series of lively discussion between senior and emerging curators

  • ​Program Assistant, Ontario Association of Art Galleries, Toronto (2012/05-08).

  • Research and Curatorial Intern. North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge. University of Toronto Art Centre, Toronto, ON. (2010/09-2011/04)

    • Researched North Korean art and history; produced a docent research package for the gallery staff to guide visitors.

    • Offered curatorial tours of the exhibition curated by Dr. Matthew Brower & Dr. Janet Poole

​

Refereed Conference Presentations

  • “Elusive Memories, Precarious Apology: The Vietnam War in Contemporary Korean Art and Visual Culture.” Lecture/Seminar at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul (2019/06/13).

  • “Precarious Apology: KIM Seokyung and KIM Eunsung’s Vietnam Pieta.” Paper presentation at the Korean Society of Journalism & Communication Studies Conference, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, Korea (2019/05/18).

  • Presented a paper “The Battle of Memories and Apologies: Im Heung Soon’s This War and Kim Seokyung and Kim Eunsung’s Vietnam Pieta,” in a workshop, The Living Past: Diaster, Trauma, and Visual Culture in East Asia, York University (2019/03/24).

  • "Reversing the Route of Labour Migration: Mixrice’s Return, 2006." Paper presentation at Identity and Transnational Mobility In and Out of Korea, International Conference at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany. 2018/02/22-23.

  • "Statue of Comfort Women of Peace: Public Art Between Art and Politics." Paper presentation at 2017 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conferene (AAS), Sheraton Center, Toronto, 2017/03/17.

  • “Uniforms of the Women’s Militia Performance in the 2009 National Day Parade: The New Ideal Women of China in the Transnational Flow of Pop Culture in East Asia.” Paper presentation at the Dressing Global Bodies Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 2016/07/09.​

  • "Mass Games: Spectacles for Decolonizing Guyana." Paper presentation at York University's Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) 4th International Graduate Student Research Conference, Decolonizing the Americas – Methods of Resistance. York University, Toronto, Canada, 2016/03/13.​

  • “Mass Games: State Art or Public Labour?” Paper presentation at the annual conference of Universities of Art Associations of Canada (UAAC) Halifax, Canada, November 5, 2015.

  • “Curating the Mass Games: the Collaborative Artmaking by North Korean and Guyanese Artists in the 1980s and the Art Conservation in the Third World Now.” Paper presented at the biannual conference of the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP) Greenville, United States, September 26, 2015.

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Services & Volunteer Community Activities

  • Council Representative of the Department of Art and Design, the Graduate Student Association Council, University of Alberta (2017–2018)

  • Member, Art and Design Graduate Student Association of the University of Alberta (ADGSA) (2015–2018)

  • Site-Supervisor, Toronto Working Women Community's On Your Mark Program (2010-2011)

    • Coordinated weekly volunteer tutors for 250 elementary students in low-income family from visible minority backgrounds as a volunteer.

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Selected Certificate

  • Project Management Certificate

        Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (2014/05-Ongoing)

  • French Language Certificate

        Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning (2013/09-2014/04)

  • Certificate of Accessibilities of Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) (2013/03)

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