Adel Kim (she/her) is a curator and researcher based in Helsinki, Finland.
Currently, she is a doctoral researcher at the University of Turku, working on the dissertation “Emotional landscape of contemporary art institutions and its role in the decision-making” (supported by Kone Foundation). She received an MA in Art Studies from Hongik University (Seoul, 2018) and an MA in Cultural Management from the University of Manchester and Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Moscow, 2020).
Previously, she was a co-founder of SWAMP: Art Material Swap and Waste Management Point in Helsinki (2024-2025) and a researcher in the Reside / Sustain project, which examined the role of artistic and residency activity in various aspects of sustainability (2021-2024). She ran and assisted various residency programs in Russia and South Korea between 2014-2022 and wrote numerous texts on art residencies, young artists, and institutional relationships.
CV (short)
Education (Selected)
2026– The University of Turku, Finland / Doctoral Programme in History, Culture and Art Studies (Juno), major: Landscape Studies
Supported by Kone Foundation
2019–2020 Moscow School of Social and Economic Studies, The University of Manchester / Master of Arts in Cultural Management
2011–2018 Hongik University / Seoul, South Korea / Master of Arts in Art Theory
Work Experience (Selected)
2024–2025 SWAMP: Art Material Swap and Waste Management Point / Helsinki / Co-founder, co-curator
Supported by Kone Foundation
2021–2024 Reside/Sustain by Connecting Points HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme) / Moscow, Russia and Helsinki, Finland / Researcher, curator
Supported by Kone Foundation
2021–2022 Dom Tvorchestva Peredelkino / Moscow, Russia / Residency Curator
2019–2024 The Association of Artistic Residencies of Russia / Co-founder, website author and editor
2016–2019 ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art / Vladivostok, Russia / Artist-in-Residence Program Manager
2014 Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea / Seoul, South Korea / Intern, MMCA Residency Goyang
Curated Exhibitions (Selected)
2026 Where the Water Breaks Its Neck: Nukhuko, Lyuba Sautina (Galleria Loisti, Helsinki)
2021 Embrace, Almost Envelop, Andrey Dmitrenko and Kirill Mikhailin (Alisa Gallery, Moscow)
2020 I Am Forest, Masha Lamzina (Arka Gallery, Vladivostok)
2020 The Rocket, Irina Zaguzova (Arka Gallery, Vladivostok)
2019 IN RESIDENCE. From the collection of ZARYA CCA, with Alisa Bagdonaite and Andrey Vasilenko (ZARYA CCA, Vladivostok)
2018 Wet Stones Thrown into the Water, Andrey Dmitrenko (Arka Gallery, Vladivostok)
2016 Memories Reinvented: Three Korean Artists, co-curated with Daria Dafis (Freud Dream’s Museum, Saint-Petersburg)
Publications (Selected)
2024 Against Friendship: On the Dark Side of Professional Intimacies, NO NIIN, Issue 23, April’24
2024 Tavrida’a Federal Network of “Art Residencies”: Chimeras of State Youth Cultural Design, Reside/Sustain
2024 “No Professional Should Be Left Alone”. Interview with Psychologist Olga Sorina, Reside/Sustain
2023 When Responsibilities Become the Norm, Kone Foundation All the Well blog, Reside/Sustain
2023 Support Structures in the field of Russian Arts Residencies (Taiteen tukirakenteet venäläisen residenssitoiminnan kentällä), Idäntutkimus, 3/2023, with A.Davydova and M.Hujala (in Finnish)
2023 Doing Nothing and Being Nobody: a few thoughts on idleness, invisibility, residencies, and sustainability, Kone Foundation All the Well blog, Reside/Sustain
2022 Taking Off a White Coat: Notes from Under Sanctions, NO NIIN, Issue 15, November’22
2022 Russian Art Residencies in Spring 2022, Reside / Sustain
2021 Portrait in Context. General Overview of Russian Art Residencies in 2021, Reside / Sustain
2021 E-bookArt Residencies: For Whom, Why and How. A Toolkit, The Association of Artistic Residencies of Russia (in Russian)
Residencies
2024 ÖRES Residency / Örö Island, Finland
2022 HIAP Connecting Points / Helsinki, Finland
2021 Kostomuksha Artist Residency (Karelian Residency Network) / Kostomuksha, Russia
Grants, Awards (Selected)
2026–2030 Kone Foundation, Finland
Grant for the doctoral research “How artistic institutions feel: The emotional landscape of contemporary art organizations and its role in decision-making”
2024-2025 Kone Foundation, Finland
Grant for SWAMP: Art Material Swap and Waste Management Point with Vera Kavaleuskaya
2021-2024 Kone Foundation, Finland
Grant for Reside / Sustain: Finnish-Russian Experiences, Initiatives, Practices with Miina Hujala and Angelina Davydova
2020 Innovation Prize (The State Pushkin Museum), Russia
Regional Project of the Year (with A. Bagdonaite and A. Vasilenko) for the exhibitionIN RESIDENCE: From the Collection of ZARYA CCA
Adel Kim 