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7:00 PM
Hyun-Sook Song and Jochen Hiltmann: Stoffwechsel. Das drachenprächtige Ungeheuer
Film | Film Screening
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Goethe-Institut London, London
- Price £6, £3 Concessions and for Goethe-Institut language students & library members.
On the occasion of Hyun-Sook Song's first exhibition in the UK, presented by Sprüth Magers in London, the Goethe-Institut London is delighted to present a screening of the artist's autobiographical film Stoffwechsel. Das drachenprächtige Ungeheuer (1997), co-directed with Jochen Hiltmann.
Blending personal memory, mythology and documentary observation, the film offers a rare insight into the formative experiences that continue to resonate throughout Song's artistic practice.
Born in Tamyang, South Korea, and living in Germany since 1972, Song draws on memories of her childhood and her family's silkworm farming to create a poetic meditation on transformation, migration, belonging and cultural identity.
At the heart of the film lies the life cycle of the silkworm. Song interweaves the insects' metamorphosis with autobiographical reflections, Korean myths and stories of her own journey between Korea and Germany. The weaving of silk, the transformation from child to adult, and the negotiation between different cultural worlds become interconnected metaphors for a life shaped by movement and change.
The screening coincides with Hyun-Sook Song's exhibition at Sprüth Magers, which marks the artist's first presentation in the United Kingdom. Featuring new paintings alongside earlier works, the exhibition highlights a practice spanning more than four decades. Song's distinctive brushwork and visual language are deeply informed by memories of agricultural life in rural South Korea, which continue to inform her exploration of gesture, rhythm, memory and place.
Through film and painting alike, Song reflects on processes of making, transformation and transmission across generations. This special screening offers an opportunity to encounter a key work that illuminates many of the themes running through her wider oeuvre.
Film details:
Stoffwechsel. Das drachenprächtige Ungeheuer
1997 | 76 minutes | 16 mm | Colour
Directed by Hyun-Sook Song and Jochen Hiltmann
The screening takes place one evening before the exhibition opening and is presented in collaboration with Sprüth Magers.
Hyun-Sook Song
6 November - 23 January 2026
Public Reception: Thursday, 5 November, 6-8pm, Sprüth Magers London.
Blending personal memory, mythology and documentary observation, the film offers a rare insight into the formative experiences that continue to resonate throughout Song's artistic practice.
Born in Tamyang, South Korea, and living in Germany since 1972, Song draws on memories of her childhood and her family's silkworm farming to create a poetic meditation on transformation, migration, belonging and cultural identity.
At the heart of the film lies the life cycle of the silkworm. Song interweaves the insects' metamorphosis with autobiographical reflections, Korean myths and stories of her own journey between Korea and Germany. The weaving of silk, the transformation from child to adult, and the negotiation between different cultural worlds become interconnected metaphors for a life shaped by movement and change.
The screening coincides with Hyun-Sook Song's exhibition at Sprüth Magers, which marks the artist's first presentation in the United Kingdom. Featuring new paintings alongside earlier works, the exhibition highlights a practice spanning more than four decades. Song's distinctive brushwork and visual language are deeply informed by memories of agricultural life in rural South Korea, which continue to inform her exploration of gesture, rhythm, memory and place.
Through film and painting alike, Song reflects on processes of making, transformation and transmission across generations. This special screening offers an opportunity to encounter a key work that illuminates many of the themes running through her wider oeuvre.
Film details:
Stoffwechsel. Das drachenprächtige Ungeheuer
1997 | 76 minutes | 16 mm | Colour
Directed by Hyun-Sook Song and Jochen Hiltmann
The screening takes place one evening before the exhibition opening and is presented in collaboration with Sprüth Magers.
Hyun-Sook Song
6 November - 23 January 2026
Public Reception: Thursday, 5 November, 6-8pm, Sprüth Magers London.
Location
Goethe-Institut London
50 Princes Gate
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2PH
United Kingdom
50 Princes Gate
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2PH
United Kingdom