The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Sculptural assemblage with, on a table on our left, a tree bough with winding limbs sawed off so all that remains is the "Y" shape of the branches in which a coarse, grey rock settles. On our right, a screen a fourth the size of the tree bough is captured showing a grainy, black-and-white still of a video.

A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird

2010

Kim Beom

(Korean, b. 1963)
Korea
Stone, wood, wooden table, single channel video on 12-inch flat monitor (1 hr, 27 min, 30 sec; edition 1/3)
Overall: 146.8 x 220.5 x 127.7 cm (57 13/16 x 86 13/16 x 50 1/4 in.)
Louis D. Kacalieff, M.D. Fund 2010.263
© Kim Beom
Location: 236 Korean

Did You Know?

This sculptural assemblage is a commentary on authoritarian regimes.

Description

The man in the video repeats “You are a bird!” to a rock, while a sculptural assemblage to the left features a rock posed like a bird on a bough. A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird is one of Kim Beom’s satirical artworks. It comments on authoritarian regimes—South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s—where education was frequently used as a tool to influence people’s view of the world and themselves.

Kim is a Seoul-based artist whose mixed-media works are internationally well known. His art explores the intersection of various artistic genres and media, including poetry, drawing, video, painting, and installation. In this work, Kim uses a touch of humor to turn unrelated objects into one minimalistic sculpture packed with strong social critiques.
  • 2010
    Artist's studio, Seoul, South Korea
    2010–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • McCormick, Sooa Im. “Playbook for Solitude.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 12. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 12.
    김 범 ; [전시 주최] 리움 미술관 ; 기획: 김 성원, 유 지원 ; [도록 편집] 김 범, 김 성원, 유 지원 ; 글: 권 준모, 김 성원 [and 12 others] ; 사진: 이 의록, 최 요한, 최 승호., 이 의록, 최 요한, 최 승호, 권 준모, 리움, 삼성 미술관, Kim Pŏm ; [chŏnsi chuch’oe] Leeum Misulgwan ; kihoek: Kim Sŏng-won, Yu Chi-wŏn ; [torok p’yŏnjip] Kim Pŏm, Kim Sŏng-won, Yu Chi-wŏn ; kŭl: Kwŏn, Chun-mo, Kim Sŏng-won [and many others] ; sajin: Yi Ŭi-rok, Ch’oi Yo-han, Ch’oi Sŭng-ho, et al. 바위 가 되는 법 = How to Become a Rock. Edited by 김 범, 1963- September 19- artist, editor, 김 성원, 유 지원, Pŏm Kim, Sŏng-won Kim, and Chi-wŏn Yu. [Ch’op’an]. Sŏul T’ŭkpyŏlsi: 리움 미술관, 2025. Reproduced: p. 391, 545; Mentioned: p. 569, 585
  • Juxtaposition and Juncture in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 21, 2025-May 3, 2026).
    Kim Beom: How to Become a Rock. Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (Republic of) (organizer) (July 18-November 26, 2023) https://www.leeum.org/exhibition/exhibition01_detail.asp?seq=61.
    Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    Korean Gallery 236 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 29-July 16, 2018).
    Kim Beom: Objects Being Taught They Are Nothing But Tools. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 14, 2010-March 6, 2011); REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theatre), Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (April 21-June 19, 2011).
    Kim Beom. Artsonje Center, Seoul, South Korea (2010).
  • {{cite web|title=A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird|url=false|author=Kim Beom|year=2010|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.263