{
"data": {
"id": 168516,
"accession_number": "2010.263",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird, 2010. Kim Beom (Korean, b. 1963). 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Louis D. Kacalieff, M.D. Fund, 2010.263. \u00a9 Kim Beom",
"current_location": null,
"title": "A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird",
"creation_date": "2010",
"creation_date_earliest": 2010,
"creation_date_latest": 2010,
"artists_tags": [
"male",
"Asian (from 1900 to present)"
],
"culture": [
"Korea"
],
"technique": "Stone, wood, wooden table, single channel video on 12-inch flat monitor (1 hr, 27 min, 30 sec; edition 1/3)",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Contemporary Art",
"collection": "CONTEMP - Installation Media",
"type": "Mixed Media",
"measurements": "Overall: 146.8 x 220.5 x 127.7 cm (57 13/16 x 86 13/16 x 50 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 1.468,
"height_inch": 57,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"width": 2.205,
"width_inch": 86,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"depth": 1.277,
"depth_inch": 50,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.25
},
"base": {
"height": 0.45,
"height_inch": 17,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.6875,
"width": 0.47,
"width_inch": 18,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.5
},
"part 1": {},
"table": {
"height": 0.73,
"height_inch": 28,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.75,
"width": 1.09,
"width_inch": 42,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.9375,
"depth": 0.81,
"depth_inch": 31,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": "\u00a9 Kim Beom",
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 232110,
"title": "Kim Beom: Objects Being Taught They Are Nothing But Tools",
"description": "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).",
"opening_date": "2011-04-21T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 306109,
"title": "Korean Gallery 236 Rotation",
"description": "Korean Gallery 236 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 29-July 16, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-01-29T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 383281,
"title": "Stories from Storage",
"description": "Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).",
"opening_date": "2021-02-06T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 524190,
"title": "Kim Beom: How to Become a Rock",
"description": "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.",
"opening_date": "2023-07-27T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 677112,
"title": "Juxtaposition and Juncture in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art",
"description": "Juxtaposition and Juncture in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 21, 2025-May 3, 2026).",
"opening_date": "2025-03-21T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Kim Beom. Artsonje Center, Seoul, South Korea (2010).",
"opening_date": "2010-01-01T05:00:00Z"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Artist's studio, Seoul, South Korea",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2010",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2010\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [
{
"id": 168781,
"description": "Study for \"A Rock That Was Taught it Was a Bird\", 2009. Kim Beom (Korean, b. 1963). Graphite; sheet: 18 x 24 cm (7 1/16 x 9 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist, 2010.473. \u00a9 Kim Beom",
"relationship": null
}
],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "This sculptural assemblage is a commentary on authoritarian regimes.",
"description": "The man in the video repeats \u201cYou are a bird!\u201d 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\u2019s satirical artworks. It comments on authoritarian regimes\u2014South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s\u2014where education was frequently used as a tool to influence people\u2019s 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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80074505"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "McCormick, Sooa Im. \u201cPlaybook for Solitude.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 12.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 12.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\uae40 \ubc94 ; [\uc804\uc2dc \uc8fc\ucd5c] \ub9ac\uc6c0 \ubbf8\uc220\uad00 ; \uae30\ud68d: \uae40 \uc131\uc6d0, \uc720 \uc9c0\uc6d0 ; [\ub3c4\ub85d \ud3b8\uc9d1] \uae40 \ubc94, \uae40 \uc131\uc6d0, \uc720 \uc9c0\uc6d0 ; \uae00: \uad8c \uc900\ubaa8, \uae40 \uc131\uc6d0 [and 12 others] ; \uc0ac\uc9c4: \uc774 \uc758\ub85d, \ucd5c \uc694\ud55c, \ucd5c \uc2b9\ud638., \uc774 \uc758\ub85d, \ucd5c \uc694\ud55c, \ucd5c \uc2b9\ud638, \uad8c \uc900\ubaa8, \ub9ac\uc6c0, \uc0bc\uc131 \ubbf8\uc220\uad00, Kim Po\u0306m ; [cho\u0306nsi chuch\u2019oe] Leeum Misulgwan ; kihoek: Kim So\u0306ng-won, Yu Chi-wo\u0306n ; [torok p\u2019yo\u0306njip] Kim Po\u0306m, Kim So\u0306ng-won, Yu Chi-wo\u0306n ; ku\u0306l: Kwo\u0306n, Chun-mo, Kim So\u0306ng-won [and many others] ; sajin: Yi U\u0306i-rok, Ch\u2019oi Yo-han, Ch\u2019oi Su\u0306ng-ho, et al. \ubc14\uc704 \uac00 \ub418\ub294 \ubc95 = How to Become a Rock. Edited by \uae40 \ubc94, 1963- September 19- artist, editor, \uae40 \uc131\uc6d0, \uc720 \uc9c0\uc6d0, Po\u0306m Kim, So\u0306ng-won Kim, and Chi-wo\u0306n Yu. [Ch\u2019op\u2019an]. So\u0306ul T\u2019u\u0306kpyo\u0306lsi: \ub9ac\uc6c0 \ubbf8\uc220\uad00, 2025.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 391, 545; Mentioned: p. 569, 585",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.263",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Louis D. Kacalieff, M.D. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 168516,
"creators": [
{
"id": 60679,
"description": "Kim Beom (Korean, b. 1963)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "1986 - Seoul National University
1991 - M.F.A. School of Visual Arts, New York",
"name_in_original_language": "\uae40\ubc94",
"birth_year": "1963",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2010-11-29T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 2010,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "2010",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "cover",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-07 15:25:48.366000"
}
}