Paper Garden V
Director : Haran Kim
Music Composer: Maggie Polk-Olivo
Year : 2024
© 2025HaranKim. All rights reserved.
Music Composer: Maggie Polk-Olivo
Year : 2024
© 2025HaranKim. All rights reserved.
vimeo.com/1042884471https://vimeo.com/1042884471
"Paper Garden" is a doppelgänger story created by artist Kim Haran, inspired by tales passed down to children in Poland. The story presents a concept where there are three doppelgängers of oneself existing in the world, and if the doppelgängers ever meet, one of them is destined to die. This theme echoes the narrative explored in the film The Double Life of Véronique (1991) by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski.
In the film, the lives of the two protagonists, Véronique and Weronika, are intertwined and bear striking similarities, delving into the complexity of human existence and the inner connections we share. The two characters ultimately become akin to puppets in a marionette show, yet through this process, Véronique learns to cherish the flow and moments of her life. Reflecting on moments of loneliness and loss, she finds time to reevaluate herself and others who resemble her. Although such resemblances may feel like shackles limiting one's existence, if the pain of loss can be healed and replaced with solace, the fact of being a puppet ceases to be significant.
Inspired by this film and the doppelgänger narrative, Kim Haran completed her own work. Using clay dolls crafted from her childhood photographs as central elements, the artist expressed the journey of exploring various emotions learned throughout life. This work depicts a process of gathering as many emotions as possible during one’s life journey, ultimately transforming into a more complete version of oneself, akin to a doppelgänger. All elements, grouped together like floating islands, lure the doppelgänger and form a story completed through diverse experiences.
Ultimately, Paper Garden is a piece about discovering someone who resembles oneself and, through that process, gaining a deeper understanding of oneself and growing as a person.
Originally, it began development in 2023 and was continuously updated until Paper Garden V was completed in late November 2024.
Paper Garden_Music Composer : Maggie Polk-Olivo
Maggie Polk-Olivo is a multifaceted artist who works as a composer, educator, and performer. With a passion for music education and contemporary compositions, she is the founder and director of the BloomingSongs project, a collection of music featuring works by renowned artists from around the world. She also co-leads the Fairview/Jacobs Violin Project alongside Brenda Brenner, overseeing performance arts programs in schools.
Recently, she co-authored educational materials for young audiences attending the 150th-anniversary celebration of Charles Ives at the Jacobs School of Music. Growing up with parents who were printmaking artists, she often draws musical inspiration from visual arts. Her collaborative work spans partnerships with artists like Andrew Polk, Melanie Yazzie, and Haran Kim.
The music of Paper Garden aligns with the theme of doppelgängers in the digital video, centering on compositions for two string instruments, the cello and violin. The main score includes "Pretty Song," a piece edited and developed based on the Paper Garden theme and "Pretty Song."
The Story of "Pretty Song"
*"During my childhood, my father taught me improvisation and musical creation. Although he was a professor of printmaking at Arizona State University and a professional printmaker, music was always present in his studio. On special occasions, he would play the guitar and invite me to join him with my violin for duets.
In the early 2000s, as a young adult, I stumbled upon a cassette tape featuring a solo recording my father made in 1982. To celebrate his birthday, I created a gift by adding an improvised violin track to his composition, 'Pretty Song,' completing it as a collaboration across time."
In the film, the lives of the two protagonists, Véronique and Weronika, are intertwined and bear striking similarities, delving into the complexity of human existence and the inner connections we share. The two characters ultimately become akin to puppets in a marionette show, yet through this process, Véronique learns to cherish the flow and moments of her life. Reflecting on moments of loneliness and loss, she finds time to reevaluate herself and others who resemble her. Although such resemblances may feel like shackles limiting one's existence, if the pain of loss can be healed and replaced with solace, the fact of being a puppet ceases to be significant.
Inspired by this film and the doppelgänger narrative, Kim Haran completed her own work. Using clay dolls crafted from her childhood photographs as central elements, the artist expressed the journey of exploring various emotions learned throughout life. This work depicts a process of gathering as many emotions as possible during one’s life journey, ultimately transforming into a more complete version of oneself, akin to a doppelgänger. All elements, grouped together like floating islands, lure the doppelgänger and form a story completed through diverse experiences.
Ultimately, Paper Garden is a piece about discovering someone who resembles oneself and, through that process, gaining a deeper understanding of oneself and growing as a person.
Originally, it began development in 2023 and was continuously updated until Paper Garden V was completed in late November 2024.
Paper Garden_Music Composer : Maggie Polk-Olivo
Maggie Polk-Olivo is a multifaceted artist who works as a composer, educator, and performer. With a passion for music education and contemporary compositions, she is the founder and director of the BloomingSongs project, a collection of music featuring works by renowned artists from around the world. She also co-leads the Fairview/Jacobs Violin Project alongside Brenda Brenner, overseeing performance arts programs in schools.
Recently, she co-authored educational materials for young audiences attending the 150th-anniversary celebration of Charles Ives at the Jacobs School of Music. Growing up with parents who were printmaking artists, she often draws musical inspiration from visual arts. Her collaborative work spans partnerships with artists like Andrew Polk, Melanie Yazzie, and Haran Kim.
The music of Paper Garden aligns with the theme of doppelgängers in the digital video, centering on compositions for two string instruments, the cello and violin. The main score includes "Pretty Song," a piece edited and developed based on the Paper Garden theme and "Pretty Song."
The Story of "Pretty Song"
*"During my childhood, my father taught me improvisation and musical creation. Although he was a professor of printmaking at Arizona State University and a professional printmaker, music was always present in his studio. On special occasions, he would play the guitar and invite me to join him with my violin for duets.
In the early 2000s, as a young adult, I stumbled upon a cassette tape featuring a solo recording my father made in 1982. To celebrate his birthday, I created a gift by adding an improvised violin track to his composition, 'Pretty Song,' completing it as a collaboration across time."
Still Moving_Exhibition_2021
Still Moving - Haran Kim, Yaloo Ji Yeon Lim, Karen Kriss, and Jake Fried
August 23 through October 1, 2021 / Ringel Gallery, Stewart Center
Four artists share their works that ‘animate’ at multiple levels, utilizing projection and lens technology to integrate motion, sculpture, static image, and altered perceptions of time and space. Rather than using animation only as a vehicle of narrative, these artists explore motion as a way of expanding the materiality of physical objects and illuminating the ever-present conceptual tension between the moving image we perceive and the static image of which it is constructed. This exhibition is produced in partnership with Purdue Polytechnic and is curated by Prof. Andrew Buchanan and Prof. Esteban Garcia.
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/rueffschool/galleries/exhibitions/21-22/still_moving.html
August 23 through October 1, 2021 / Ringel Gallery, Stewart Center
Four artists share their works that ‘animate’ at multiple levels, utilizing projection and lens technology to integrate motion, sculpture, static image, and altered perceptions of time and space. Rather than using animation only as a vehicle of narrative, these artists explore motion as a way of expanding the materiality of physical objects and illuminating the ever-present conceptual tension between the moving image we perceive and the static image of which it is constructed. This exhibition is produced in partnership with Purdue Polytechnic and is curated by Prof. Andrew Buchanan and Prof. Esteban Garcia.
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/rueffschool/galleries/exhibitions/21-22/still_moving.html