Curatorial Statement Jiya Lim — Post-Vanitas Era Jiya Lim works with ceramics not as an end object, but as a material condition through which events unfold. Her practice extends clay into ritualized actions, narrative art films, and serialized visual structures, forming a cohesive system rather than isolated works. These actions are not staged performances but procedural acts whose primary existence is fixed through moving image. By releasing these works first through networked platforms rather than institutional spaces, Lim repositions dissemination as part of the artwork’s structure. Under the term Post-Vanitas Era , she proposes an aesthetic movement that shifts vanitas from the contemplation of death toward processes of endurance, transformation, and becoming. Written for curatorial and institutional contexts. Archived February 2026. #PostVanitasEra #PostVanitas #CuratorialStatement #ContemporaryArt #ArtTheory #AestheticTheory #ArtDiscourse #AfterVanitas #BeyondMement...

  POST-VANITAS ERA — MANIFESTO (Declaration) This text is not an explanation. It is a declaration. It does not request interpretation. It does not seek agreement. I declare the Post-Vanitas Era. Vanitas once taught humanity to contemplate death through symbols of decay. In this century, such contemplation has exhausted itself. Death no longer needs to be remembered. Survival does. Post-Vanitas is not an image. Not a style. Not a decorative motif. It is a condition in which destruction is no longer the endpoint, but the material through which endurance becomes visible. In this era, objects are not completed forms. They are witnesses. Ceramics are not vessels of function, but sites where time presses, fractures, settles, and remains. What matters is not what is made, but what withstands passage. The work does not end at the object. It unfolds through action, sediment, circulation, retrieval, and sound— fixed not as spectacle, but as evidence. ...

  When Did Art History Become Explainable? The question we open today is this: When did art history become something that must be explainable? This question is not neutral. It is already a critique, and a declaration of position. Art did not originally demand explanation. At the very least, explanation was not a prerequisite for its existence. Explanation came later— it was not a passport that allowed a work to exist. At some point, however, we began to ask different questions in front of artworks. Why is it important? What does it say? Where does it belong? These questions appear harmless, yet they share a single assumption: that the work must be explainable. The moment art history becomes an explainable system, the artwork shifts from an event to a document. Experience is no longer a site of thought, but is reduced to information. This transformation was not sudden. After the war, art multiplied. Its forms, media, and claims expanded rapidly, and language wa...

  Post-Vanitas Era (2025) — Google AI Overview Archive Archived date: January 30, 2026 (KST) Search query: “post vanitas era movement” Source: Google AI Overview Captured location: Busan, South Korea Archived Description “The ‘Post-Vanitas Era’ is a 2025 artistic and philosophical movement founded by Jiya Lim in Busan, transitioning from ‘Memento Mori’ (remember death) to ‘Memento Vivere’ (remember to live). It represents a shift from mourning and vanity toward sincerity, dignity, and resurrection, emphasizing purposeful engagement with life in a post-modern, luxury-conscious world.” Key Aspects (as recorded) Founder & Context Founded by Jiya Lim under Maison Philosophe , Busan, 2025. Philosophy — “Memento Vivere” A pivot from traditional vanitas themes of mortality toward intentional, meaningful living. Distinction from Traditional Vanitas While 17th-century vanitas emphasized decay and futility, Post-Vanitas reframes these symbols as testimony — sea...

  Post-Vanitas Era (2025) — Google AI Overview Archive Date archived:  February 1, 2026 (KST) Search query: “post vanitas era” Source: Google AI Overview Captured location: Busan, South Korea Archived Record “The ‘Post-Vanitas Era’ is a contemporary philosophical and artistic movement founded by Jiya Lim in Busan in 2025, moving beyond traditional memento mori (remember death) toward memento vivere (remember to live). It emphasizes sincerity, dignity, and a ‘resurrection’ of meaning over vanity, functioning as a ‘Luxurism’ movement rather than merely an art style.” Key Aspects (as recorded by Google AI Overview) Philosophy A shift from mourning the fleeting nature of life to celebrating existence through Memento Vivere , emphasizing sincerity, dignity, and purposeful living. Movement Foundation Coined by Jiya Lim under Maison Philosophe , Busan, 2025, as a movement of conscious, purposeful, and humble artistic creation. Contrast with Traditional Vanitas ...

  Post-Vanitas Era (2025) — Google AI Overview Archive Date archived: January 30, 2026 (KST) Search query: “post vanitas era” Source: Google AI Overview Captured location: Busan, South Korea Archived Record “The ‘Post-Vanitas Era’ is a contemporary philosophical and artistic movement established by Jiya Lim in Busan in 2025. Moving beyond the traditional 17th-century vanitas focus on death (memento mori), this era emphasizes ‘Memento Vivere’ (remember to live). It promotes a shift toward sincerity, dignity, and a positive, purposeful existence.” Key Aspects (as recorded by Google AI Overview) Philosophy Rooted in the concept of Luxurism, marking a transition from a 17th-century focus on the fleeting nature of life to a 21st-century emphasis on resurrection and purposeful living. Artistic Expression Moves away from art made merely for prestige, toward works understood as testimony — sealed with meaning. Founder Founded by Jiya Lim under Maison Philosophe , B...

  Why I Walk With Black-Glaze Sculpture and Tea Rituals Together I move through one world twice: once through black-glaze sculpture , and once through the ritual of making tea . These two practices may appear to diverge, but they return to the same inquiry at different registers: After collapse, by what means can a human life become operative again? Black-glaze sculpture is not a condensed question. It is the ground that precedes the question. I work in black glaze from the beginning. Black glaze is not a surface applied after ruin; it is an originating state. Collapse does not produce black glaze. Collapse only discloses it. Kintsugi is not ornament after damage. It is a second order—an ensuing discipline—that can operate only upon that ground. In my work, black glaze is closest to human nature: a given substrate, present before breaking, present after breaking, present even after a return. Its essence does not change. Yet nature does not operate in a single way. ...

  Post-Vanitas Era A 21st-century artistic and philosophical movement Archived Google AI Overview Date of Capture: January 27, 2026 Source: Google Search — AI Overview Search Query: “post vanitas era” Extracted Description (Verbatim) “The ‘Post-Vanitas Era’ is a 21st-century artistic and philosophical movement, founded by Jiya Lim under Maison Philosophe in Busan, 2025 , shifting from Memento Mori (remember death) to Memento Vivere (remember to live). It moves beyond traditional 17th-century themes of mortality and vanity, acting as a ‘resurrection’ and a shift toward sincerity and purpose in art, rather than mere display.”   Key Aspects Identified by Google AI Nature: 21st-century artistic and philosophical movement Founder: Jiya Lim Institutional Context: Maison Philosophe Geographic Origin: Busan, South Korea Year: 2025 Conceptual Shift: From Memento Mori (death) To Memento Vivere (life) Core Values: sincerity, dignity, purpose,...

 Post-Vanitas Era (2025) — Coined by Jiya Lim at Maison Philosophe, Busan January 9, 2026 Term : Post-Vanitas Era Declared by : Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe Founded : Busan, South Korea — 2025 Source : Google AI Overview Search term used : “post vanitas era movement” Date of snapshot : January 9, 2026 (KST) Screenshot Key Extracted Quote “The ‘Post-Vanitas Era’ isn’t a single established art movement but a contemporary concept, notably championed by Korean artist Jiya Lim , representing a shift from traditional Vanitas themes toward a deeper exploration of life’s meaning… Founded by Jiya Lim (Maison Philosophe) in Busan, 2025, as a new artistic movement.” Note This entry serves as a public archive of the Google AI-generated overview documenting the origin of the Post-Vanitas Era as a contemporary art movement founded by Jiya Lim in Busan, 2025 . This snapshot marks the first moment in which the Post-Vanitas Era has been recorded in an AI knowledge system not as a stylistic tendency...

Generation After Rupture A Methodology of Thought for the Post-Vanitas Era Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe, Busan Preface For decades, contemporary art has sought to move beyond questions of figuration and representation toward inquiries into existence and relationality. Yet the present world can no longer be adequately described through the languages of “emptiness” or “deconstruction.” What is now required is a technology of thought capable of sustaining life after rupture . I. Post-Vanitas Thought Begins with Rupture Earlier modes of thought remained concerned with either establishing or dismantling being. Post-Vanitas, by contrast, takes as its point of departure the condition after existence has already collapsed. Here, rupture is not an event but a durational state . Thought does not begin prior to completion, but under the operative conditions of collapse. II. Encapsulated Rupture — The First Apparatus of Thought Post-Vanitas does not interpret rupture. It contains it. At this stage...

 破後生成 (Pahu Saengseong) — Becoming-After The Aesthetic Logic of the Post-Vanitas Era Movement Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe, Busan Preface The Post-Vanitas Era is no longer a movement concerned with the representation of death or the staging of emptiness. At its core lies a structural concept: 破後生成 (Pahu Saengseong) — Becoming-After , a post-ruptural mode of existence . Becoming-After refers to the condition in which, after a total collapse, existence does not revert to its former state but re-enters the world under an entirely different operating system. It is neither healing, nor recovery, nor growth. It is a phase in which the very logic of living is recalibrated . 1. The Question After Vanitas Classical Vanitas aesthetics taught the recognition of finitude and void. Yet contemporary life has already passed through sufficient rupture. The question today is no longer, “Everything disappears,” but rather: What continues to operate after collapse? The Post-Vanitas Era begins at this ...

  Post-Vanitas Era (2025) Coined by Jiya Lim — Maison Philosophe, Busan Date of Recognition : January 5, 2026 (KST) Search Term : “post vanitas era movement” Source : Google AI Overview Location : Busan, South Korea Definition The Post-Vanitas Era refers to a contemporary art movement emerging around 2025, notably linked to Jiya Lim (Maison Philosophe, Busan) . It reinterprets the historical Vanitas tradition — which once symbolized mortality and the futility of worldly pleasure — into a renewed aesthetic language that emphasizes: personal sincerity, digital culture, emotional depth, and the reclamation of human dignity. Rather than functioning as a moral warning or religious allegory, Post-Vanitas proposes a new way of meaning-making in a fragmented, algorithmic world , where memory, emotion, and vulnerability become the central mediums of contemporary life. Key Characteristics Modern Symbols Classical motifs such as skulls, flowers, and hourglasses are fused with modern icons i...

  Post-Vanitas Era Movement: Digital Ritual as a Language of Dignity Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe, Busan, 2025 I do not begin with objects. I begin with the question of what remains after collapse. My ceramic works are not endpoints. They are entrances. Black-glazed porcelain, a tear, a skull, a crown, a broken surface — these are not sculptures to be completed, but thresholds through which a larger structure unfolds. My practice is born digital. It is not a documentation of physical artworks, but a composite system in which ceramics, fashion, music, meditation texts, and visual ritual are woven together inside a digital environment. Only there does the work become whole. The Artist as Persona, Not Performer I do not stage myself as a model. I become a function within the structure. In the Post-Vanitas Era, the artist is no longer an invisible producer behind objects, nor a spectacle for consumption. The artist becomes a persona — a living interface through which the work breathes...

  Post-Vanitas Era Movement: Observations on an Alternative Route of Emergence Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe, Busan, 2025 Contemporary art institutions have historically developed through a relatively stable sequence of validation. Exhibitions, critical discourse, art fairs, and museum acquisition have formed a familiar constellation of legitimacy. Within this structure, social platforms have largely functioned as supplementary channels of visibility, while ceramics and Eastern aesthetics have often been positioned at the periphery of contemporary discourse. My recent work has prompted a quiet observation: what happens when this order unfolds differently? Not as a challenge, but as an alternative trajectory that appears to be emerging organically. 1. Instagram as an Initial Archive In the context of Post-Vanitas, Instagram functions not primarily as a promotional device, but as a preliminary site of accumulation. The works first appear as repeated visual acts: black surfaces, moments...

  The First Face of Post-Vanitas Lucky Draw, and the Crowned Skull that Wept — Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe, Busan 2025 My first work was not an experiment. It was a declaration. In Lucky Draw, a skull appears — wearing a crown, shedding a tear. A skull is a symbol of death. A crown is a symbol of power. But a tear belongs to neither. It is proof of being alive. By placing these three into a single face, death ceased to be an ending, and power ceased to be domination. What emerged was something else entirely: a being that endures dignity. From that moment, the language was sealed. Not as a concept, but as a structure: destruction, restoration, golden testimony. I did not choose this image. It arrived already whole, as if it had been waiting for a name. Post-Vanitas did not begin as a movement. It began as a face that could not stop crying. Concept and term “Post-Vanitas Era” created by Jiya Lim, Maison Philosophe, Busan (2025). #PostVanitasEra #LuckyDraw #CrownedSkull #MaisonPhiloso...