Kun Wook Ryu

Academic Profile

I am an anthropologist and heritage researcher pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the Academy of Korean Studies. My work explores the intersections of digital platform economies, institutional infrastructures, and the reconfiguration of professional expertise in contemporary South Korea.

My background bridges ethnographies of creative labour with professional engagement in state cultural institutions. Having previously researched how digital webtoon artists adapt to platform capitalism and its control, I also spent over six years working as a curator and archivist at national bodies, including the National Museum of Korea, the National Folk Museum of Korea, and the Korea Foundation for Traditional Architecture and Technology. In these roles, I focused on database management, curatorial archives, and the technopolitical systems that shape institutional memory.

My current doctoral research brings these inquiries into the architectural design studio as a key site of digital pre-construction. I investigate how computer-based design tools, state-mandated BIM policies, and AI software reconfigure architectural expertise, asking how software tools and state policies transform embodied design skill, professional identity, and institutional power within South Korea's landscape of compressed informatisation.

Featured Research & Projects

Contact

I am open to academic discussions, research collaborations, or inquiries regarding my projects.