Holden | Creative Arts Internship at Absolute Internship

Holden A.

Creative Arts InternshipAbsolute Internship|SeoulSeoul

Now studying Studio Art, Art History, and Museum Studies at University of Texas at Austin

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Internship

Creative ArtsUnited StatesUnited States

Currently

Studio Art, Art History, and Museum StudiesUniversity of Texas at Austin

Hello! My name is Holden; I study art and art history in Austin, Texas. My focus is modern and contemporary art between the US, Latin America, and East and Southeast Asia. I help out at artist-led spaces here in Austin, and I’d like to go into curatorial work post-grad.

Holden is a former student and verified Absolute Internship ambassador

Why Holden chose this path

“Embodied experience is super important for understanding an artist’s cultural contexts. I wanted to spend time living and working in East Asia to ground the connections I was making in research to real conversations and experiences. ”

How I got in

Seoul has an insane number of art museums and galleries, and South Korea had been getting my attention super often in exhibitions I’d see happening in the US and abroad. In the end, I wanted to be in a busy, artsy city outside of Europe with great cafe culture; everything worked out!

Top tips for getting accepted

The workplace culture in Korea may feel hierarchical at times, but kindness goes a long way. Saying hello, having polite conversations, and showing an effort to get to know the people you’re working with helps build a good support system. I became really great friends with my coworkers through chatting and coffee runs, and they made my experience abroad so much sweeter! The energy you put out comes back to you, regardless of where you are! I also cannot stress enough how world-changing it is to spend some time alone in a new city. Some of my best memories in Seoul come from walking around listening to music, sitting in coffee shops, and just getting lost. Having to navigate minor social interactions with kind strangers in a language I didn’t know made me a lot kinder to myself in return. Romanticize everything and appreciate the charming, hard-working personality that got you abroad!

Common mistakes to avoid

Think about staple things for your closet ahead of time and then Buy Them In Korea; It is painful being back in the US and looking for a new shoulder bag online knowing I was walking by perfect ones every day for six weeks!

What Holden wishes they knew

Things I wish I knew before starting

If you see any place online that catches your eye before going abroad, write it down somewhere-and then map it. So many of the places I planned on visiting were in entirely different corners of Seoul, and while I did still go to most of them, I could have definitely cut down on subway time!

The hardest part

Leaving! I went to Seoul knowing that it may be a while before I can go back, and while I’d visit, that there might not be a chance to actually live and work in this city again. It made me cherish my time so much more, and has really inspired me to find ways to keep living in new places.

The best decision I made

Taking a chance on the things I believe in, and then fighting for it. I had my program fully funded by a handful of different scholarships at my university, and that only happened because I defended my interests and their potential in the arts. There’s nothing like going to a museum on the other side of the world, recognizing the artists, and understanding what they’re trying to accomplish.

What it's actually like

A typical day

Wake up, get ready, triangle kimbap from the convenience store (genuinely like $2), iced americano at the cafe at my job, do computer work, install a gallery, lunch my job would cater for us, another iced americano, help coworkers with random tasks, convince coworkers to go get dinner and drinks, succeed, have genuinely so much food for like $15, go home, catch up with roommate, and maybe go out again!

Topics Holden can help with

Career DevelopmentApplication TipsWorkplace CultureProfessional DevelopmentInterview PrepDay-to-Day LifeWork-Life BalanceIndustry Skills

Questions students ask Holden

What helped you with your internship placement?
It’s good to have a point of reference from back home for the work you do abroad. I fit in easily and was the most helpful I could be in Korea because I knew the terminology, routine, and needs of art spaces back home. In Korea especially a lot more remains unspoken, so have what you need to fill in the gaps. Assume you’ll do a lot of random tasks (at one point I was working with kids), and be okay with being everywhere all of the time!
How do you communicate differences?
My program advisors in Korea helped me a lot in the first week or so with navigating communicating my needs and questions I had about scheduling and my responsibilities. Halfway through, I started to rely on my coworkers for advice on how to start conversations. If you’re afraid you’ll slip up and sound out of touch, get a second opinion!
How do you get the most out of interning abroad?
Enthusiasm for what you do starts before you want to work in a foreign country. I can’t stress how important it is to be excited about what you want to do and why you want to do it. And while that means feelings, it also means supporting what’s already happening around you with people who feel the same way. Get to know what’s going on in your community, and help out in any way you can. If you can find excitement where you are with the people you have, how you navigated those relationships follows you into the new ones you find everywhere in the world.

Ready to ask Holden a question?

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