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Kimsooja: To Breathe – Mokum, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kimsooja: To Breathe – Mokum, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
24 May 2025 – 9 November 2025
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Natascha Libbert
To Breathe – Mokum
Poetic Installation about migration, displacement and the idea of home, Site specific installation consisting of diffraction grating film and Bottari
MMCA Collection: Korean Contemporary Art, MMCA, Seoul, Korea
MMCA Collection: Korean Contemporary Art, MMCA, Seoul, Korea
1 May 2025 – 3 May, 2026
For more information, click HERE
Photo by image Joom
Bottari Truck – Migrateurs
2007, Performance Video, Single Channel, 9:17 loop, Silent, HD
Installation view at MMCA Collection: Korean Contemporary Art, MMCA, Seoul, Korea
Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
5 April – 7 June 2025
For more information, click HERE
Meta-Painting
2020, Seven Bottari and 7 canvases, each canvas 200 x 324 cm
Installation view at Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama, Tsuyama, Japan
Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama, Tsuyama, Japan
28 September, 2024 – November 2025
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Takeshi Asano, Kenryou Gu
To Breathe
Site specific installation consisting of diffraction grating film, Dimensions variable
Installation view at Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama, Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum, Tsuyama, Japan
Kimsooja Studio, Seoul
Kimsooja Studio, Seoul
The Meta-Painting series explores the fundamental principles of painting and its origins. It began in 2020 at the Wanås Konst Sculpture Park in Sweden, where Kimsooja produced linen spun from flax that she had planted, cultivated, and harvested. It was later woven into a canvas surface as a form of painting that need not be painted. The project reconstructs painting as a life-generating cycle, and the unpainted canvas investigates the conceptual relationship between painting, agriculture, and textiles.
The black Meta-Paintings conceptualize and bring to reality the absence of light and surface. They take form as both a flat and a wrapped surface, continuing the formalistic trajectory of Kimsooja’s folded and unfolded Bottari. While the depth of black color absorbs nearly all light and shadow, its surface resists our discernment. The piece points toward painting as a place of not knowing, a site of vulnerability, and a moment of beginning.
As a counterpart to the Meta-Painting series, To Breathe is a site-specific installation that prismatically diffracts natural sunlight into radiating spectral bands, or concentric double-axis brushstrokes of vertical and horizontal colors. The displacement of lightwaves guides the eyes back and forth across the threshold of architecture, effectively turning the act of gazing into a form of weaving the surface.
Photo by Shim Kyuho
(Left to Right:)
1 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on glass, 160 x 112cm
2 Kimsooja, To Breathe, 2024, Site-specific installation with diffraction grating film, Dimensions variable
3 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on linen canvas, 162.2 x 112.1 x 6cm
4 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on linen canvas, 53 x 40.9 x 4cm
5 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on linen canvas, 53 x 40.9 x 4cm
6 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on linen canvas, 90.9 x 65.1 x 4cm
7 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on linen canvas, 116.8 x 80.3cm
8 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2024, Black paint on glass, 116.7 x 80.3cm
9 Kimsooja, Sewing into Darkness, 2023, Archival pigment print, each 59 x 74cm
10 Kimsooja, Topology of Time, 2016, Giclée (Inkjet) Print, Print: 170.5 x 114.1cm, Image: 147.9 x 91.4cm
Light: Visionary Perspectives, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
Light: Visionary Perspectives, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
13 July, 2024 – 21 April, 2025
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid
To Breathe
Site specific installation consisting of diffraction grating film and mirror floor panels, size variable
Installation view at Light: Visionary Perspectives, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
Fukuoka Prize Commemoration Exhibition: Kimsooja, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Fukuoka Prize Commemoration Exhibition: Kimsooja, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
14 Sep – 29 Oct 2024
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Nagano Satoshi
(Left to Right:)
01-04 Deductive Object, 1997, Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothes, Fabric: 572 x 375 cm
05-06 A Needle Woman – Tokyo, 1999, Performance Video, Single Channel, 6:33 loop, Silent
Ambienti 1956-2010 Environments by Women Artists II, MAXXI, Rome, Italy
Ambienti 1956-2010 Environments by Women Artists II, MAXXI, Rome, Italy
10 April to 20 October 2024
For more information, click HERE
Photo Giorgio Benni
Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
To Breathe
2024, Site specific installation consisting of diffraction grating film, Dimensions variable
Installation view at Ambienti 1956-2010 Environments by Women Artists II is an exhibition by MAXXI and Haus der Kunst München.
The original exhibition Inside Other Spaces. Environments by Women Artists 1956-1976 is conceived and produced by Haus der Kunst München 2023.
Every Island is a Mountain, Palazzo Malta – Ordine di Malta, Venice, Italy
Every Island is a Mountain, Palazzo Malta – Ordine di Malta, Venice, Italy
19 April to 8 September 2024
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Hyunjung Kwon
(Left to Right:)
A Needle Woman – Jaoseon, 2023, Archival pigment print on paper, 75 × 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Sergio López
Deductive Object – Bottari, 2023, Archival pigment print on paper, 75 × 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Sergio López
A Needle Woman – Jaoseon, 2023, Archival pigment print on paper, 75 × 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Sergio López
Geometry of Fire –Jaoseon, 2023, Archival pigment print on paper, 75 × 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Sergio López
A Needle Woman – Jaoseon, 2023, Archival pigment print on paper, 75 × 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Sergio López
Bottari – a couple, 2020, Used clothing, cloth, 60 × 60 × 50(h) cm.
Kimsooja: Meta-Painting, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA
Kimsooja: Meta-Painting, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA
12 April – 14 June 2024
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Pierre Le Hors
(Left to Right:)
01 - 02 To Breathe, 2024, Site-specific installation with diffraction grating film, Dimensions variable
03 - 08 To Breathe, 2024, Video projection, mirror, Dimensions variable
09 - 10 Deductive Object, 2022, Fiberglass Steel and Paint, 250 dia cam circular Polished stainless steel
11 - 12 Meta-Painting, 2024, Linen canvas stretched on wooden frame, Bottari made of linen canvas and used linen clothes
13 - 14 Deductive Object: (Un)fold, 2023, Korean rice paper
15 - 16 Meta-Painting*, 2024, 500 sheets of Korean rice paper
Kimsooja, To Breathe – Constellation, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris
Kimsooja, To Breathe – Constellation, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris
20 March to 2 September 2024
For more information click HERE
Directrice générale / Executive Director: Emma Lavigne
Responsable des expositions: Charles Halperin
© Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Niney et Marca Architectes, agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier.
Photo by Florent Michel/11h45/Pinault Collection.
© Kimsooja/ADAGP, Paris, 2024.
(Left to Right:)
01 - 02 To Breathe – Constellation, 2024, Site-specific installation with mirror panels, Courtesy of Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Galerie Tschudi and Kimsooja Studio
03 Geometry of Body, 2013/2024, Archival pigment print on paper, Courtesy Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Anvers/Hong Kong and Kimsooja Studio
04 Deductive Object, 2016, Plaster casting of the artist's arms, Courtesy of KEWENIG, Berlin and Kimsooja Studio
05 Deductive Object: (Un)fold, 2023, Korean rice paper, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
06 Deductive Object – Bottari, 2023, Bisque porcelain, Courtesy of KEWENIG, Berlin; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Museum für Asiatische Kunst Berlin; Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Germany and Kimsooja Studio
07 (Left) Sewing Into Walking – Kyungju, 1994, Single Channel Video, 19:40 loop, Silent, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio,
(Right) Five Bottari Installation, 2017, Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothing, Variable, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
08 Five Bottari Installation, 2017, Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothing, Variable, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
09 A Needle Woman – Tokyo, Shanghai, Delhi, New York, 1999‑2000, 4 Channel Video, 6:33 loop, Silent, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
Kimsooja, To Breathe - Archive of Prototype, Axel Vervoordt, Patio Gallery
Kimsooja, To Breathe - Archive of Prototype, Axel Vervoordt, Patio Gallery
16 March to 31 August 2024
For more information click HERE.
Photo by Jan Liégeois
(Left to Right:)
01 - 05 To Breathe – Archive of Prototype, 2019-2023, Traditional stained glass and dichroic glass, Set of 3, each 80 x 50cm, Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio
06 Meta-Painting, 2019-2023, Nanopolymer glass, Black lead paint, Lead, each 17.5 x 17.5 x 0.5cm
Kimsooja – Thread Roots, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, The Netherlands
Kimsooja – Thread Roots, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, The Netherlands
2 March to 21 July 2024
For more information click HERE
Curated by Kimsooja, Nicole Roepers, Tanja Elstgeest
Photo by Joep Jacobs
(Left to Right:)
01 Bottari, 2022, Used Korean bedcovers, clothes, Courtesy Alex Vervoordt Gallery, Kimsooja Studio
02 (Left) Bottari, 2000, Used Korean bedcovers, clothes, Courtesy Alex Vervoordt Gallery, Kimsooja Studio
(Right) Encounter – Looking into Sewing, 1998/2013, Digital Flex Print Sandwich Mounted, Courtesy of KEWENIG Berlin, Kimsooja Studio
03 (Left) Deductive Objects – Bottari Cart, 2007, 19th C. Baguette Cart from France, Bottaris, Bungee Cords, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
(Right) Cities on the Move – 2727km Bottari Truck, 1997/2001, Duraclear Photographic Print in Light Box, Courtesy Amira en Tom Moeskops, Axel Vervoordt Gallery
04 - 06 Meta Painting – Fabric Samples, 2024, Textile Samples on Handmade Cotton Paper, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
07 Thread Routes – Chapter IV, 2014, Single Channel Video, 5.1 sound, 16mm film transferred to HD, 27:48 loop, Sound. Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Kimsooja Studio / Thread Routes – Chapter VI, 2019, Single Channel Video, 5.1 sound, 16mm film transferred to HD, 28:18 loop, Sound. Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Kimsooja Studio
08 Meta-Painting, 2020, Linen Canvases Stretched on Wooden Frame and Bottaris Made of Linen Canvases, Used Local Clothes. Courtesy Wanås Konst, Kimsooja Studio, KEWENIG Berlin
Icônes, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy
Icônes, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy
2 April to 26 November 2023
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Matteo De Fina
© Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection 2023
(Left to Right:)
01 - 03 To Breathe – Venice, 2023, Site specific installation consisting of diffraction grating film and mirror panel., Dimensions variable
04 A Needle Woman – Delhi, Mexico City, Cairo, Lagos, 2000-2001, 4 Channel Video, 6:33 loop, Silent
Installation view at Icônes, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy
Kimsooja: (Un)folding Bottari, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
Kimsooja: (Un)folding Bottari, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
25 October 2023 to 19 February 2024
For more information click HERE.
Guest curator: Keumhwa Kim
Curators of the museum: Kerstin Pinther, Uta Rahman-Steinert
Photo by Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für
Asiatische Kunst / Pierre Adenis
(Left to Right:)
01 - 02 Bottari 1999-2019, Shipping Container Painted the Colors of Obangsaek, Containing All of the Artist's Personal Possessions from Her New York Apartment, 20ft high cubic container, 290 x 606 x 244 cm
03 Deductive Object, 2016, Plaster Casting of Artist's Arms and Antique Wooden Table, Unique
04 - 06 Deductive Object – Bottari, 2023, Bisque porcelain, Unique
07 Sewing into Soil: Invisible Needle, Invisible Thread, 2023, Bisque porcelain, Unique
08 - 09 Bottari, 2017, Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothing, Variable, Unique
09 (Video) Sewing Into Walking – Kyungju, 1994, DVD, Single Channel Video, 19:40 loop, Silent
10 Deductive Object, 2007, 19th C. Baguette Cart from France, 8 bottaris - Used Bed Clothes and Bungee Cords / Deductive Object, 2007, 9th C. Baguette Cart from France, 6 Bottaris - Used Bed Clothes and Bungee Cords / Deductive Object, 2007, Used Cloth, Wrapping Cloth
11 Thread Routes – Chapter I, 2010, Bluray disc, Single Channel Video, 24:52 loop, Sound, HD / Thread Routes - Chapter II, 2011, Bluray disc, Single Channel Video, 23:50 loop, Sound, HD / Thread Routes - Chapter IV, 2014, DVD, Single Channel Video, 27:48 loop, Sound, HD
12 To Breathe: Mandala, 2010, Single Jukebox with the Artist’s Voice Performance “The Weaving Factory”(2004), loop / Mandala: Zone of Zero, 2004-2010, Single channel mixed media sound installation (One Jukebox, Three Chants Mixed with Tibetan, Gregorian, and Islamic), 9:50, loop
Kimsooja: Wrapping the Void, Sèvres National Manufactory and Museum, Sèvres, France
Kimsooja: Wrapping the Void, Sèvres National Manufactory and Museum, Sèvres, France
9 October - 5 November 2023
For more information click HERE.
Courtesy of Manufacture de Sèvres – Cité de la Céramique and Kimsooja Studio
Photo by Jaeho Chong
(Left to Right:)
01 - 03 Deductive Object – Bottari, 2019, A set of 9 pieces of stoneware, terracotta
04 Deductive Object – Bottari, 2019, Bisque porcelain, 45x40cm
05 Deductive Object, 2019, Porcelain, Variable
06 - 09 Deductive Object, 2019, Stoneware, Variable
10 - 12 Sewing into Soil: Invisible Needle, Invisible Thread, Stoneware
Kimsooja: Meta-Painting, Kewenig Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Kimsooja: Meta-Painting, Kewenig Galerie, Berlin, Germany
8 September - 4 November 2023
For more information click HERE.
Photo by Lepkowski Studios, Berlin
(Left to Right:)
01 - 03 Meta-Painting, 2020, Linen Canvases Stretched on Wooden Frame and Bottari Made of Linen Canvases, Used Local Clothes, 200 x 324 cm
04 To Breathe – Kewenig, 2023, Site-specific Installation with diffraction grating film, Variable
05 - 07 Deductive Object: (Un)fold, 2023, Korean Rice Paper, 104.5 x 73 x 6 cm
08 - 09 To Breathe – Kewenig, 2023, Site-specific Installation with diffraction grating film, Variable
Topography of Body, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong
Topography of Body, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong
Topography of Body is Kimsooja’s first solo exhibition after several presentations in the city. The exhibition features a selection of work that demonstrates her vast multidisciplinary practice including the video performance, Thread Routes: Chapter III, a series of indigo Indian block prints, new clay and rice paper works, and two prints of Geometry of Body.
For more information, click HERE
Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong
Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Kit Min
(Left to right)
01 Kimsooja, Thread Routes Chapter III – Deductive Object, 2012-2015, block printing table covers, dimension variable
02 Kimsooja, Thread Routes – Chapter III, 2012, 16 mm film transferred to HD format, sound, 17:35
03 [Left] Kimsooja, Geometry of Body, 2013/ 2015, Giclée (Inkjet) print on hot press paper, 168 x 112 x 5 cm, [Right] Kimsooja, Geometry of Mind, 2023, Clay balls, Diameter 40 cm
04 [Left] Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2022, 250 sheets of Korean rice paper, 93.5 x 61.5 x 3 cm, [Right] Kimsooja, Deductive Object: (Un)fold, 2023, Korean rice paper, 105 x 74 x 6 cm
05 Kimsooja, Meta-Painting(detail), 2022, 250 sheets of Korean rice paper, 93.5 x 61.5 x 3 cm
Jaeoseon, Meridiano, Puerto Escondido
Jaeoseon, Meridiano, Puerto Escondido
As the first artist to exhibit at Meridiano, Kimsooja is conscious of the gallery’s name, which originates from meridian — a circular line connecting the north and south poles of the earth at the shortest vertical distance — as well as the exhibition space’s architectural elements, which are exposed to the intense direct sunlight along Oaxaca’s Pacific Coast. Jaoseon’s initiates a performance that places the verticality of the body at the moment when the light is transformed into a geometric structure within the gallery.
For more information, click HERE.
Meridiano, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Photo by Sergio López
Courtesy of Meridiano and Kimsooja Studio
(Left to right)
01 Kimsooja, Geometry of Fire, 2023, Site-specific installation for Jaoseon at Meridiano, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
02-03 Kimsooja, Deductive Object – Bottari, 2023, stone, matte black water-based paint, 128 x 176 x 117 cm, production location: Meridiano, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
04-06 Kimsooja, A Needle Woman, 2023, Performance.
BienalSUR 2021, Kimsooja Buenos Aires: Chapter 1 - The Encounter with the Other, Buenos Aires, Argentina
BienalSUR 2021, Kimsooja Buenos Aires: Chapter 1 - The Encounter with the Other, Buenos Aires, Argentina
BienalSUR 2021, Kimsooja Buenos Aires: Chapter 1 - The Encounter with the Other, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The BIENALSUR project Kimsooja Buenos Aires features exhibitions of the Korean artist in different parts of the city: MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Venue Hotel de Inmigrantes, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Centro Cultural Coreano.
10 September - 23 December 2021
For more information, click HERE
Curatorship: BIENALSUR, Diana B. Wechsler (ARG)
With the support of Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism of Korea, Korea Arts Management Service, and the grant program Fund for Korean Art Abroad.
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina and host city of BIENAL SUR, is a multicultural metropolis that has embraced immigrant populations from Europe, Africa and Asia throughout significant historical incidents including Spanish colonization, World Wars I and II and the Algerian War. Kimsooja installs several works around the city’s harbor, a place where immigrants to Buenos Aires first came ashore, revealing a new symbolic significance as they transpose the meaning of migration from the artist’s personal realm into one of universal empathy. Bottari Truck – Migrateures (2008) symbolically portrays the journey of an immigrant in Paris by wrapping and unwrapping a bottari (bundle) before departing; the concept of movement associated with bottari is visualized in the form of a container in recent works Bottari: 1999-2019 and its extended five-color (Obangsaek) container Bottari (2021) and a documentary film series, Thread Routes (2010-2019), poetically considers the universality of human culture as it merges natural landscapes with traditional textile cultures around the world. Kimsooja’s works actively engage with spaces that symbolize the city’s diversity and history of immigration, opening new possibilities for individuals of different backgrounds to coexist.
The National University of Tres de Febero’s Museum of Immigration (MUNTREF), which was built to commemorate the arrivals of immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America in the late 19th century, features Bottari:2021 on its façade, while A Needle Woman (2005) appears inside. Archive of Mind, a participatory installation of dry clay balls set on a large elliptical table, invites audiences to join in a contemplative communal performance by holding the clay balls in their hands and rolling them across the table while listening to the sound of Kimsooja's murmuring voice in Unfolding Spheres (2016). As both discrete individuals and a collective community, the audience shares the materiality of the clay as well as the inner aesthetic journey of clearing one’s mind. The group of uniquely shaped clay balls are produced as the axes of encounters among numerous sets of intersecting hands and signify the meetings of all beings scattered throughout the cosmos, who coexist through connected relations. In To Breathe (2021), installed at the crosswalk that traverses the museum building from east and to west, one can metaphorically yet viscerally experience the artist’s dematerialized artworld of “non-doing, non-making” light painting, where visitors’ breath and refractions of light are transformed through diffraction grating film that illuminates the space with a rainbow light spectrum.
New works presented at MUNTREF are also noteworthy, including new iterations of the artist’s representative bottari, which represent the movements and border crossings that envelop the world’s diversity, as well as To Breathe: the flags (2012), whereby local residents’ old clothes are wrapped in colorful fabrics of Obangsaek tones that are commonly found in everyday Argentine life and made into minimal bottari, thus connecting with and embracing multiple social contexts. Thread Routes (2010-2019) further conveys Kimsooja's perspective toward the links that connect global textile cultures, architecture, nature and handcrafts, allowing viewers to experience the visual connections between dyeing, embroidery, weaving, lacework, tile and pottery practices.
New York apartment, installation view at MUNTREF, Buenoes Aires, Argentina
Courtesy of the BIENALSUR 2021 and Kimsooja Studio
(Left to right:)
01 Bottari: 1999-2019, 2021, Site-specific installation consisting of shipping container painted the colors of Obangsaek, containing all of the artist's personal possessions from her New York apartment
02 Bottari, 2018, Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothing
03
04
05 - 06
07
08 - 10
BienalSUR, Buenos Aires: Chapter 2 - Nomad, Buenos Aires, Argentina
BienalSUR, Buenos Aires: Chapter 2 - Nomad, Buenos Aires, Argentina
For more information, click HERE
The artist's Deductive Object series installed at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes suggests a new aesthetics of the readymade by loading carts with bottari made out of laundry bags, supplemented by A Needle Woman [Paris, 2009] and lightbox photos of the bottari series. Installed in the mirror room of the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo is To Breathe, a large mirror installation on the floor is paired with sound from The Weaving Factory (2004); the Korean Cultural Center presents Deductive Object, an Obangsaek carpet work, and Mandala: Zone of Zero; and the historical Margarita Xirgu Theatre screens To Breathe - Invisible Mirror, Invisible Needle (2005). By encountering Kimsooja’s works at culturally significant locations throughout Buenos Aires, audiences are encouraged to reflect on issues of migration and transit in the age of globalization, thereby constructing a visual platform of harmony and solidarity. This project marks the artist’s first large-scale exhibition in Latin America since 1997, when she participated in the Bienal de São Paulo with Cities on the Move - 11163 miles Bottari Truck.
New York apartment, installation view at MUNTREF, Buenoes Aires, Argentina
(Left to right:)
01 : Kimsooja, Bottari: 1999-2019, 2021, Site-specific installation consisting of shipping container painted the colors of obangsaek, containing all of the artist's personal possessions from her New York apartment, installation view at MUNTREF, Buenoes Aires, Argentina, Courtesy of the Bienal SUR 2021 and Kimsooja Studio
BienalSUR, Buenos Aires: Chapter 3 - An Inner Experience, Buenos Aires, Argentina Copy
BienalSUR, Buenos Aires: Chapter 3 - An Inner Experience, Buenos Aires, Argentina Copy
For more information, click Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3
Based in Seoul, Paris and New York, international conceptual artist Kimsooja (b. 1957) has for the past four decades oriented her practice in alignment with the totality of art and life. Kimsooja participates in BIENAL SUR 2021, an artistic endeavor that seeks to break down cultural barriers and connect the world in the pandemic era, through an exhibition titled KIMSOOJA BUENOS AIRES. Chapter 1: Kimsooja. The Encounter with the Other (2021.09.10-12.23), KIMSOOJA BUENOS AIRES. Chapter 2: Kimsooja. Nomad (2021.09.15-11.21) and Chapter 3 at Korean Cultural Center (CCC). This solo presentation comprises 26 works of video and film, including A Needle Woman, as well as large-scale installations, objects and photographs displayed from September 2 to December 15 in major museums and theaters across Buenos Aires as well as the Korean Cultural Center. The third edition of BIENAL SUR proposes a culturally open topography of art that respects the diversity of different cultures and addresses ecological awareness, ways of living, art politics and issues of transit and migration. Such themes resonate with Kimsooja’s longstanding artistic contemplation of the world’s order, cycles and borders and reflects her efforts to transcend various media with a consistent emphasis on compassion and humanity.
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina and host city of BIENAL SUR, is a multicultural metropolis that has embraced immigrant populations from Europe, Africa and Asia throughout significant historical incidents including Spanish colonization, World Wars I and II and the Algerian War. Kimsooja installs several works around the city’s harbor, a place where immigrants to Buenos Aires first came ashore, revealing a new symbolic significance as they transpose the meaning of migration from the artist’s personal realm into one of universal empathy. Bottari Truck – Migrateures (2008) symbolically portrays the journey of an immigrant in Paris by wrapping and unwrapping a bottari (bundle) before departing; the concept of movement associated with bottari is visualized in the form of a container in recent works Bottari: 1999-2019 and its extended five-color (Obangsaek) container Bottari:2021; and a documentary film series, Thread Routes (2010-2019), poetically considers the universality of human culture as it merges natural landscapes with traditional textile cultures around the world. Kimsooja’s works actively engage with spaces that symbolize the city’s diversity and history of immigration, opening new possibilities for individuals of different backgrounds to coexist.
The National University of Tres de Febero’s Museum of Immigration (MUNTREF), which was built to commemorate the arrivals of immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America in the late 19th century, features Bottari:2021 on its façade, while A Needle Woman (2005) appears inside. Archive of Mind, a participatory installation of dry clay balls set on a large elliptical table, invites audiences to join in a contemplative communal performance by holding the clay balls in their hands and rolling them across the table while listening to the sound of Kimsooja's murmuring voice in Unfolding Spheres (2016). As both discrete individuals and a collective community, the audience shares the materiality of the clay as well as the inner aesthetic journey of clearing one’s mind. The group of uniquely shaped clay balls are produced as the axes of encounters among numerous sets of intersecting hands and signify the meetings of all beings scattered throughout the cosmos, who coexist through connected relations. In To Breathe (2021), installed at the crosswalk that traverses the museum building from east and to west, one can metaphorically yet viscerally experience the artist’s dematerialized artworld of “non-doing, non-making” light painting, where visitors’ breath and refractions of light are transformed through diffraction grating film that illuminates the space with a rainbow light spectrum.
New works presented at MUNTREF are also noteworthy, including new iterations of the artist’s representative bottari, which represent the movements and border crossings that envelop the world’s diversity, as well as To Breathe: the flags(2012), whereby local residents’ old clothes are wrapped in colorful fabrics of Obangsaek tones that are commonly found in everyday Argentine life and made into minimal bottari, thus connecting with and embracing multiple social contexts. Thread Routes (2010-2019) further conveys Kimsooja's perspective toward the links that connect global textile cultures, architecture, nature and handcrafts, allowing viewers to experience the visual connections between dyeing, embroidery, weaving, lacework, tile and pottery practices.
The artist's Deductive Object series installed at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes suggests a new aesthetics of the readymade by loading carts with bottari made out of laundry bags, supplemented by A Needle Woman [Paris, 2009] and lightbox photos of the bottari series. Installed in the mirror room of the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo is To Breathe, a large mirror installation on the floor is paired with sound from The Weaving Factory (2004); the Korean Cultural Center presents Deductive Object, an Obangsaek carpet work, and Mandala: Zone of Zero; and the historical Margarita Xirgu Theatre screens To Breathe - Invisible Mirror, Invisible Needle (2005). By encountering Kimsooja’s works at culturally significant locations throughout Buenos Aires, audiences are encouraged to reflect on issues of migration and transit in the age of globalization, thereby constructing a visual platform of harmony and solidarity. This project marks the artist’s first large-scale exhibition in Latin America since 1997, when she participated in the Bienal de São Paulo with Cities on the Move - 11163 miles Bottari Truck.
New York apartment, installation view at MUNTREF, Buenoes Aires, Argentina
(Left to right:)
01 : Kimsooja, Bottari: 1999-2019, 2021, Site-specific installation consisting of shipping container painted the colors of obangsaek, containing all of the artist's personal possessions from her New York apartment, installation view at MUNTREF, Buenoes Aires, Argentina, Courtesy of the Bienal SUR 2021 and Kimsooja Studio
Kimsooja: Sowing Into Painting, The Wanås Art Foundation, Wanås, Sweden
Kimsooja: Sowing Into Painting, The Wanås Art Foundation, Wanås, Sweden
For more information, click HERE
The Wanås Foundation presents Sowing Into Painting a multidimensional project including site-specific installations, film, sculpture, and painting. Wana?s Konst is a unique cultural foundation in Southern Sweden, composed of a sculpture park and art galleries on the site of a medieval castle and an organic farm. Kimsooja’s exhibition incorporates the diversity of the location in newly-conceived works investigating the conceptual relationship between painting, agriculture and textiles.
Photo by Mattias Givell
(Left to right:)
01 - 03: Kimsooja, Sowing into Painting, 2020. Sowing, Work in progress with two planted varieties of flax seeds (for flax seeds oil and linen) in Wanås Konst open fields. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Mattias Givell
04 - 06: Kimsooja, Sowing into Painting, 2020. Blossoming, Work in progress with two planted varieties of flax seeds (for flax seeds oil and linen) in Wanås Konst open fields. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Elin Magnusson
07 - 09: Kimsooja, Sowing into Painting, 2020. From flower to fruit, Work in progress with two planted varieties of flax seeds (for flax seeds oil and linen) in Wanås Konst open fields. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Martin Lang
10 - 12: Kimsooja, Sowing into Painting, 2020. Seed Capsules and harvesting, Work in progress with two planted varieties of flax seeds (for flax seeds oil and linen) in Wanås Konst open fields. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Martin Lang
13 - 15: Kimsooja, Meta-Painting, 2020. Various linen canvases stretched on wooden frame and bottaris made of linen canvases, used local clothes. Canvases 200 x 324 cm each, bottari dimensions variable. Installation view at Wanås Konst Art Gallery. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Mattias Givell
16 - 17: Kimsooja, A Laundry Field, 2020. Site-specific installation consisting of 100 local Swedish embroidered bedsheets. Installation view at Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, Sweden. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Mattias Givell
18 : Kimsooja, Thread Routes – Chapters I, II, IV, 2010, 2011, 2014. 16mm film transferred to HD Format, 5.1 sound. Installation view at Wanås Konst. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Mattias Givell
19 - 21: Kimsooja, To Breathe, 2020. Site-specific installation with mirror panels and sound performance The Weaving Factory, 2004-2013, 5.1 channel, 9:14, loop. Installation view at Wanås Konst Hay Barn. Courtesy of Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Mattias Givell.
22 - 24: Kimsooja, Deductive Objects, 1993-2020. Site-specific installation consisting of fabric filled into the existing holes of the century old hay barn wall. Installation view at Wanås Konst Hay Barn. Courtesy of the Wanås Konst and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Mattias Givell.
To Breathe – The Flags, Asia Society Museum, New York
To Breathe – The Flags, Asia Society Museum, New York
Installation at the 1st Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone: Art and creativity under lockdown, Asia Society Museum, New York, USA
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Bruce M. White
Single Channel Video Animation, 40:41 loop, Silent, Courtesy of Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Italy and Kimsooja Studio
Kimsooja: Planted Names, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Kimsooja: Planted Names, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Installation at Kimsooja, Planted Names, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Jan Liegeois
(Left to right)
01 - 03 Planted Names, 2002, Set of 4 Woven Carpets, Unique
04 Bottari: Alpha Beach, 2001, Single Channel Video, 6:18 loop, Silent
Bottari 2018. Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothes from Perth, Australia, Courtesy of Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand and Kimsooja Studio
Traversées / Kimsooja, Poitiers, France
Traversées / Kimsooja, Poitiers, France
Kimsooja presents 13 site-specific installations around the city of Poitiers, Poitiers, France for the inaugural Traversées biennale
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Jan Liegeois
(Left to right:)
01 - 02: Kimsooja, To Breathe – Tour Maubergeon , 2019, site-specific installation with mirror panels. Installation view at Tour Maubergeon, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Jan Liegois.
03 - 04: Kimsooja, Archive of Mind , 2019, participatory site-specific installation consisting of clay balls, 18m elliptical wooden table, and sound performance Unfolding Sphere, 2016. Installation view at Palais des ducs d'Aquitane, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers, Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Jan Liegois.
05 - 06: Kimsooja, To Breathe – La Canopée , 2019, site-specific installation consisting of diffraction-grating film. Installation view at La Canopée, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Yann Gachet.
07 - 08: Bottari Truck – Migrateurs, 2007, 1 ton truck from France (1976 Peugeot 404 Pickup), 56 Bottaris, Bungee Cords, 470 x 170 x 200(h)cm, Photos by Jan Liegeois (07) and Yann Gachet (08).
09 - 10: Kimsooja, Planted Names, 2002, site-specific installation consisting of carpets woven with the names of people enslaved at Drayton Hall Plantation. Installation view at Chapelle Saint Louis, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Yann Gachet.
11 - 12: Kimsooja, To Breathe – The Flags, 2019, site-specific installation consisting of mixed nationality flags. Installation view at Rue de Cathédrale, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers, Raffaella Cortese Gallery and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Yann Gachet.
13 - 15: Kimsooja, Encounter, A Mirror Woman, 2017/2019, site-specific installation consisting of folding mirror screen. Installation view at Confort Moderne, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers, le Confort Moderne, Axel Vervoordt Gallery Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Jan Liegeois.
16 - 18: Kimsooja, Bottari: 1999-2019 , 2019, site-specific installation consisting of shipping container painted the colors of obangsaek, containing all of the artist's personal posessions from her New York apartment. Installation view at Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Yann Gachet (16) and Sebastien Laval.
19: Kimsooja, Thread Routes – Chapter I, II, II, 2010-2012, 16mm film transferred to HD Format, 5.1 sound. Installation view at Musée Sainte-Croix, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers, the Musée Sainte-Croix and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Yann Gachet.
20 - 21: Kimsooja, production stills from Thread Routes – Chapter VI , 2019, 16mm film transferred to HD Format, 5.1 sound, 28:20. Commission of the City of Poitiers. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Thierry Depagne.
22 - 24: Kimsooja, Solarescope, 2019, site-specific lighting installation at Notre-Dame La Grande, Poitiers. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Yann Gachet
25: Kimsooja, Bottari, 2017/2019. Installation view at La Canopée, 2019. Courtesy of the Kewenig Gallery, City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio.
26: Kimsooja, To Breathe, 2019, site-specific installation consisting of diffraction-grating film. Installation view at Sainte - Radegonde Church, 2019. Courtesy of the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Yann Gachet.
27: Kimsooja, Mumbai : A Laundry Field, 2007. Installation view at the Maison de l'Architecture, 2019. Courtesy of Kewenig Gallery, the City of Poitiers and Kimsooja Studio. Photo by Yann Gachet.
Landscape of Beings, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
Landscape of Beings, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
Installation view at Landscape of Beings, Le Confort Moderne, For Traversées / Kimsooja, 13 site-specific installations around the city of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
Courtesy of the City of Poitiers, le Confort Moderne, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Galerie Tschudi and Kimsooja Studio
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Yann Gachet
(Left to right:)
01 To Breathe, 2019, Site Specific Installation with Mirrors
02 Encounter: A Mirror Woman, 2019, Site-specific Installation Consisting of Folding Mirror Screen.
03 - 04 Mandala: Zone of Zero, 2004-2010, Single channel mixed media sound installation (One Jukebox, Three Chants Mixed with Tibetan, Gregorian, and Islamic), 9:50, loop, Juke box: 81.28cm(dia), 30.48cm(d)
05 A Needle Woman – Paris, 2009, Performance Video, Single Channel, 25:00 loop, Silent, HD, Commissioned by Nuit Blanche 2009, Paris.
Zone of Nowhere, PICA, Perth, Australia
Zone of Nowhere, PICA, Perth, Australia
Site-specific Installation View at at Zone of Nowhere, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts(PICA), Perth, Australia
Commissioned by Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts(PICA)
Courtesy of Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Italy and Kimsooja Studio
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Alessandro Bianchetti
(Left to right:)
01 - 06 To Breathe – Zone of Nowhere, 2017, Site-specific Installation Consisting of 30 Polyester Flags, 243 x 152 cm each, Courtesy of Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Italy and Kimsooja Studio
07 - 10 Bottari, 2018, Used Korean Bedcovers, Used Clothes from Perth, Courtesy of Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth and Kimsooja Studio.
11 - 12 Mandala: Zone of Zero, 2004 - 2010, Single channel mixed media sound installation (One Jukebox, Three Chants Mixed with Tibetan, Gregorian, and Islamic), 9:50, loop, Courtesy of Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand and Kimsooja Studio
Kimsooja: Geometry of Breath, Gallery Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
Kimsooja: Geometry of Breath, Gallery Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
Solo Exhibition at Kimsooja - Geometry of Breath, Gallery Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Stefan Müller
(Left to right:)
01 Deductive Object, 2016, antique wooden box and 8 clay balls, 23.5 x 36.2 x 10.16 cm
02 Deductive Object, 2016, antique wooden box and 9 clay balls, 20.32 x 28.58 x 6.99 cm
03 Deductive Object, 2016, antique wooden box and 40 clay balls, 40.64 x 23.5 x 13.97 cm
04 (Left) Deductive Object, 2016, antique wooden box and 40 clay balls, 40.64 x 23.5 x 13.97 cm
(Right Back) Deductive Object, 2016, antique wooden box and 8 clay balls, 23.5 x 36.2 x 10.16 cm
(Right Front) Deductive Object, 2016, antique wooden box and 9 clay balls, 20.32 x 28.58 x 6.99 cm
05 - 06 Bottari, 2017, Black Bedcover and Used Clothing, 48 x 57(dia) cm
07 Bottari, 2017, White Bedcover and Used Clothing from Michael Kewenig, 48 x 57(dia) cm
08 A Laundry Woman, 2017, Site-specific Installation Consisting of Used artist's clothing, Clothesline, Clothespins, and Black Bottari
09 (Left) Geometry of Body (Left Thumb), 2015, Giclée Inkjet Print, 170.5 x 114.1 cm
(Center) A Laundry Woman, 2017, Site-specific Installation Consisting of Used artist's clothing, Clothesline, Clothespins, and Black Bottari
(Right) Topology of Time, 2016, Giclée Inkjet Print, 170.5 x 114.1 cm
10 Deductive Object, 2016, Plaster Casting of Artist's Arms and Antique Wooden Table, 130.81 x 62.87 x 68.58 cm
11 Geometry of Body, 2006 - 2015, Rubber, Jute, and Natural Cotton - Used Artist's Yogamat, 182.88 x 60.96 cm
12 One Breathe, 2004 / 2016, Digital Embroidery on Stretched Silk, Abstract from The Weaving Factory(2004) Sound Performance by the Artist, 61.4 x 179.5 x 7 cm
13 An Album Havana, 2007, Single Channel Video, 6:57 loop, Silent
14 An Album: Hudson Guild, 2009, Single Channel Video, 31:40 loop, 5.1 Sound, Commissioned by More Art, New York
15 (Left) An Album: Hudson Guild, 2009 / 2017, Digital Flex Print, 101.6 x 152.4 cm
(Right) An Album: Hudson Guild, 2009, Single Channel Video, 31:40 loop, 5.1 Sound, Commissioned by More Art, New York
16 (Back) Bottari Truck – Migrateurs, 2007, Single Channel Video, 9:17 loop, Silent, Performed in Paris, Commissioned by Musée D'Art Contemporain du Val-De-Marne (MAC/VAL)
(Front) Bottari Truck – Migrateurs, 2008, 2.5 ton truck from France (1976 Peugeot 404 Pickup), Bottaris, Bungee Cords, Performed in Paris, Commissioned by Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France
17 (Back) Cities on the Move – 11633 Mile Bottari Truck, 1998 / 2001, Duraclear Photographic Print in Light Box, 188.5 x 128 x 25.5 cm,
(Front) Deductive Objects – Bottari Cart, 2007, 19th C. Baguette Cart from France, Bottaris, Bungee Cords, (Bottari cart) 6 Bottaris - Used Bed Clothes and Bungee Cords, 106(h) x 100 x 63cm, (Bottari cart) 8 bottaris - Used Bed Clothes and Bungee Cords, 100(h) x 100 x 65 cm, (Sigle Bottari) Used Cloth, Wrapping Cloth, 30 x 65 cm
18 To Breathe: Mandala, 2010, Single Jukebox with the Artist’s Voice Performance “The Weaving Factory”(2004), 9:14 loop, Juke box: 81.28cm(dia), 30.48cm(d)
Weaving the World, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Weaving the World, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Installation at Solo Exhibition Weaving the World, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio
For more information, click HERE
Photo by Aaron Wax
(Left to right:)
01 Thread Routes – Chapter IV, 2014, Single Channel Video, 27:48 loop, Sound
02 (Left) Thread Routes – Chapter I 2010, Single Channel Video, 24:52 loop, Sound
(Right) Thread Routes – Chapter IV - Lightwaves 2010/2016, Single Channel Video, 27:48 loop, Sound
03 - 04 (Left) Thread Routes – Chapter IV - Lightwaves 2010/2016, Single Channel Video, 27:48 loop, Sound
(Right) Thread Routes – Chapter IV, 2014, Single Channel Video, 27:48 loop, Sound