Kimsooja
Works
Used Bedsheets and Towels
52 × 50 × 50 cm
Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, 2024
City of Poitiers, 2019
Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper
114,1 × 80,5 cm
Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper
114,1 × 80,5 cm
Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper
114,1 × 80,5 cm
Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper
114,1 × 80,5 cm
Cathedrale de Metz, 2022
Sant'Eustorgio, 2018
Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, 2024
Korean Pavilion – 55th Biennale di Venezia, 2013
Giclée (Inkjet) Print on Hahnemüle paper
51,94 × 76,20 cm
Iris print
90 × 120 cm
Iris print
90 × 120 cm
Iris print
90 × 120 cm
Iris print
90 × 120 cm
DVD (single channel projection) loop silent
6'33''
DVD (single channel projection) loop silent
8'50''
DVD (single channel projection)
6'33''
PICA Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, 2018
Biography
Kimsooja was born in 1957 in Taegu, Korea. She lives and works in New York, Paris and Seoul.
She works with Galleria Raffaella Cortese since 2004.
Combining performance, video, photo and installation, her work addresses issues of the displaced self and the other, while investigating the dualistic and existential nature of philosophy such as the relationship of yin and yang to life and death; mobility to immobility; and location to dislocation.
Kimsooja’s videos and installations blur the boundaries between aesthetics and transcendent experience through their use of repetitive actions, meditative practices, and serial forms. In many pieces, everyday actions—such as sewing or doing laundry—become two- and three-dimensional or performative activities. Central to her work is the “bottari”, a traditional Korean bed cover used to wrap and protect personal belongings, which Kimsooja transforms into a philosophical metaphor for structure and connection.
Kimsooja’s select solo exhibitions and site specific projects include: Kimsooja: Fukuoka Prize (Arts and Culture) Commemoration Exhibition: Kimsooja, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka (2024); Le monde comme il va, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris (2024); Thread Roots, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden (2024); Desert X AlUla, Alula, Saudi Arabia (Site-specific Installation), (2024); Wrapping the Void, Sèvres National Manufactory and Museum, Sèvres (2024); To Breathe, Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, Paris (2023); To Breathe, Cathedrale de Metz, Metz (2022); To Breathe, Atrium Installation, LEEUM Samsung Art Museum, Seoul, Korea (2021); Sowing into Painting, Wanås Foundation, Wanås (2020); Traversées / Kimsooja, Poitiers (2019); Kimsooja: Archive of Mind, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (2019); Zone of Nowhere, PICA – Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth (2018). Her work has been included in group exhibitions such as: Clapping with Stones: Art and Acts of Resistance, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, (2019); On the Spiritual Matter of Art, MAXXI, Rome (2019); Spinning ideas. Weaving art, IVAM Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia.
Kimsooja has exhibited in major international museums and collections: Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp(KMSKA), Antwerp (2024); National Museum of XXI Century Arts(MAXXI), Rome (2024); Sovrano Militare Ordine de Malta, Venice (2024); Barbican Art Gallery, London (2024); Chiostro del Bramante, Rome (2023); MNAD – Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo, Buenos Aires (2023); Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana, Venice (2023); MAXXI, Rome (2019); Peabody Essex Museum (2019); Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Chapel (2018-2019); Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (2018); Museion, Bolzano (2017); Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein (2017); Palazzo Fortuny, Venice (2017); MMCA, Seoul (2016); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2015); Centre Pompidou Metz (2015); Collection Lambert en Avignon (2014); Vancouver Art Gallery (2013); Museum of Modern Art St. Etienne (2012); Kunsthal 44 Møen, Denmark (2012); Perm Contemporary Art Museum, Russia (2012); Miami Art Museum (2012); Feldkirch Church and Kunstmuseum Lichtenstein (2010); National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea for the Yeong Gwang Nuclear Power Plant (2010); Atelier Hermes, Seoul (2009); Baltic Center, London (2009); Hirshhorn Museum, Washington (2008); Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa & La Fenice Theatre, Venice (2006); Crystal Palace of Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid (2006); Kunsthalle Wien (2002); Kunsthalle Bern (2002); Palazzo delle Poste, Trieste (2001); MoMA PS1, Long Island City (2001).
She has also taken part in important Biennials and Triennials: Buenos Aires (2021), New York (2020), Kassel (2017), Busan (2016, 2002), Venice (2019, 2013, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999), Gwangju (2012, 2002, 1995), Moscow (2009), Lyon (2002), Istanbul (1997), Manifesta 1 (1996).
Gallery Exhibitions
Public exhibitions
Press
Publications
