biography

Kimsooja was born in 1957 in Taegu, Korea. She lives and works in New York, Paris and Seoul.

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.

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Kimsooja was born in 1957 in Taegu, Korea. She lives and works in New York, Paris and Seoul.

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: 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: 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).

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images

Deductive Object (VI) & (VII), 1996-2013

Digital Flex Print Sandwich Mounted

102 × 75 cm

Deductive Object (VI) & (VII), 1996-2013

digital Flex Print Sandwich Mounted

102 × 75 cm

Deductive Object - Cemetery, 2008-2015

Digital C-print

90 × 70 cm

The Sun Unfolded, 2008

Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper

114,1 × 80,5 cm

The Sun Unfolded, 2008

Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper

114,1 × 80,5 cm

The Sun Unfolded, 2008

Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper

114,1 × 80,5 cm

The Sun Unfolded, 2008

Giclée (Inkjet) Prints on Epson Paper

114,1 × 80,5 cm

A Needle Woman-Kitakyushu (Video Stills Print Production), 1999/2007

Giclée (Inkjet) Print on Hahnemüle paper

51,94 × 76,20 cm

Sewing Into Walking-Kyungju (Video Stills Production), 1994/2007

Giclée (Inkjet) Print on Hahnemüle paper

51,94 × 76,20 cm

A Wind Woman , 2003-2006

Iris print

90 × 120 cm

A Wind Woman , 2003-2006

Iris print

90 × 120 cm

A Wind Woman , 2003-2006

Iris print

90 × 120 cm

A Wind Woman, 2003-2006

Iris print

90 × 120 cm

Video Works

A Beggar Woman-Cairo, 2001

DVD (single channel projection) loop silent

6'33''

A Beggar Woman-Lagos, 2001

DVD (single channel projection) loop silent

8'50''

A Beggar Woman-Mexico City, 2000

DVD (single channel projection)

6'33''

To Breathe – The Flags, 2012

Single channel video animation, silent

40'41'' loop

public exhibitions

Punta della Dogana

Venice, Italy

Icônes

2.4 – 26.11.2023

Photo: Marco Cappelletti and Filippo Rossi. Courtesy: Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann

Paris, France

To Breathe – Galeries Lafayette

13.4 – 30.6.2023

Photo: Jaeho Chong. Courtesy Galeries Lafayette and Kimsooja studio

Cisternerne

Copenhagen, Denmark

Weaving the Light

26.3 – 30.11.2023

Photo: Torben Eskerod. Courtesy of Frederiksberg Museum and Kimsooja Studio

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Sydney, Australia

Making Worlds

3.12.2022 – 3.12.2023

Photo: Jaeho Chong

Oude Vest canal

Leiden, Belgium

To Breathe – Leiden

Permanent installation

Photo: Jaeho Chong. Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio.

Cathedrale de Metz

Metz, France

To Breathe - Metz

Permanent Installation

Photo: Jaeho Chong. Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio.

MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo y Museo de la Inmigración

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Kimsooja Buenos Aires. Chapter 1: Kimsooja. The Encounter with the Other

10.9 – 23.12.2021

MNBA - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Kimsooja Buenos Aires. Chapter 2: Kimsooja. Nomad

15.9 – 21.11.2021

Centro Cultural Coreano en Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Kimsooja Buenos Aires. Chapter 3: Kimsooja. An Inner Experience

21.9 – 21.10.2021

Asia Society Triennial

New York, USA

We Do Not Dream Alone

27.10.2020 – 27.6.2021

Photo: © Bruce M. White. Courtesy: Asia Society.

Villa Empain – Boghossian Foundation

Brussels, Belgium

The Light House

22.10.2020 – 18.4.2021

Photo: Andrea Anoni

Wanås Konst

Wanås, Sweden

Sowing Into Painting

9.5 – 1.11.2020

Photo: Mattias Givell

MAXXI Roma

Rome, Italy

On the spiritual matter of art

17.10.2019 – 15.3.2020

Photo: Agostino Osio, Alto Piano Studio. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI

Traversées

Poitiers, France

Traversées \ Kimsooja

12.10.2019 – 19.1.2020

Photo: Yann Gachet

2nd Yinchuan Biennale – MOCA Yinchuan

Yinchuan, China

Starting from Desert. Ecologies on the Edge

9.6.2018 – 19.9.2019

Photo: Huang Yachen. Courtesy: MOCA Yinchuan.

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA)

Perth, Australia

Zone of Nowhere

17.2 – 29.4.2018

Photo: Alessandro Bianchetti

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Kansas City, USA

Worlds Otherwise Hidden

17.5 – 2.9.2018

Photo: © Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein

Vaduz

Kimsooja: Weaving the World

22.9.2017 – 21.1.2018

Photo: Aaron Wax

press

To Breathe – Galeries Lafayette

Galerie des Galeries

Kimsooja trasforma la cupola delle Galeries Lafayette a Parigi

Dario Bragaglia

Artribune

April 18, 2023

Leading Asian Artists Create New Works Within Hancock Shaker Village

Artfix Daily

June 1, 2022

Kimsooja, SCHAUENDES DENKEN

Doris von Drathen

Kunstforum

May 2020

Mirror image: Kimsooja’s self-reflective installations take over the French city of Poitiers

Andy St Louis

Wallpaper

October 12, 2019

Pick of the week: Kimsooja at Galleria Raffaella Cortese & Basilica of Sant’Eustorgio, Milan

Fi Churchman

ArtReview Asia

April 13, 2018

Kimsooja - Nähen und knoten

Kristin Schmidt

Kunstbulletin

November 2017

Multisala Anticrisi

Raffaella Cortese inaugura il terzo spazio in via Stradella

Ada Masoero

Il Giornale dell'Arte

September 2014

kimsooja: korean pavilion at the venice art biennale

Anita Hackethal

Designboom

June 5, 2013

publications

Kimsooja – Traversées. Identité, frontière, mémoire : trajectoires artistiques à Poitiers

Emma Lavigne, Emmanuelle de Montgazon

Silvana Editoriale

Milan

2019

della materia spirituale dell'arte / on the spiritual matter of art

Texts by Paolo Benanti, Andrea Carandini, Stefano Catucci, Eleonora Farina, Raffaella Frascarelli, Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, Riccardo Venturi

Quodlibet

Macerata

2019

Kimsooja: Interviews and Works

Edited by Christiane Meyer-Stoll

Buchhandlung Walther König

2018

Kimsooja: To Breathe Zone Of Zero

Cac Malaga

Malaga

2016

Kimsooja: Unfolding

Edited by Diana Augaitis

Hatje Cantz

Berlin

2013

To Breathe: Bottari

Published by Les presses du reel / Les presses du reel

2013

video


"Icônes" a Punta della Dogana: Kimsooja

2023

Artist Kimsooja narrates her works on show at Punta della Dogana, in the exhibition "Icônes". Until 27.11.23


Kimsooja: Weaving the Light

2023

Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard Edit: Malte Bruun Fals Produced by Christian Lund Copyright Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023. Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.


Meet the Artists | Kimsooja

2020

Film: Virgile Texier ​Cinematography: Jules Theret ​Post-production: Bengale TV and Oscar Dewatz ​Production: Coline Milliard and Jeanne-Salomé Rochat for Art Basel


Traversées \ Kimsooja: To breathe

2019

Traversées \ Kimsooja, City of Poitiers


Kimsooja: "A Beggar Woman" & "A Homeless Woman"

2009

From Art21’s Extended Play series Video courtesy Art21, art21.org, founded 1997


Kimsooja – Bottari Truck Migrateurs

2007

Filmed by Gilles Coudert, co-prod. Musée D'Art Contemporain du Val-De-Marne (MAC/VAL)

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