The light waves and the sound waves together with my humming and the inhaling and exhaling of my own breath, question the moment of life and death—while the mirrors bounce light off their surfaces—breathing in and out. There was a moment in high school when I had to choose a major before entering college. Sometimes universal unconscious coincidences happen and it is interesting as it often reveals a truth of the world. Kimsooja … Kimsooja, ‘Thread Routes – Chapter 1’, 2010, stills from 16mm film transferred to HD format, 26m51s, sound, courtesy of Kukje Gallery, Seoul and Kimsooja Studio. How does living in three countries influence you as an artist? Performative Installation at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel. Jan 22, 2017 - Kimsooja’s Venice Biennale installation, ‘To Breathe: Bottari’ allows nature to permeate the walls of an interior space transforming it into a physical and psychological sanctuary. However, it is stimulating to live in New York and maintain critical distance by keeping myself at the edge of all that. The breathing sound performance was first experimented with at a former weaving factory in Lodz during Lodz Biennale, 2004. When I was commissioned by CCA Kitakyushu in 1999, I wished to do a performance piece anonymously, and document it on video. Although the Korean art world is still narrow, there’s a lot of positive energy in Seoul, which I think is promising if only they would reflect a little more on the reality of where they are. I realised there, standing, the meaning of my walking so far, and I had to do that ‘standing still’ performance right away. Korean artist Kimsooja, known for her performance, video and installations based on displacement and humanity, is representing South Korea at the Venice Biennale 2013. kimsooja's korean pavilion at the 2013 venice art biennale is a living, breathing 'bottari'--a physical and psychological sanctuary for personal reflection. Kimsooja ha rappresentato la Korea alla 24° Biennale di San Paolo nel 1998 e alla 55° Biennale di Venezia nel 2013; ha partecipato a più di 30 biennali e triennali in ambito internazionale. In this interview for Art Radar, Kimsooja talks about the ideas behind her projects and her current artwork, “Thread Routes.”. Is there a medium that you believe best expresses your ideas or you would like to explore further? Main space: Kimsooja, To Breathe: Bottari, 2013, Mixed media installation with The Weaving Factory, 2004-2013, The artist's voice performance sound, 5.1 channel, 9:14, loop Anechoic Chamber: Kimsooja, To Breathe: Blackout, 2013, Anechoic chamber in complete darkness * click images to view larger These non-descriptive and non-narrative documentary films, (although they are narrative compared to “A Needle Woman” or my other video pieces) were conceived after being inspired in Bruges, Belgium in 2002, by traditional lace-making and its performative elements. Performing the world’s poetry with “Thread Routes”. Rather, it became tied to notions of the body, to the condition of myself and women in general in Korean society, and also to human destiny at large. Are there any new projects you are working on or planning? Kimsooja’s Venice Biennale installation, ‘To Breathe: Bottari’ allows nature to permeate the walls of an interior space transforming it into a physical and psychological sanctuary. When I was eleven, our homeroom teacher asked us to write down two possible occupations that we wished to pursue in the future. This light and shadow reflects onto the white walls and simultaneously bounces endlessly back and forth from the mirrored skin of the ceiling and the floor, folding and unfolding into infinity. What was it like working with the curator Kim Seung-duk and Biennale director Massimiliano Gioni? The installation, Lotus: Zone of Zero (2008) transforms the space into a place of meditation for the audience with Gregorian, Islamic and Tibetan chants coming together at the centre. New Yorkers consider New York as a centre of the art world, but I often find it quite provincial considering what’s going on in the whole world. Tutti architettura design moda new media architettura design moda new media The grandness and the beauty of this palace enabled me to create the void, without installing any objects in it, by pushing the void of the palace all the way to the skin of the building, emptying it and reflecting the structure as a whole using the same translucent film on the glass of the windows, and creating a bottari of sound and light, filled with my breathing voices. Instead, I began to wrap existing used clothing as they were, in order to incorporate elements of reality. Kimsooja is currently exhibiting a site-specific installation for the world’s leading art’s festival, the 54th Venice Biennale. Related Topics: Korean artists, Biennales, performance art, video, Subscribe to Art Radar for more on contemporary Korean artist, Pingback: Sunday Morning Coffee [Things I’ve been meaning to read/write about] – Kate Korroch, Pingback: Kim Sooja | Interviews by Brainard Carey from Yale radio WYBC, Pingback: Kate Korroch » Blog Archive » Sunday Morning Coffee [Things I've been meaning to read/write about]. By defining this link I try to create a dialogue that enriches the context of contemporary art and life. In your video performance work “A Needle Woman” (1999-2001), you are standing meditatively still with your back facing the camera in the midst of people walking in bustling cities such as Tokyo, Cairo, New York, Delhi. Kimsooja – To Breathe: Bottari, 2013, 55 Biennale di Venezia Kimsooja – To Breathe: Bottari, 2013, 55 Biennale di Venezia Kimsooja – To Breathe: Bottari, 2013, 55 Biennale di Venezia. Art Radar spoke to the artist about her site-specific installation for the pavilion and the vision behind her work. The difference between the Crystal Palace piece and the Korean Pavilion is that for To Breathe: Bottari, I could create the relationship between light and darkness, which was a new evolution, and I was able to juxtapose visual knowledge with the unknown [and] unseen, by creating an anechoic chamber in complete darkness, which is called: To Breathe: Blackout. Art Radar is the only editorially independent online news source writing about contemporary art across Asia. The whole process of my practice has always been a journey of searching for a self awareness. Kimsooja: Sowing Into Painting. Learn how your comment data is processed. 1998. You have been the main subject in your performance works, but you’ve spoken previously about you being both “a subject and object, an individual and an abstraction, a specific woman and every woman.” Could you tell me in further detail what this concept means to you? Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio, Installation at The 3rd Asia - Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, Installation at Kim Sooja + Jeannett Christensen, Inaugural Exhibition at Kunsthalle Feldbach, Feldbach, Austria, 2.5 ton truck stacked with Bottaris,20m x 6.5m mirror structure, Photo by Luca Campigotto, Courtesy of Kimsooja Studio, Performative Installation at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Cities on the Move - 11633 miles Bottari Truck, 2 ton truck from Korea, bottaris, bungee cords, Installation view Sao Paolo Biennale, Brazil, Installation at Oakville Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Courtesy of Oakville Gallery and Kimsooja Studio, Deductive Object - Dedicated to My Marriage, Installation at the 5th Istanbul Biennale, Installation at Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Installation at Manifesta 1 at Museum Boymans Van-Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Installation at Roles of the Couple at Akira Ikeda Gallery, Taura, Deductive Object - dedicated to my neighbors, Installation at The Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, Seoul, Korea, Sewing Into Walking - dedicated to the victims of Kwangju, Installation at Tiger's Tail National Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwacheon, Korea, Installation at Information and Reality at Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, Installation at Women - The Difference Hankook Gallery, Seoul, Korea, Sewing into Walking - Multi Channel Video Installation, 3 channel video, multiple monitors, fabric installation, Installation at Ise Art Foundation, New York, Installation at Trade Routes at The New Museum, New York, installation details, dimensions variable, Photos by Andrew KearneyCourtesy of PS1 and Kimsooja Studio, Installation at Triangle Workshop at Pine Plains, New York, Installation at Kim Soo-Ja, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea. She has exhibited throughout the world in museums, institutions and galleries including Miami Art Museum, D’Art Moderne de Saint Etienne , Daegu Art Museum, Crystal Palace in Madrid, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center/MoMA in New York. Taking this pure visual experience as a statement on how I gaze at the world, I consider this film series a poetic, visual archaeology that becomes a retrospective of my practice in the past that continues today. On 1 June 2013, the 55th Venice Biennale opened in Italy, featuring national pavilions from 88 countries. Apr 6, 2019 - kimsooja's korean pavilion at the 2013 venice art biennale is a living, breathing 'bottari'--a physical and psychological sanctuary for personal reflection. Photo by Jan Liegeois. You are of South Korean heritage, living and working in New York, Seoul and Paris. It was interesting to be presented in the biennale for Massimiliano Gioni’s title “Il Palazzo Enciclopedico” [The Encyclopedic Palace]. Three Channels sound installation with jukebox, mixed sound from Tibetan monk chant, Gregorian chant, and Islamic chant. The way I place my body creates the nature of my body as a symbolic needle that can be seen and experienced, both as a self and an ‘other’; a barometer of each performed location as an axis of space and time. Scopri le migliori foto stock e immagini editoriali di attualità di Kimsooja su Getty Images. Seoul has passionate audiences who are anxious to catch up with what’s going on in the world. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As part of the event, Kimsooja has invited some fifteen fellow artists, to include Tadashi Kawamata, Lee Mingwei, Min Tanaka, Thomas Ferrand, Subodh Gupta, Jung Marie, Stephen Vitiello and Rirkrit Tiravanija, amongst others, to observe the city and to contribute their own perspectives. As I continued the performance, the status of my mind transformed from vulnerability to stability—finding a centre and a focus, and in the end, I felt a strong connection of my body and mind to the world, full of compassion. Could you describe your background and why you became an artist? Kimsooja, ‘Deductive Object’, 1996, used bedcovers and used clothes, dimensions variable, installation at Akira Ikeda Gallery, Taura, Japan. Photo by Mattias Givell. By wrapping fragments of colourful traditional clothing with a colourful bedcover, I discovered it [the fabric] could become a wrapped two-dimensional “tableau” that was transformed into a three-dimensional sculpture simply by tying one knot and holding all the contents inwardly, as if hugging them all or being pregnant. It was significant that Hurricane Sandy happened in New York right at the moment when the commissioner of the Korean Pavilion and I were discussing this project. Jun 16, 2013 - kimsooja's korean pavilion at the 2013 venice art biennale is a living, breathing 'bottari'--a physical and psychological sanctuary for personal reflection. Encounter Installation. There was also a statement by [musician] John Cage [which] I saw in 1984 at the Paris Biennale that was a turning point in my art making: “Whether or not you try to make it, the sound is heard.” From that moment, when I was 26 years old, I started thinking of ‘Non-Making’ in ‘Making Art’. Photography by Jaeho Chong, image courtesy Arts Council Korea and Kimsooja Studio. Could you tell me how this piece came about? Arte, Architettura, Cinema, Danza, Musica, Teatro, Archivio Storico delle Arti Contemporanee, College, etc etc... 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