Kimsooja
, Daegu, South-Korea — Lives and works in New York, USA
Kimsooja is an internationally acclaimed conceptual multi-media artist. Her practice combines performance, film, photo, and site-specific installation using textile, light, and sound. Kimsooja’s work reaches into conceptual and experiential domains latent in our surroundings and brings us to an awareness of self and others; she investigates questions concerning the conditions of humanity, while engaging issues of aesthetics, culture, politics, and the environment. Her principle of ‘non-doing’ and ‘non-making,’ which follows a conceptual and structural investigation of performance through modes of mobility and immobility, inverts the notion of the artist as the predominant actor. Kimsooja’s work invites us to question our existence, the world, and the major challenges we are facing in this era.
She was born in Daegu, Korea, a city known for its textile industry. After studying painting in Seoul, she had a residency at a lithography studio at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris (1984-1985) and at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (1992-1993). In the early 1980s her artistic practice started focusing on sewn work, which later evolved into the widely-acclaimed performance, "A Needle Woman", in 1999.
About Kimsooja
Kimsooja's recent major projects include Kimsooja: Sowing into Painting, Wanas Konst, Sweden (2020), Traversées\Kimsooja, Poitiers, France (2019-2020), To Breathe, Mairie de Saint-Ouen metro station, Paris (2020), 21st century new stained-glass installation, Saint-Etienne Cathedral, Metz, France (2020-2021), Asia Society Triennial, New York (2020). Kimsooja has exhibited in major museums and institutions around the world, including Peabody Essex Museum (2019); Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Chapel (2018-2019); Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (2018); Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein (2017); MMCA Seoul (2016); Centre Pompidou Metz (2015); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2015); Vancouver Art Gallery (2013); Museum of Modern Art Saint-Etienne (2012); Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) (2012); Baltic Center for Contemporary Art Gateshead, UK (2009); BOZAR, Brussels (2008); Crystal Palace, Reina Sophia (2006); The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2005); Kunstmuseum Palast Dusseldorf (2004); Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon (2003); PAC Milan (2003); Kunsthalle Wein (2002); Kunsthalle Bern (2001); MoMA PS1 (2001); Rodin Gallery, Leeum Samsung Museum of Fine Art (2000); ICC Tokyo (2001); and CCA Kitakyushu (1999).
Kimsooja represented Korea for the 55th Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion (2013), and for the 24th São Paulo Biennale (1998), participated in Kassel Documenta 14: ANTIDORON – The EMST Collection (2017), and has taken part in international biennials and triennials: Busan (2016, 2002), Venice (2019, 2013, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999), Gwangju (2012, 2002, 1995), Moscow (2009), Istanbul (1997), Lyon(2002), and Manifesta 1 (1996) among others.