Kimsooja

Kimsooja (; born 1957) was born in Daegu, South Korea. Kimsooja is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist who travels between her three homes and places of work in New York City, Paris, and Seoul. In 1980 Kim graduated with a B.F.A in Painting from Hong-Ik University, Seoul and continued to pursue her M.F.A there, obtaining the degree in 1984 at the age of 27. Her origin as a painter was a crucial starting point for the development of her art. That same year, she received a scholarship to study art at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, where she studied Printmaking. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1988 at Gallery Hyundai, Seoul. Currently, her work is featured in countless international museums and galleries as well as public art fairs and other spaces. Her practice combines performance, film, photo, and site-specific installation using textile, light, and sound. Kimsooja's work 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 recent major projects include Sowing into Painting, Wanas Konst, Sweden, To Breathe, Public Commission for the new metro station Mairie de Saint-Ouen in Paris (2020), 21st century new stained-glass commission for the Saint-Etienne Cathedral in Metz, France (2021), Asia Society Triennial, New York (2020). Kimsooja has exhibited in major museums and institutions around the world, including Peabody Essex Museum (2019);

Name After choosing a domain name for her website, Kimsooja explored the conceptual implications of presenting her name as a single word, which became the basis for A One-Word Name Is An Anarchist's Name (2003). She described this format as resisting distinctions of gender, marital status, and cultural or social identity by unifying the family and given name. The adoption of a one-word name also reflects her artistic development and asserts a sense of autonomy over her identity.

Early career

While in University, Kimsooja discovered her love for understanding the connection of aesthetics and human psychology which lead to the motive behind many of her works. Kimsooja references, from her first work to her most recent, how humans react to fabric, paint, sculpture and more, and how we experience the world as humans. Kimsooja's "Sewing" series (1983–1992), her first work with fabric, brought forth an assemblage of systems of horizontals and verticals. Her use of fabric evoked bottari cloth, a traditional Korean wrapping cloth, typically made and used by women. She utilized fabric forming cruciform structures that synthesized an entangled and knotted vision of society and the world into a system of horizontals and verticals. Like the Spatialist painter Lucio Fontana, who pierced the uni-colored canvas with a sharped-edged dagger, Kimsooja also made art that was no longer a screen of illusion but a three-dimensional structure as she weaved through the surface of the work, piercing holes into it.

Subsequent to a residency at MoMA PS1 in 1992–93, Kimsooja initiated a series of site-specific installations that found their origin in the Korean color spectrum (obangsaek). She created sculptures inspired from Korean bedcover cloth bundles that are associated in Korean culture with travel and migration, and may also be interpreted in her work as an allusion to restrictions on female activities. These bedcover bundles inspired the title of a number of sculptures and installation works that Kimsooja titled after the Korean word, bottari, that intimates the idea of travel but also refers to concepts of wrapping and unfolding.

In 1992, the installation Deductive Objects, shown at MoMA PS1, took up an entire brick wall where small torn pieces of used Korean bedcover fabric were inserted by the artist in tiny holes between the bricks. The sculptural elements alongside the wall installation were composed of everyday objects wrapped in Bottari cloth, such as a carrier, a doorframe, a hook, a saw, a spool, a shovel, a clothing rack, or a ladder.

Performance and video works

Early performance and video works

In Kimsooja's first video performance, Sewing into Walking-Kyungju (1994), Kimsooja is seen atop the valleys of Gwangju (formerly spelled Kwangju), South Korea, picking up scattered bedcovers on the valley's floor and wrapping them into a bundle. A year later, Kimsooja returned to the valley for the first Gwangju Biennale in Korea and scattered various clothes made of traditional Korean fabrics on the ground of a forest. This installation, made of 2.5 tons of second-hand clothes and entitled Sewing into Walking- Dedicated to the victims of Kwangju, commemorated the victims of the suppression of a democratic protest in Gwangju in 1980. This work established an analogy between the structure of fabric and that of the land, which was of particular importance in terms of confirming the three-dimensionality and spatial topology of fabric in Kimsooja's work, as well as establishing her body in performance as a needle that weaves through the fabric of humanity and nature.

Cities on the Move: 2727km Bottari Truck and Bottari Truck - Migrateurs In Cities on the Move – 2727 km Bottari Truck, Kimsooja sits atop a mound of bottari being transported across the country. Documenting part of her 11-day performance on her journey to places she resided before she made a cultural exile from Korea to New York at the end of the 1990s.

A Needle Woman Video still of Kimsooja's 1999 performance "A Needle Woman." In 1999, Kimsooja presented her most iconic work: A Needle Woman, In A Needle Woman, the artist is seen with her back facing the camera, wearing precisely the same clothes and standing precisely the same way in various metropolises: Tokyo, Shanghai, Delhi, New York, Mexico City, Cairo, Lagos, London, Patan, Nepal (1999–2001); and in a second series of performances: Havana, Cuba; N'Djamena, Chad; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Sana'a, Yemen; and Jerusalem (2005).

Kimsooja, To Breathe - Invisible Mirror / Invisible Needle, 2006.

Other video and film works For A Mirror Woman: The Sun and The Moon, commissioned by the Shiseido Art Foundation in 2008, Kimsooja filmed the sun setting and the moon rising along the beach of Goa, India. The artist then digitally layered an eclipse, in which the footage of the Sun and the Moon were fused together.

In Earth – Water – Fire – Air, a multi-channel video projection that premiered at the 2009 Lanzarote Biennale, Spain, the fusion of basic elements was grasped live by the artist on the Island of Lanzarote in the Canary Island, Guatemala, and Greenland.

Thread Routes is a 16mm film project initiated by Kimsooja in 2010, entitled Thread Routes. Divided into six chapters, the series unfolds as an "anthropological poem" centered on the act of threading. Filmed across six distinct cultural regions - Peru, Europe, India, China, North America and North Africa - the project examines shared practices of textile production while exploring broader themes of labor, tradition, and cultural continuity.

To Breathe: Invisible Mirror/ Invisible Needle, which premiered at La Fenice, Venice in 2006, was a nine-minute video projection of a color spectrum that filled the entirety of the theater's stage. A five-channel audio track entitled The Weaving Factory (2004) accompanied the piece, forming a couplet of inhalation and exhalation of the artist's own breathing that became increasingly less agile as the color spectrum continued its gestation.

Site-specific installations Over the last two decades, Kimsooja has developed works that uses lights and color–in parallel to Obangsaek color spectrum, which represents 5 cardinal directionality in Korean philosophy–in response to many historical and modern buildings.

A Lighthouse Woman (2002) was a site-specific installation where Kimsooja used light, color, and sound to transform the abandoned lighthouse in Morris Island (Charleston, South Carolina) for the 2002 Spoleto Festival. A Lighthouse Woman inaugurated a series of work the artist created as memorial projects that includes: Sewing Into Walking - Dedicated to the victims of Kwangju (1995); Planted Names (2002); Mandala: Chant for Auschwitz (2010); and A Mirror Woman: The Ground of Nowhere (2003). Another commemorative work, Kimsooja's An Album: Hudson Guild, is a video project created in collaboration with the Hudson Guild Senior Center in Chelsea, New York, in 2009.

In Lotus: Zone of Zero was first installed at Palais Rameau, Lille, Kimsooja hung six rows of concentric circles consisting of 384 temple lanterns in the shape of lotus blossoms from the glass pavilion. Six speakers aligned the circle simultaneously played Gregorian, Tibetan, and Islamic chants, which echoed throughout the room and united at the hollow center. According to Kimsooja, this is the realm of "Zero," in which different faiths form a harmonious union that transcends into a space for meditation and contemplation. The many lanterns hung overhead were meant to humble the viewer and remind them of their relationship with their community. Kimsooja created Lotus: Zone of Zero in response to the Iraq War; she wanted to create a place where different religions and people of different cultures could live in a state of harmonious coexistence.

Kimsooja represented Korea for the South Korean pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. These aspects of light and sound were further heightened by To Breathe: Blackout (2013), an anechoic chamber where the audience would be cast in complete darkness and devoid of sound except for that of the viewer's own body. and Mandala: Zone of Zero, which premiered at The Project in New York City in 2003 and consisted of the sound of Tibetan, Gregorian, and Islamic chants animating a large target-shaped jukebox.

Traversees/Kimsooja (2019) saw the artist take over the City of Poitiers for the first edition of the international cultural event, presenting more than a dozen site-specific installations across historic monuments, including Archive of Mind (2019), To Breathe (2019), To Breathe - The Flags (2019), and Bottari 1999-2019 (2019), a shipping container painted in Obangsaek colors and filled with personal belongings accumulated over two decades, symbolizing her nomadic practice.

Sowing into Painting (2020), installed in Wanås, Sweden, combined film, sculpture, painting, and agriculture by planting a field of flax to reflect cycles of material production, exploring themes of impermanence, transformation, and the relationship between life and art.

To Breathe (2023), a permanent installation at the Mairie de Saint-Ouen metro station in Paris, features light-diffracting glass walls installed in the station concourse, integrating Kimsooja's exploration of light and space into a public environment.

Exhibitions (selection) Kimsooja's exhibition history reflects her ongoing exploration of movement, identity, and cultural connection through performance, video, and installation. From early works such as A Needle Women to recent projects like To Breathe - Constellation, her practice has developed a distinctive artistic language centered on the body and its relationship to space. This selection of exhibitions highlights the global scope of her work, spanning major museums, biennales, and public sites worldwide, and demonstrates both the evolution of her artistic vision and her lasting impact on contemporary art. To Breathe – Constellation, Bourse de Commerce, Paris, France, 2024 Kimsooja - (Un)folding Bottari, The Museum für Asiatische Kunst and The Ethnologisches Museum, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany, 2023 Kimsooja, To Breathe, Metz Cathedral, Metz, France, 2022 BIENALSUR 2021, Buenos Aires: Chapter 1 - Kimsooja: The Encounter with the Other, Chapter 2 - Nomad, Chapter 3 - An Inner Experience, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2021 We Do Not Dream Alone, Inaugural Asia Society Triennial, New York, USA, 2020 Kimsooja: Sowing into Painting, Wanås Foundation, Wanås, Sweden, 2020 Traversées\Kimsooja, Inaugural biennale featuring more than ten site-specific installations, Poitiers, France, 2019 Kimsooja: To Breathe, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK, 2019 Kimsooja: Archive of Mind, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA, 2019 Zone of Nowhere, PICA, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia, 2018 To Breathe - The Flags, Perth Festival, Perth, Australia, 2018 Weaving the World, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 2017 KIMSOOJA / Archive of Mind, MMCA, Seoul, Korea, 2016 Kimsooja, To Breathe, Centre Pompidou Metz, 2015 Kimsooja, Thread Routes, Guggenheim Bilbao, 2015 Kimsooja, Mumbai: A Laundry Field, Feldkirch Church, Co-organized by Kunstmuseum Lichtenstein, Lichtenstein, 2010 A Needle Woman - Paris, Hôtel De Ville Paris, Commissioned by Nuit Blanche, Paris, France, 2009 Black Box: Kimsooja, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., United States, 2008 Kimsooja, To Breathe - A Mirror Woman, a site-specific installation at the Crystal Palace, commissioned by Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain, 2006 Kimsooja, To Breathe / Respirare, A Site-Specific Installation at La Fenice Theater, in conjunction with a joint Solo Exhibition at Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Venice, Italy, 2006 Kimsooja, To Breathe: Invisible Mirror / Invisible Needle, Theatre Chatelet, Commissioned by Nuit Blanche Paris, France, 2006 Kimsooja, A Wind Woman, The Project, New York, United States, 2006 Kimsooja, A Wind Woman, Peter Blum Gallery, Chelsea New York, 2006 Kimsooja, Conditions of Humanity, traveling solo show, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany; Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, PAC, Milan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon 2004 Kimsooja, A Laundry Woman, Kunsthalle, Wien, Austria, 2002 Kimsooja, A Needle Woman, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center / MOMA, New York, United States, 2001 Kimsooja, A Needle Woman, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland 2001 Kimsooja, Bottari, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany, 2001 Kimsooja, A Needle Woman, ICC, Tokyo, Japan, 2000 Kimsooja, Bottari Truck in Exile, 48th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 1999

Awards, fellowships and commissions (selection) The 34th Fukuoka Prize (Arts and Culture), 2024 Okgwan, The Order of Cultural Merit, 2021 Medal of the City of Poitiers, 2019 Asia Society Arts Award, Hong Kong, 2017 Kim Se-Choong Sculpture Award, Seoul, Korea, 2017 Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Minister of Culture, France, 2017 Ho-Am prize for the Arts, Ho-Am foundation, South Korea, 2015 A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir, commissioned by CCA on the occasion of first Cornell University Biennale Ithaca, New York, 2014 Grant recipient, New York State Council on the Arts, New York An Album: Hudson Guild commissioned by More Art, New York, 2009 A Needle Woman - Paris, Hôtel De Ville Paris, Commissioned by Nuit Blanche, Paris, France, 2009 Grant recipient, New York State Council of the Arts, An Album: Hudson Guild, commissioned by More Art, New York, 2009 Musee d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, 2008 Kimsooja, To Breathe: Invisible Mirror / Invisible Needle, Theatre Chatelet, Commissioned by Nuit Blanche Paris, France, 2006 Korea Culture & Arts Foundation Grant, Seoul, for Always a Little Further, the 51st Venice Biennale, Arsenale, Venice, 2005 Anonymous Was A Woman Foundation Award, New York, Artist of the American Art Award, Whitney Museum of America, Sponsored by Cartier Co., New York, 2002 Korea Culture & Arts Foundation Award, Seoul, Award for the Best Show of the Year 2000, for the solo exhibition A Needle Woman – A Woman Who Weaves the World at Rodin Gallery, Samsung Art Museum, Seoul, 2001 Paradise Culture Foundation Award, Seoul, 2000 Residency Award, World Views – at World Trade Center, New York, awarded by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, 1998 Artist in Residence, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, 1992–93 Documenta 14: ANTIDORON - The EMST Collection, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 2017 Socle du Monde Biennale, HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark, 2017 Inhabiting the World - Busan Biennale 2014, Busan, South Korea, 2014 Intimate Cosmologies: The Aesthetics of Scale in an Age of Nanotechnology. The 1st Cornell University Biennale Ithaca, New York, 2014 The International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 2014 Korean Pavilion, The 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 2013 Beyond Mediations, Poznan Biennale, Zamek Art Center, Poznan, Poland, 2010 Dress Codes, The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, International Center for Photography, New York, United States, 2009 Against Exclusion - The 3rd Moscow Biennale, The Garage, Moscow, Russia, 2009 The 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, 2009 Always a Little Further, The 51st Venice Biennale, Arsenale, Venice, Italy, 2005 The 10th Biennial of Moving Images, Geneva, Switzerland, 2003 Ideal City - Solares, the 2nd Valencia Biennale, Valencia, Spain, 2003 71st Whitney Biennial, Central Park, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, United States, 2002 The 1st Busan Biennale, Metropolitan Museum, Busan, South Korea, 2002 Sharing Exotism, The 5th Biennale de Lyon, Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, France, 200 D'APERTutto, The 48th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 1999 Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, 1999.APT3 - Artist's Work The 24th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil, 1998 Manifesta 1, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1996 The 1st Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea, 1995