Kim Sooja
dal 14/2/2002 al 28/2/2002
Segnalato da
14/2/2002
Kim Sooja
Kunsthalle Wien Project Space, Wien
A Laundry Woman. Luminous red, yellow, blue and green sheets hung on thin ropes sway softly in the new glass cube of the Kunsthalle Wien. They are part of the installation by the Korean artist. In this installation designed specifically for the project space, Sooja, who originally worked as a painter, arranges her 'pictures' as a room installation with traditional Korean cloths. Through these colourful bed covers, decorated with symbolic embroidery, Sooja transmits a feeling for both the usefulness as well as the beauty of the material.
Luminous red, yellow, blue and green sheets hung on thin ropes sway softly
in the new glass cube of the Kunsthalle Wien. They are part of the
installation A Laundry Woman (2002) by the Korean artist, Kim Sooja. In
this installation designed specifically for the project space, Sooja, who
originally worked as a painter, arranges her 'pictures' as a room installation
with traditional Korean cloths. Through these colourful bed covers,
decorated with symbolic embroidery, Sooja transmits a feeling for both the
usefulness as well as the beauty of the material.
Regardless of where one comes from, the need for nutrition, clothing and
protection are the same and they will not diminish in the wake of
modernisation and in the midst of globalisation. The covers are not merely
an aesthetic and symbolic element; they are also the basis for the resting,
sleeping, loving and dead body.
Calm is also expressed in Sooja's video of the same name A Laundry
Woman (2000). The artist stands at the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi,
India. The dark water appears like a film passing by the artist, standing
motionless, bringing with it parts of life in the things which it transports from
a nearby crematorium. As in an act of cleansing, the artist "washes" them,
accompanied by the reflections of the birds flying by. Through this
meditation on life and death, the video returns to the original question of
humanity. Despite the back view, the empathy between life and death is felt.
Kim Sooja was born in 1957 in Taegu, Korea, she has lived in New York
since 1998. 1992-93 she was Artist in Residence at P.S. 1 International
Studio Program. Numerous solo exhibitions, including: 2001 Kunsthalle
Bern, 2000 Rodin Gallery, Seoul and ICC, Tokyo, 1997 Magasin, Grenoble.
Kim Sooja is included in the upcoming Whitney Biennale, 2002.
The exhibition is a cooperation of the Kunsthalle Wien and P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center, New York.
Curator: Gerald Matt
Opening: Tuesday, 12 February, 2002, 7 pm
Image: Kim Sooja, A Laundry Woman, 2000
KUNSTHALLE Wien project space
Karlsplatz, Treitlstrasse 2, A-1040 Wien