Korean artist-exhibition
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| ▲ Kimsooja's "To Breathe -- Sunhyewon 2025" is seen in this photo taken Sept. 2, 2025, in Sunhyewon, Samcheong-dong, Seoul. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Kimsooja's "Bottari" (2022) is seen in this photo taken Sept. 2, 2025, in Sunhyewon, Samcheong-dong, Seoul. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Artist Kimsooja speaks at a press conference for her solo exhibition, "Kimsooja, To Breathe -- Sunhyewon," at the traditional Korean hanok, Sunhyewon, in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, on Sept. 2, 2025. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Kimsooja's "Deductive Object -- Bottari" (2023) is seen in this photo taken Sept. 2, 2025, in Sunhyewon, Samcheong-dong, Seoul. (Yonhap) |
Korean artist-exhibition
Kimsooja's meditative art transforms historic hanok into reflection on existence
By Woo Jae-yeon
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- A step into the expansive, light-filled spaces of the traditional Korean house, "hanok," Sunhyewon, in Seoul's Samcheong-dong, brings an immersive and surreal experience akin to walking on clouds.
The reflective surface, which mirrors the wooden ceiling, blurs the lines between the venue's architectural grace and its surroundings, creating a dreamlike sensation. It evokes a sense of disorientation, much like standing on the famous Uyuni Salt Flats, a place often described as where the heavens and earth become one.
This site-specific installation is part of the upcoming exhibition, "Kimsooja, To Breathe -- Sunhyewon," the artist's first solo exhibition in her home country in 10 years.
Kimsooja is best known for her "Bottari" installation series, which she began in 1992, featuring bundles of used clothing wrapped in traditional Korean fabric. Through the series, she explores themes of migration, memory and the human experience on a level that is both deeply personal and broadly social.
At a press conference at the hanok, formerly the private residence of the SK Group's founding family, the 68-year-old artist explained that the 11 pieces on display are all thematically connected to her career-long Bottari series.
"This installation can be seen as an architectural interpretation of the Bottari," she said. "By installing mirrors on the floor, the space itself is regarded as a kind of Bottari -- another form of Bottari, in fact, one that the audience can interact with."
Sharing her longstanding desire to work within a hanok, she said, "As soon as I opened the door of Gyeongheunggak, I immediately knew I had to do the mirror installation there," referring to the name of the hanok's building inside Sunhyewon.
"I had no other choice but to do it, and the end result is what you see today," she added.
For the exhibition, she also presented "Deductive Object -- Bottari" inspired by the Korean white porcelain Moon Jar from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
"I wanted to reinterpret the Moon Jar in the concept of my Bottari series," she said. "I see the connection between the two."
Unlike ordinary functional jars, hers are conceptual pieces unable to hold anything within. The challenging process of reinterpreting these iconic vessels within her own Bottari concept reminded her of the core ideas that have driven her work from the beginning, she said.
Born in 1957 in the southeastern city of Daegu, she studied painting at Seoul's Hongik University and has since expanded her artistic practice to include performance, installation, video and sound, creating works that are renowned for their deeply meditative quality.
Her other signature works include the "Needle Woman" video series, which features her standing still in bustling cities around the world, using her own body as a silent, motionless presence in chaotic environments to reflect a meditative inquiry into stillness, displacement and universal connectivity.
An active participant in international biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Documenta 11 and Whitney Biennial, she has also held major solo exhibitions at London's Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou in Paris and New York's Guggenheim.
"Kimsooja, To Breathe -- Sunhyewon," run by SK Group's Podo Museum, is set to open Wednesday and run until Oct. 19.
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