South Korean artist Kimsooja’s exhibition in Hong Kong invites viewers to pause and reflect
- Artist’s ‘contemplative’ Hong Kong show explores our relationships with our bodies through rice paper ‘paintings’, clay works, video art and an installation
- Seeing the latter, which calls to mind giant tablecloths on a clothesline, viewers ‘automatically become part of the work’, one observer says
For a series of performances titled A Needle Woman, 1999–2001, South Korean artist Kimsooja stood motionless in the streets of busy metropolises such as Mexico City and New Delhi while masses of people pushed past her.
Despite her surroundings, she achieved a sense of stillness and inner calm.
Her current exhibition in Hong Kong, “Topography of Body”, at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang until June 3, can be described in the same way. It’s a meditative show that invites viewers to pause and reflect.
“During Art Basel, a lot of artists show off with visually spectacular works,” says Yongwoo Lee, assistant professor in cultural studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “But this is a very humble, contemplative show which is refreshing.”
The Seoul-based artist is also known for her fabric bundle sculptures inspired by the Korean practice of bottaris – wrapping personal belongings inside bed covers to take on a journey.
