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Art & Everyday LifeKimsooja

July 16, 2010

With her video Sewing into Walking as a backdrop, Kimsooja tells a story about mending traditional Korean bed covers and realizing that art can be drawn out of everyday activities.

More information and credits

Credits

Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Richard Numeroff. Sound: Merce Williams. Editor: Lizzie Donahue & Paulo Padilha. Artwork Courtesy: Kimsooja.

Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian

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Kimsooja

Kimsooja’s videos and installations blur the boundaries between aesthetics and transcendent experience through their use of repetitive actions, meditative practices, and serial forms. In many pieces, everyday actions—such as sewing or doing laundry—become two- and three-dimensional or performative activities. Central to her work is the “bottari,” a traditional Korean bed cover used to wrap and protect personal belongings, which Kimsooja transforms into a philosophical metaphor for structure and connection. While striking for their vibrant color and density of imagery, Kimsooja’s works emphasize metaphysical changes within the artist-as-performer as well as the viewer.

“For me, all the questions I had personally or professionally as an artist were always linked to life itself. I see art in life and life as an art, and I couldn’t separate those from one another.”

Kimsooja


Art & Family

5:38
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Tim Hawkinson


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Interview

It Was Just a Dream

In this interview, conducted in 2008 at Kimsooja’s Hudson Street Studio in New York City, the artist discusses becoming an artist, her earliest influences, and her “breathing room” installations.