Kimsooja: Weaving the World : Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is devoting an extensive solo exhibition to the Korea-born artist Kimsooja (* 1957), who lives and works in New York and Seoul.

In her performances, installations, sculptures, video and photo works Kimsooja combines isolated, fragmentary observations to form a whole encounter of different places and people. Duration and time and the metaphorical intertwining of her own experiences, cultural backgrounds, and historical references all play a major role. The artist equates her task with a needle whose work brings together divergent elements, that is to say, different cultures or standpoints.

One day in 1983, Kimsooja was sewing a traditional bedcover together with her mother. When passing the needle through the fabric, she had a sudden sensation like an electric shock. “The energy of my body channeled through the needle, seeming to connect to the energy of the world. From that moment, I understood the power of sewing: the relationship of needle to fabric is like my body to the universe.” This experience became a far-reaching crucial experience for Kimsooja’s artistic work. Her highly varied and contemplative oeuvre has received considerable international attention for over 30 years. Works from 1999 to 2017 are now on show at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein.

The thread that runs through the exhibition—as expressed by the title—is the metaphor of Weaving the World. Among the works featured is the trailblazing video installation A Needle Woman (1999–2001) in which the artist stands still facing the waves of crowds in eight metropolises. Thread Routes – Chapter IV (China) of her latest 16mm film work Thread Routes (2010–ongoing) is shown for the first time. This distinct body of work, filmed in six chapters, each shot in a different cultural area of the world, weaves an impressive tapestry of textile traditions in all their beauty, at the same time reflecting the interaction with nature, architecture and agriculture. Thread Routes – Chapter I (Peru) and Thread Routes – Chapter II (Europe) are also on show at the exhibition. 

The exhibition conceived in close collaboration with Kimsooja is a production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll.

Courtesy of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and Kimsooja Studio

Photo by Aaron Wax