Do Ho Suh's evocative installations questioning memory and space go to Australia

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Tue, September 26, 2023 | 09:02

Theater & Others

Do Ho Suh's evocative installations questioning memory and space go to Australia

Posted : 2022-11-01 16:18

Updated : 2022-11-02 16:29

Installation view of Do Ho Suh's "Staircase-III" (2010) / Courtesy of the artist, Antoine van Kaam

By Park Han-sol

Do Ho Suh, a renowned globetrotting installation artist behind the otherworldly fabric replicas of his former homes in Korea, Rhode Island, New York, London and Berlin, will be brought to the spotlight this fall for the first time in Australia.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia's (MCA) "Do Ho Suh" is the artist's first-ever solo exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere, held as part of the Sydney International Art Series. The series has previously highlighted pioneering old and contemporary masters around the world, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Doug Aitken.

The 60-year-old's sculptures and architectural installations of varying sizes ― from a single household item like a door handle and a light switch to life-size residences he has inhabited ― often confront questions involving memory, displacement and the body's intricate relationship to physical space.

The Sydney show highlights the multidisciplinary creator's extensive oeuvre spanning three decades through 37 works of large-scale interactive installations, sculptures, printmaking, drawings, photography and videos.

Installation artist and sculptor Do Ho Suh / Courtesy of Daniel Dorsa

Suh's "Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home" reconstructs the exterior of the artist's childhood home in Seoul ― a "hanok," or traditional Korean house characterized by tiled roof called "giwa" and windows and walls covered with "hanji" (Korean paper made from the bark of mulberry trees) ― through paper rubbings.

Also on view will be his multihued and gauzy replicas of hallways and foyers that visitors can walk around (the "Hub" series), as well as the hovering staircase that leads to nowhere in particular ("Staircase-III"). These handstitched fabric structures appear almost spectral for their semi-transparent quality, visualizing the ethereal, shapeless nature of memory.

Meanwhile, "Metal Jacket" is modern-day armor, so to speak, made up of thousands of stainless steel dog tags. It recalls none other than Suh's own experience of compulsory military service in Korea, with the tags symbolizing the individual identities of the faceless and nameless soldiers.

Related talks and a performance will take place throughout the exhibition's months-long run, led by Australian-born Korean film director Andrew Undi Lee, lecturers Sarah Keith and Ju Hyun Lee, as well as drummer Chloe Kim.

"Do Ho Sun" will run from Nov. 4 to March 26, 2023, at the MCA.

hansolp@koreatimes.co.kr