Homo Faber: Craft in Contemporary Sculpture

Bùi Công Khánh, Suki Seokyeong Kang, Kim Beom, Liu Wei, Mai-Thu Perret, Sopheap Pich, Matthew Ronay, Thomas Schütte, Do Ho Suh, Rosemarie Trockel, Paloma Varga Weisz, Claudia Wieser, Haegue Yang, Yin Xiuzhen

Homo Faber: Craft in Contemporary Sculpture features sculptural works that apply handicraft techniques or craft material among the various trajectories of contemporary sculpture in the last 20 or so years. In this exhibition, “craft element” functions as a keyword which sheds a new light on contemporary sculpture. The artists invited to the exhibition present works that explore craft elements through issues in regional specificity, globalism, sociopolitical issues, and historical consciousness, while also tracing the changes in contemporary sculptural practice. Their works redefine and recreate contemporary sculpture, making elaborate and convincing connections between “craft element’s” with different space-times, various traditions, complex styles and intricate issues in reality.

They also explore a more expanded meaning of the social, cultural and political contexts through the subject of craft, and pose new questions on the sculptural practice today through perfected craftsmanship, traditional characteristics and advanced techniques. While sculptures made of traditional technique, craft material and craftsmanship may have once seemed like artifacts, the works in Homo Faber: Craft in Contemporary Sculpture break away from the concerns surrounding craft and decorative art practice. Feely engaging with traditional skills and craft material, these works seek new strategies between the return to tradition and radical progress, and propose a unique perspective on Modernism’s reflective retrospection, regional identity, and globalization.

Curated by Sungwon Kim
Artistic Director, Asia Culture Institute

Host by
Asia Culture Center

Production by
Asia Culture Institute