Do Ho Suh and Children: Artland

The Seoul Museum of Art presents a participatory exhibition in collaboration with artist Do Ho Suh (b. 1962, Seoul, Korea), which engages children in the creative process. Over the past seven years, Suh and his family have been creating a fantastical ecosystem called Artland out of children’s modeling clay. The circumstances of the pandemic and isolation allowed the family to reflect more deeply on the conversation that Artland invited.

Artland is both an imaginary world and, with the participation of others, an ever-expandable platform that celebrates the unique creative potential of the child’s mind. Artland is inhabited by diverse species of animals and plants, while its peculiar climate and soil result in different growth cycles and conditions for its flora and fauna to those on Earth. Working from an existing foundation made by the artist and family, which includes recycled containers, children are encouraged to add to the diverse alien species that might inhabit Artland and imagine the possibility of an alternative reality. Colorful clay is provided, with which visitors can mold different shapes and blend numerous hues. The new Artland islands will grow from specially designed modular tables, which encourage collaborative working. A fly-through video of the family’s original Artland rendered in 3D will also be presented.

Along with clay, the audience will be provided with a workbook The Wonders of Artland written by Suh’s two children as a guide to this uncharted series of islands. This workbook features drawing activities, an encyclopedic catalogue of Artland’s main species and an AR-animated pull-out poster. 

Through this exhibition, the audience are no longer deemed to be passive viewers, but creators, who shape their own thoughts and ideas in collaboration with the artist’s family and one another. Since the coronavirus outbreak, the joy of togetherness has been newly recognized. The Artland project aims to create a cultural event in which people can come together while thinking about their responsibilities to the environment and developing their creative potential through ordinary play materials. By giving children opportunities to express themselves and feel more confident in the process, Artland intends to have a lasting and meaningful impact on our communities.

Do Ho Suh works across various media, creating drawings, film, and sculptural works that confront questions of home, physical space, displacement, memory, individuality, and collectivity. Suh is best known for his fabric sculptures that reconstruct to scale his former homes in Korea, Rhode Island, Berlin, London, and New York. Suh is interested in the malleability of space in both its physical and metaphorical forms, and examines how the body relates to, inhabits, and interacts with that space. Suh lives and works in London.

The exhibition Do Ho Suh and Children: Artland is kindly supported by: Iljin Culture Foundation; Robert Walters Korea