MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2016: Kimsooja: Archive of Mind

MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2016: Kimsooja-Archive of Mind is being held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (Seoul). Selected by MMCA to be featured as the third artist for MMCA Hyundai Motor Series, Kimsooja is internationally-acclaimed for her works focusing on the Korean identity.

MMCA Hyundai Motor Series is long-term annual project inaugurated in 2014, sponsored by Hyundai Motors Company to support solo exhibitions of distinguished Korean artists. By providing a pivotal opportunity of commissioning new large-scale works to the artists with distinctive practices, the series instills fresh invigorating possibilities into the field of Korean contemporary art.  

A contemporary artist known for her “Bottari” series which explores the Korean identity, Kimsooja has been selected this year following Lee Bul in 2014 and Ahn Kyu-chul in 2015. An exhibition shedding light on her recent works is to be shown at the MMCA Seoul from July 27, 2016 to February 5, 2017.

Kim’s work deals with universal issues of restoration and regeneration, transcending beyond the regional boundaries to embracing the contemporary age through relationships between self and others. Kim is praised for her steady practice which encompasses elements of Korean tradition and modernity, and particularity and universality.

This exhibition presents for the first time to the public a major performative installation Archive of Mind, a new sculpture installation Deductive Object, the new and fifth chapter of Kimsooja’s ongoing film series “Thread Routes,” and a series of recent works that mark an evolution in the artist’s practice. MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2016: Kimsooja-Archive of Mind presents works which have never been shown before, including her large-scale installation work constructed on-site, which transforms with the audience participation throughout the exhibition period, and an outdoor installation work in the courtyard. We hope this exhibition offers the audience the opportunity to delve into the ideas of duality and balance which have fascinated the artist since her early works until today.

Biography
Kimsooja was born in 1957 in Daegu, South Korea, and lives and works in New York, Paris and Seoul. She has had major exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Metz (2015); Guggenheim, Bilbao (2015); Vancouver Art Gallery (2013); Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2013); Perez Art Museum, Miami (2012); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2009); Baltic Center, Gateshead, UK (2009); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2008); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2006); Magasin 3, Stockholm (2006); National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2005); MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2005); Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2004); Contemporary Art Museum, Lyon (2003); PAC, Milan (2003); Kunsthalle Bern (2002); MoMA PS1 (2001); ICC, Tokyo (2001); Plateau, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2000), among other institutions. Kimsooja has participated in international group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2013, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999); Busan Biennale (2014, 2002); Gwangju Biennale (2012, 2002, 1995); Poznan Biennale (2010); Moscow Biennale (2009); Whitney Biennial (2002); Lyon Biennale (2000); Sao Paulo Biennale (1998); Istanbul Biennale (1997); and Manifesta 1 (1995), among others.