• Kimsooja (b. Taegu, Korea, 1957) is a world-renowned artist, who has been living in New York since 1999. She has been included in many important contemporary art publications throughout the world, and has been exhibiting her works in Asia, America and Europe. Her work includes installation, performance, video and photography. Nomadism has been a constant in her life since childhood, and has also become a strategy that she has been using continuously to articulate her artistic work — the imperatives of the ego, passion and desire; detachment from material, and relationships with other people, are a continuous search throughout her artistic creations. The main themes she deals with are movement, totality, time and space, life, death, and the ephemeral aspect of the material world. Different interpretations of her work offer a wide spectrum of readings and several contexts — from minimalism, feminism, nomadism, buddhism, to aesthetic and political ideologies. Nevertheless, the main purpose of her work is a mode of artistic creation, her belief in intuition, and reaching balance. Compassion is an element of Kimsooja's work that manifests also as a response, not in terms of direct political activism, but as conscience and conscious presence; as witness. Kimsooja's work was presented to Slovenia at the last year's exhibition The Fifth Gospel in Celje.

• The following text is from a conversation with the artist Kimsooja, and the intense personal experience and subsequent reflection provoked by seeing her video works. The questions that followed the primary impulse was how did the artist, with seemingly minimalistic means, succeed in opening up a new perspective for the viewer, and at the same time awaken human consciousness in a remarkably simple and fascinating way. When we are standing in front of Kimsooja's artwork, we are actually confronting ourselves.

• Petra Kapš
  A One-Word Name Is An Anarchist's Name is the first statement on your website project. At first sight, the notion of anarchism seems to be in complete contrast with your work. On the other hand, your activities in the Western art world and society in terms of minimalism, detachment, reduction of the ego, your respect to nature and all living beings and unmindfulness of self-image, they all work subversively to that first impression.

• Kimsooja
  What I made in this comment on my website, 'A One-Word Name Is An Anarchist's Name' was a symbolic cultural statement in respect to naming an individual who lives as an outsider from one's own society, as a spectator rather than as an activist who practices anarchism in an actual political context.

• Petra Kapš
  In public you appear with the name Kimsooja, the identity of which is explained on your website with the following words: "A one word name refuses gender identity, marital status, socio-political or cultural and geographical identity by not separating the family name and the first name." Can your intentions in the art world also be indicated with these words?

• Kimsooja
  I was actually more interested in the possibilities the art world has, which allows universal language and diversity. This is in contrast to my own limited socio-cultural daily life context from Korea — to be more independent as a human being out of hierarchy, to question and open up a new relationship to the society.

• The symbolic meaning of the different ways a married women's name appears in different societies is quite interesting — married women's names in Western society follow after their husband's name, and that of Asian women's follow after their own father's name, both of which eventually keep the male dominant family name. This gives an interesting contrast and level of perception of what degree and hierarchy those two societies are similar as male dominant societies, and different in terms of women's status. This idea of putting my first name and last name together suddenly stimulated my desire to be free from any of social structures, and expanded my imagination to obtain an absolute independency as a human being, within the art world at least. Different from a person's name in daily life, the name presented in the art world usually represents no personality or emphasis of their gender, but functions more as a symbol of a specific art practice as a character. However, it was a symbolic gesture for me to explain my social, cultural burden from Korean society, from which I wished so much to be liberated.

• Petra Kapš
  Upon entering your website, the user reads your words: "I was hoping for an ideal society and relationship among people in the art world in which we could share real opinions with honesty, sincerity, dignity and love of art and life. I hope that my website project will not just introduce my activities but can bring more articulated discussions and criticism on art and the world." The site was published on 14 July 2003 — what are your experiences with this appeal now? Also, what do the individual responses to your 'Action Two: It Is Not Fair' mean to you?

• Kimsooja
  It is quite a delicate issue. Around the time when I decided to start my website, I was very disappointed by the dominate big international biennale scenes. Although I've been in many of these international events, and have had both positive and negative experiences, in general these international biennale scenes show very little respect for art and the artists. They seem to focus more and more on the power structure of the art world, and their specific political alliances with the artists and institutions, rather than the quality of the work or it's meaning. The peak of this phenomenon has past, and there seems to be an effort to make some balance between the role of artists and that of curators. There must be a balance between the creator and the organizer, and neither should empower the other, but instead communicate and encourage each other in equal amounts. Although both artists and curators have different attitudes and perspectives, in the end we always learn from each other. This is just one example of the varied relationships between people that I wished to address.

• The 'Action Two: It Is Not Fair' project was started to give an opportunity to question the notion of 'fairness' as it is related to this phenomenon in the art world, but rather than narrowing it only to the art world, I opened up a broader discussion. My position in this project functions as a 'witness' and as a 'questioner' rather than an answerer. All of the responses I've gotten gave me positive and negative questions and perceptions on the human relationship towards other humans, society, and to themselves. From the diverse and specific perspectives I've received, I have arrived at a fine balance of fairness on a broader level beyond the individual statements.

• The fundamental creative principles, processes and concepts of Kimsooja's artistic articulation are continuously present since the beginning of her career. At first, she was mainly focusing on painting, specifically on questions about the surface. She created paintings out of pieces of fabric, combining sewing, painting and drawing. Her paintings were made of used fabric, rags, and clothing. The first clothing that she incorporated into her paintings were owned by her grandmother. She later started to collect used clothing from anonymous people, and to explore the their invisible presence in the fabric. From the early 1980's, sewing became the essential principle of her artistic process — sewing as a monotonous repetition of movement ... the possibility of a meditative gaze into the human interior (self) ... a fluid journey of mind and spirit. The processes of sewing, covering, and wrapping are tightly connected to everyday activities (mostly female activities in Korean, as well as in Western, tradition). Putting them into an artistic context creates a balance between the artistic procedures and the creative elements of everyday activities. The meditative process hidden beneath a common marginal act of sewing exposes the performative process of the reduction of the ego, already in these early works. With meditative means, the artist is reaching a certain state of consciousness, where she focuses and eradicates herself, and she simultaneously creates space for the viewers to enter. It can be present in the imprint of the body left on the used fabrics, the smell of anonymous people on clothing, and on bedcovers. This space is also 'the void' through which the viewer enters. By focusing on herself, she reaches towards the point where the ego slowly disappears. Kimsooja is creating the void, an empty space through which the viewer can reach the balance between human relationships and life.

• With her residency in New York at the beginning of the 1990's, her experience based on living and working in Korea intermingled with that of a different view over her own artistic practice and cultural context in New York. Her artistic point of view was radically changing towards re-questioning cultural, social and political Korean traditions.

• Petra Kapš
  In talking about your work, we can use a few key words: journey (nomadism), detachment from matter or attachment to human being, existing beings, time, life, death, mobility as a necessary condition of life, totality. What is your relationship to these words?

• Kimsooja
  I guess all these words are related to the destiny of our existence.I am questioning my own destiny in this world in various paths, but reaching to the totality of it.

• Petra Kapš
  Your works express the relationship of life and art in a very special way. Is this the prime notion for your artistic engagement - art as a tool for understanding the mobility of life? In Martin Heidegger's conversation with Shinji Hisamatsu we find a very interesting word, geido — a 'path (journey) of art', this word comprises of a deeper relation to life, to our own being. It is a word for art that has substantial importance for existence.

• Kimsooja
  I must say, the result of art making which we call 'art work' is a secondary thing for me. The most important part in making art for me is, "questioning life, self, the other, and the world", and finding my own path for answers, which leads to another question, as always. In that sense, I find geido, as mentioned by Shinji Hisamatsu, to be a very coherent interpretation.

• In the Korean tradition, it is quite common that bedcovers are received by newlyweds as a gift. The richly embroidered fabrics with symbolic patterns are filled with familial and social desires, expectations and demands. The bedcover is wrapped around the body in various life circumstances (among others, during birth, rest, sex, illness, death). In the eyes of a Western observer, this piece of fabric is an aesthetic object of provocative, intensely radiant colours. Colour is one of the most important constants in Kimsooja's work, contextually related to Korean tradition and Western modernism. The bedcovers that the artist includes in her work are discarded bedcovers, that have all served their time. The echos of a once present body remain as traces of smell and form.

• By the beginning of the 1990's, Kimsooja used bedcovers as bottari (which means bundle), in which people wrap their belongings for travelling. She wrapped the clothes of anonymous people and daily objects within them. Bottari is a metaphor for the artist's life credo — a nomadism that is the basis of her creative practice. It implies the idea of a constant readiness to leave, detachment from the physical world, and is a universal metaphor for mobility. In the photo of the performance entitled Encounter, Looking Into Sewing, a figure is completely covered, with bedcovers draped over their head. This image brings several associations to the mind of the viewer — the image of a bride, a metaphor of torture. In this work, the artist has exposed strong feelings of intimate denial, abstinence (especially in the life of a woman from Korean society), and explored the relationship between the visible, and the hidden yet present. Bedcovers that imply an intimate environment are embraced in public spaces. The artist put them on café tables as table cloths in one of her projects entitled Deductive Object, presented at Manifesta 1 in 1996. By doing so she confronted an aesthetic exterior and functionality with the Korean prohibition of eating in bed.

• In her project Sewing Into Walking - Dedicated To The Victims of Kwangju, 1995, Kimsooja piled up loose clothing, and clothing wrapped in bedcovers, and put them in a 2.5 ton heap. In the Korean tradition, clothing preserves the spirit of their owners, and are therefore burned after a person dies. In this installation, they represent the reincarnation of people, the memory and the guilt, over the massacre in Kwangju in 1980.

• In the 11 day performance Cities On The Move - 2727 Kilometers Bottari Truck, 1997, she travelled through her childhood hometowns on a heap of bundles, bottaris loaded on a truck. In this way, her initial introspective sewing gaze manifested itself in a real journey. By later placing this truck in a gallery space (Bottari Truck In Exile, d'APERTutto, Venice, 1999) she transformed her personal experience into a universal issue of cycle and passing of life, and cohabitation of time and space. At the same time, by dedicating this installation to the victims of war in Kosovo, she took the position of a quiet yet indelible witness.

• Petra Kapš
  I am interested in your experience of suppression and endurance that you talk about in connection with the traditional Korean bedcovers. Bedcovers have a strong intimate seal for every individual. A bedcover can (un)cover the most intimate parts of an individual and the shape of life as well that is re-established by the cohabitation of two individuals.

• Kimsooja
  It is interesting that you point out the word 'cohabitation' within the bedcover's hidden structure. Most people don't see that dimension, which involves another big issue in my life and work. People's gaze often ends up with the beauty of the fabrics or the cultural aspect of it, and imagining the couple's memory and intimacy, but there is another big issue in dealing with the 'reality of relationship' and 'self' and 'other' within this frame. Things become a question when they are problematic - it is good material to live and to question. Again this problematic 'co-habitation of duality' raises all sorts of questions on human existence.

• Petra Kapš
  Time is connected with memory and reminiscence. One of the main topics you deal with is death. We can also understand your works as 'preservers of memory' of the dead, of the sufferers who are present in clothes, ashes, bedcovers, bottari, carpets, in cessation of breathing ... They are interventions against concealment and oblivion. Where does this continuous emphasis on life and death come from?

• Kimsooja
  I am also curious about this continuity of my own concern: my obsession on body, death, and its memory to try to reveal the truth of victimized and disappeared beings, among other dimensions of my work. I think I have a strong compassion for all ephemeral beings, including myself.

• Aside from exploring various contexts of found objects and used fabrics, their meanings and physical presence, performance and video represent another area of Kimsooja's artistic activity. The series of video works A Needle Woman, 1999-2001 is a video record of performances carried out in eight world metropolises (London, Lagos, New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, Cairo, Delhi, Shanghai). The artist uses a consistent structure of visual imagery (a static camera frames the view, and the artist is turned away from the viewer, and is situated on the street with an extraordinarily large number of people). The artist's body is in a state of a seemingly static and deeply contemplative posture. The viewer meets the mass of moving people. The artist's body can be interpreted as the entrance door, a point of identification or watching (observing the relation of the passersby to the artist, we can only make conclusions about her responses to the people from their faces). If we focus on the pieces from Lagos and Tokyo, two extremely different realities, we can follow the whole spectrum of social, political and cultural contexts that we find in the response of people's bodies and faces. In the installation of these video works, we begin to observe particular specificities of people, small daily events recorded by the camera — unobtrusive presentation, emphasising the particularities of every individual. With her minimal intervention that is actually merely presence, the artist is documenting people in a simple way, positioning herself as observer, not an arbiter. The element of time modification causes variation in the recorded natural mobility of people and their surroundings. The minimal slowing down enables the viewer to observe details and characteristics in th continuous 'flow' of people, the image passing by remains conscious for a moment. The interpretative field of this series is extensive and applies to all Kimsooja's work. From the analogy of a sewing needle and the artist's body forming a relationship to the passersby with its immobility, exploring the responses on its presence for mental and physical personal space, to the social context of the heterogeneity of social phenomena and the role of human being in contemporary world.

• One of the defining parameters of Kimsooja's work in this context is her research of movement, mobility. Her body seems to be immobile, completely static compared to the mass of moving people. This seemingly motionless body is also analogous with a statue, a static object.

• Petra Kapš
  The image of your body in video performances, being turned away from the viewer, addresses people in a special way. This body-image cannot be interpreted as a symbol, but as an emptiness that, on one side opens up the space for the viewer, and on the other represents mobility towards human life, to his essence. How do you comprehend your body at this particular point?

• Kimsooja
  I find your perception of my body as a 'void' one of the most accurate and relevant descriptions of the presence of my body in my videos. The emptiness is created by turning my back towards the audiences, by not showing my personal identity, and also by allowing my body to function as a passageway for the audience to go through or enter into - this enables the audience to experience what I see and experience in situ. It is a similar function to a needle point, which has a decisive form of function, but works only through the empty hole of a needle eye, which is on the opposite side of the needle point. They can never meet each other, and they have this Yin and Yang relationship serving itself as a medium between fabrics. I weave the social and cultural fabrics with my presence and void as a medium. But I also believe that there's ego, which was not there while performing- I must say, standing there in the middle of the crowds was also a process of emptying my own ego, while receiving all of the people and their energy in my body and mind. This process of emptying the ego allows people to enter your body and create a void of your own self.

• Petra Kapš
  Your artwork A Laundry Woman - Yamuna River, India, 2000 was shown at the exhibition The Fifth Gospel in Celje. The video projection was placed inside the Catholic Church of Saint Mary. The strong context in which the work was placed added an interesting analogy. Through the body of the artist - place/point of identification/entrance - the viewer entered into the artwork in the same way as Western civilization entered the body of Christ in history. How the viewer experienced it from this point onwards was dependent upon himself. The body functioned as a mediator. What are your thoughts about this different context that has a strong 'point of possibility' to influence the work?

• Kimsooja
  Locating my body in the midst of crowds or in nature is to question my existence and that of others on what I see, where I am, and where we are going. It is the question raised from the experiences of these performances that leads me to go forward and question further. Relating my work within the context of the Catholic Church and its history can be controversial in the sense of my way of thinking and that of Catholicism. I am interested in this kind of contradiction, as it can sometimes create an unexpected innovation, as if two different ways of mathematics can solve the same question from a different method. When those two different approaches and energies crash and merge together, they can break through the existing way of thinking. This is a fascinating side of fusion in art making and art reading.

• When the function of one sense is prevented, for whatever reason, other senses sharpen to compensate for the missing information. The artist uses this effect for achieving special (meditative) states in the viewer, and to sharpen the human senses that are necessary in perceiving reality. Her video works mostly exclude sound. The intensity of the video image overwhelms us in the beginning, and only gradually do we become conscious of the fact that individual sounds — the flowing of a river, the dripping of water, a gust of wind, birds singing, human speech, street noise — are all missing. With this absence (and consequently, the orientation of human consciousness toward a sole level of perception) the artist directs our attention to the field of the visible and further to the field of spirit. The sharpened act of seeing centers our perception exclusively on the image. There is an obvious intertwining of artistic and meditative strategies that mostly omit sound, and focus on directing the (inner) gaze. In her work The Weaving Factory, 5.1, sound is the only element of the installation. Simple and minimal expressive means are the logical choice for achieving the goal — to direct, to sharpen the sight, and hearing. This year, the artist joined light, colour and sound in her work To Breath / Respirare, presented in La Fenice theater in Venice. The video installation was a combination of the projection of intensive monochromatic colours alternating in regular rhythm and the recorded sound of the artist's breathing. The sound element transitioned from a relaxed tempo that aroused pleasant, relaxed feelings, to an unbearably quick tempo, awakening anxious feelings verging on physical pain.

• Petra Kapš
  I have experienced your art works as a visual world, and a world of silence, where different phenomena are shown that lead the viewe into (self) consciousness. Furthermore, this consciousness of things that are outside of us aims at harmonizing and balancing the individual in life.

• Kimsooja
  A sense of consciousness, equilibrium and harmony has played an important role in my work, but at the same time, this is nothing but my own personality. I used to raise questions from the point where the consciousness of an unbalanced and un-harmonized situation stays — that which has a lack of care or lack of fulfillment as a whole and as a oneness. The whole process of making art is about balancing the situation through a Yin and Yang perspective, like an acupuncturist. I often see the situation in the complexity of duality and try to find the necessary remedy for it.

• Petra Kapš
  On watching your video works (in Celje and Venice) I had a very interesting experience of time; with each work I had a feeling of being thrown out of the common concepts of time. Time extended, or it was as though it did not exist anymore. How do you define time?

• Kimsooja
  I often feel that I am in a state where I am out of a specific time frame, either in the midst of concentration or in a meditative state. When I see my videos, I feel similar states of my own experiences I have in daily life. Time is not there when I am there, and when there is time I am not there anymore. Time exists when one has consciousness of the other or one's other self - when one can see the other, even oneself as the other. Time is the body that you see with your eyes of consciousness. Time exists when a separation of your body and consciousness occurs. Time is space, and space is time.

• Petra Kapš
  What are your feelings about your past projects?

• Kimsooja
  All of my past work functions as just one 'station' towards another, as a process to reach to the final destination towards 'void', or the 'extinguishment' of my artistic and existential self.

• Petra Kapš
  What role does beauty play in your life and aesthetics? What is your relationship to this phenomenon?

• Kimsooja
  I believe in beauty as a reflection of truthfulness, harmony, and purity — but also as a reflection of decadence, as well as in its inevitable complexity within its own contradiction. Beauty is discovered when the viewer has eyes for it, and everything in this world has its own connection to beauty.

• Petra Kapš
  Ethics, which has played an important role in the history of Western art, was not discussed in connection with art in the time of modernism. This situation is changing at the moment. Your works express strong ethical messages. What is your attitude towards these two spheres of ethics and contemporary art?

• Kimsooja
  Ethical attitude generally comes from the pursuit of harmony and concern of others. I think art can be ethical in the pursuit of beauty and reality, although there's some contradiction between art and ethics in aesthetic methodology. Art often didn't respond much to the reality of our life and present time in modernism, and the creative process of art making often involved a de-constructive element. There are also so many different levels of ethics - ethics for ethics, ethics to prove truth and fairness, ethics that revenges the negative phenomena of society. These two aspects of being destructive in their own process and being ethical to idealism can be coherent at some level and it is inevitable to respond to present conditions of life in any form.

• Petra Kapš
  It seems that nowadays we consume art only through filters of digital technology, images in a digital camera or a movie camera. Watching through digital media is like consumption, I watch with my eyes like I use things; a commodity. But at the same time, it seems that these media membranes do not mutilate your work. The viewer doesn't need any knowledge of contemporary art for experiencing your work. Are such effects important for you?

• Kimsooja
  I don't think much about the viewer's point of view, or have interest in guiding them to a particular way of looking at my work. What leads the viewer to access my work is probably because I am not dealing with only specific issues and questions in contemporary art, but also with essential questions on life from mundane daily life.

• Petra Kapš
  How do you develop your works from the first impulse to the final realization?

• Kimsooja
  In most cases, the first impulse leads to another reflection that creates a concept, and the concept leads to another impulse and they fuse ... But sometimes just one intuition or concept is enough.

• Petra Kapš
  It seems as though Korean tradition is getting more and more hidden, covered in your work.

• Kimsooja
  I left Korea at the end of 1998 after participating in the Sao Paulo Biennale, and I've been living in New York since then. As the years go by, my living and working conditions are more based in New York daily life and my travels throughout the world. I live in a somewhat different social and cultural life than in Korea, although I still question Korean culture and my own identity and relationships. I've started working with daily objects I discover in New York, communicating and thinking more in English, and being aware of the political and socio-cultural status of my present living conditions within the world.

• I consider myself to be a cosmopolitan, which might be the reason why the Korean cultural elements I used to deal with have been disappearing little by little from my work. But I am sure, at some point, there will be another moment when I re-discover my own culture from a different perspective than when I was in Korea.

• Petra Kapš
  You have been working in the Western world for almost a decade now. What is your relationship to the Korean period today? What did the last decade give to you?

• Kimsooja
  It gave me personal independence, financial support, social freedom, and detachment from my society and relationships.

• Petra Kapš
  What would you say about the notion that your art works are not questioning particularity of subjectivity that is so relevant today but are addressing fundamental questions of being, basic questions of life such as the balance of inside and outside, spirit and body, mind and soul, human as a natural and cultural being, being that exists in time and space of 'now'?

• Kimsooja
  I have always been dealing with present issues around me and the society that I was in. People sometimes see it that way because I used traditional materials, but it was my and my society's reality, although diminishing, and it had symbolic cultural connotations that are part of contemporary global society's issues as well. I just didn't use Western fabrics or images as it wasn't my reality and they created strong present questions for me. If I used Western fabrics, I wouldn't have been able to create my own conceptual context as a relationship to the bedcover, body and cohabitation — that has to do with my reality within Korean culture.

• Petra Kapš
  Are there any new horizons in your art?

• Kimsooja
  I know my work goes further and further away from the materialistic world but I am still interested in materiality itself as a strong presence of existence and a body of time. I also know that the whole process is just an endless circulation of comprehension of the world and self, and I wish one day I could be just a simple being freed from desire of making art and see as it is and live as I am within the world as it is.

• 김수자(1957년 대구 출생)는 오랫동안 진지하게 작가 인생을 이어오며 설치, 퍼포먼스, 사진, 비디오, 장소특정적 프로젝트 등을 통해 자신만의 세계관을 발전시키는 데 전념해왔다. 확연하게 드러나는 그의 특이성에 동양의 특정한 철학이나 예술 전통을 연관 지으려 한 이들도 있었지만, 그가 다루는 핵심 소재는 현실 자체이다. 그의 작업을 특징짓는 개념은 그가 삶과 예술, 개인으로서 존재와 우리와 타인의 관계, 비어 있음과 존재의 덧없음에 관해 던진 질문에서 비롯된다. 그의 성장 과정과 살아온 경험은 기독교와 서구 철학이 선불교, 유교, 샤머니즘, 도교와 긴밀히 얽혀 독특하게 융합하는 사유가 형성된 배경이 되었다. 서양 미술사에서 그의 작업과 비견할 대상을 퍼포먼스와 신체예술 쪽에서 찾아볼 수 있는데, 마리나 아브라모비치, 울라이, 발리 엑스포트 등이 김수자와 유사한 문제의식을 보여준다. 하지만 그는 동양이든 서양이든 어떤 이론이나 철학에 휩쓸리는 대신에, 자기 삶의 이야기와 기억과 감수성에서 출발해 사회적, 정치적 현실을 파고드는 궤적을 밟아왔다. 김수자의 작업은 보편성에 깊이 뿌리를 두었고, 인간 경험의 총체성을 포착하려 한다. 그의 작품은 마음과 신체와 영혼 모두에 주목한다.

• 바느질한 오브제를 드로잉과 회화에 결합하는 추상 콜라주 작업을 해오던 김수자는 90년대에 들어서면서부터 <연역적 오브제(Deductive Objects)>라는 이름의 설치작품과 공간 오브제를 만들기 시작했는데, 여기에서 오브제를 감는 행위는 그 자체로 은유적 바느질 행위였다. 그리고 바늘, 천, 실, 조각보 등이 그의 창조적 우주를 이루는 일부가 되었다. 꿰매기, 감싸기, 접기, 펼치기, 덮기는 그가 거듭 되돌아가는 행위이다. 그가 택한 재료와 방법은 한국에서 천을 다루는 전통 방식에서 유래한 것이다. 1993년 김수자는 뉴욕에서 열린 두 개의 전시에서 보따리를 처음 등장시켰다. 레지던시 프로그램 참여로 1년 앞서 도착해 머물렀던 PS.1에서 열린 전시와, ISE 재단에서 열린 전시였다. 보따리는 천이나 옷가지 등을 낡은 한국식 전통 이불보로 감싸 묶은 꾸러미이다. 작가의 설명대로, 누군가 쓰던 이불보에는 "냄새, 기억, 욕망까지도 담겨 있어, 사용했던 사람의 정신과 삶이 묻어 있다." 그때부터 한국 문화에서는 이 평범한 물건, 보따리는 김수자의 작업에서 상수와 같은 존재가 되었다. 한국에서 보따리는 이동(자발적이든 강제적이든)과 연관되는데, 옷이나 책, 음식, 선물 등 깨질 염려가 없는 가재도구를 나르는 데 쓰이기 때문이다. 김수자는 가능한 온갖 조합으로 보따리를 선보였다. 보따리만 개별적으로 보여주거나, 바닥에 펼친 이불보와 나란히 놓기도 하고, 풍경을 배경으로 두어 물건 운반이라는 본래의 기능을 상기시키며 유목민적 가치를 상징하는가 하면, 비디오 설치와 병치하기도 한다.

• 2000년과 2001년 여러 나라를 방문하여 비디오 연작을 제작한 그는 <보따리>를 반복하여 제목으로 삼았다. 그중 하나인 <보따리 – 조칼로(Bottari–Zócalo)>는 멕시코시티의 조칼로 광장을 가득 메운 거대한 인파—사람들 역시 색색의 작은 보따리와 같다—를 비디오 보따리로 보여준다. 또 다른 작품 <보따리 – 알파 해변(Bottari – Alfa Beach)>은 나이지리아의 옛 노예무역항에서 찍은 작품으로, 위아래로 이분할된 화면에 바다와 하늘이 뒤집혀 있다. 쉼 없이 앞뒤로 파도가 드나드는 녹회색 빛 바다에 이따금 파도가 부서지며 하얀 포말이 인다. 이 바다의 움직임은 바로 아래 화면 속 뭉게구름이 뜬 고요한 하늘과 대조를 이룬다. 작품은 눈앞에 드리운 알 수 없는 미래에 노예들이 느꼈을 불확실성을 전한다. <보따리 – 눈 그리기( Bottari – Drawing the Snow)> 에서는 백색의 스크린 위로 검은 눈송이가 흩날리며 떨어지는데, 무리 짓던 새들이 사방으로 흩어져 날아가는 듯하다. <보따리 – 일출을 기다리며(Bottari – Waiting for the Sunrise)>는 멕시코의 레알 데 카토르세에서 촬영한 작품으로, 고정된 카메라가 지평선까지 이어지는 자갈길을 바라보고 있다. 낡이 밝아오지만, 아직 해를 볼 수는 없다. 화면에 아무 움직임 없이 5분 가까이 지나는 동안, 우리는 시간의 느릿한 움직임을 느끼며 풍경을 분간하려 애쓴다. 그러다 저 멀리서 하얀 불빛이 화면 오른쪽에서 왼쪽으로 다가오고 있음을 알아챈다. 빛이 길 한가운데 자리하는 순간, 마치 시간과 공간이 결합한 듯하다. 하지만 불빛이 우리 정면으로 향하기도 전에, 비디오는 끝이 난다.

• 다른 네 편의 작품과 함께 2006년 1월 베니스의 베빌라쿠아 라 마사 재단에서 열린 전시에서 처음 공개된 이 세 편의 비디오는 김수자의 최근작들을 예견하는 전조와 같았다. 이 작품들은 소리가 없는 작품이다. 마치 우리가 공간 자체에, 화면에 집중하기를 바라기라도 하듯, 작가는 시각에 유독 중요성을 부여한다. 나머지는 모두 관객의 상상에 맡겨져 있다. 그의 비디오 작업에는 움직임, 여행, 이행, 방향상실, 불확실성, 희망 등 우리 삶에서 중요한 역할을 하는 요소들에 대한 감각이 항상 깃들어 있고, 그래서 이 세 작품은 김수자의 이전과 이후의 작업 모두와 연결된다. 김수자는 유사성과 은유가 특별한 타당성을 얻는 삶의 여러 측면을 고찰한다.

• 보따리 외에도, 김수자의 작업에 특징적으로 나타나는 또 다른 요소는 누군가 오래 쓴 색색의 한국 전통 이불보이다. 그에게 이불보는 성, 사랑, 몸, 휴식, 잠, 사생활, 다산, 장수, 건강을 상징하는데, 요람에서 무덤까지 인간 삶에 늘상 존재하는 의미 깊은 요소들이다. 보따리와 비슷하게 이불보도 여러 작품에 다양한 방식으로 등장한다. <바느질하며 걷기(Sewing into Walking)>(1995)에서는 바닥에 펼쳐져 있고, <연역적 오브제>(1996)에서는 보따리와 짝을 이루었으며, <만남 – 바라보며 바느질하기(Encounter – Looking into Sewing)>(1998-2002)라는 제목의 사진에서는 마네킹을 이불보로 덮어, 정체성의 상실과 타자와의 관계를 이야기했으며, <빨래하는 여인(A Laundry Woman)>(2000)과 <거울여인(A Mirror Woman)>(2002) 같은 작품에서는 빨래터를 연상하는 설치 작업을 하였는데, 이는 여성의 역할에 대한 또 다른 메타포이다. 이 두 작품은 리옹 현대미술관과 뉴욕 피터 블룸 갤러리를 포함해 여러 곳에서 전시된 바 있다.

• 90년대 중반부터, 김수자는 기본적으로 일상을 기록하고 녹화하는 과정 속에서 본인의 몸을 매개로 한 개념적 퍼포먼스로의 전환이 이루어졌다. 1997년부터 2001년 사이, 그는 세계 곳곳의 여러 도시와 장소에서 행한 퍼포먼스를 담은 비디오 연작을 제작했다. 그러한 과정과 결과물 모두 우리와 타자의 자아 사이에 내재한 긴장을 화해시키려 한 그의 시도와 연관이 있다. 첫 번째 비디오의 제목은 <바느질하며 걷기– 경주(Sewing Into Walking – Kyungju)>(1994)이다. 이후 <떠도는 도시들 – 2727km 보따리 트럭(Cities on the Move – 2727km Bottari Truck)>은 1997년 11월 제작된 작품으로, 색색의 보따리들을 실은 트럭을 타고 한국을 떠도는 11일 간의 여정을 담았다. 7분 3초 분량의 영상은 시공간의 여정을 기록한다. 끊임없이 경계를 넘는 작가 자신의 삶에 대한 은유이자 현대 미술가와 우리 사회 전반의 한 특징을 나타내는 것이기도 한다. 노마디즘은 김수자의 예술에서 주축을 이루는 요소 중 하나로, 보따리를 상징으로 삼은 설치나 다른 비디오 등에서도 확인할 수 있다.

• 이 비디오 연작의 공통분모는 여성의 형상으로, 카메라를 등진 채 미동도 하지 않는 여인, 즉 김수자가 등장한다. 이 여인은 수많은 배경 속에 등장한다. <바늘여인(A Needle Woman)>(1999-2001)에서는 도쿄, 상하이, 뉴델리, 뉴욕, 멕시코, 카이로, 라고스, 런던의 행인들 사이에 서 있거나 일본 기타큐슈의 바위에 누워 있다. <구걸하는 여인(A Beggar Woman)>(2000-2001)에서는 카이로, 멕시코, 라고스의 인도에 앉아 동냥을 하고, <집 없는 여인(A Homeless Woman)>(2001)에서는 뉴델리와 카이로의 길거리에 누워 있으며, <빨래하는 여인( A Laundry Woman)>(2000)에서는 뉴델리의 강가에 선 모습이다. 하지만 그곳이 어디든 작가의 형상은 언제나 다가갈 수 없는 존재로, 관객에게 얼굴을 보이지 않는다. 그렇기에 군중에게는 허락된 것이 관객에게는 허락되지 않는다. 우리에게 얼굴을 보여주지 않고, 우리 자신에 관해 스스로 불편한 질문을 던지게 만드는 그 여인은 추상이 된다. 야무나강 앞에 서서 부동하는 여인의 이미지는 강물과 합쳐져 물결에 떠내려가는 잔해와 함께 멀리 흘러가버린다. 이들 작품에서 부동성은 모든 것을 감싼다. 하지만 작가는 단호히 화면 중앙에 자기를 세우면서도, 그로부터 자신을 거리두기 하는 데 성공한다. 작품 속 단출하면서도 묘하게 기운찬 작가의 모습은 일종의 자기확언이다. 김수자는 한편으로 자기 자신이자 동시에 '타인'이 되며, 존재하면서 동시에 부재하는 일을 해낸다. 그는 우리가 던지는 시선의 주체이자 객체이며, 개인이자 추상이고, 특정 여성이자 모든 여성이며, 도구이자 배우이며, 부동하면서도 단호하다. 이처럼 매끄럽게 이어지는 이원성은 2001년 쿤스트할레 베른에서 열린 《김수자, 바늘여인(Kimsooja, A Needle Woman)》전시 도록에 수록된 「자명하지만 문제를 제기하는(Obvious but Problematic)」이라는 글에서 베르나르 피비셰가 설명했던 것이다.

• 작가가 선 분주한 거리의 풍경에도 소리가 없기에, 작품 감상은 순수 시각의 차원으로 환원된다. 누가 저 여인을 촬영하는 것인지, 여인은 어떤 사람인지, 군중을 마주한 여인은 어떤 표정을 지을지 우리는 알지 못한다. 거리를 지나는 거대 도시의 주민들은 뜻하지 않게 배우가 된다. <바늘여인> 비디오에서 작가는 사람들로 넘쳐나는 길거리 한복판에 가만히 서 있다. 그의 절대적 부동성은 대도시의 떠들썩함과 대비되고, 우리 귀에 들리지는 않아도 분명 존재할 소음과도 대조를 이룬다. 카메라는 도시의 거리에서 발걸음을 옮기는 군중을 화면에 담는다. 카메라는 익명의 군중 얼굴은 보여주지만, 작가의 얼굴은 숨긴다. 행인 수천 명이 여인을 향해 걸어와 카메라의 시야에 들어섰다 사라진다. 카메라는 마치 사회학자처럼 '타자'를 대면한 군중의 반응을 기록한다. 런던, 뉴욕, 멕시코 사람들은 대부분 여인을 지나며 못 본 체한다. 상하이, 뉴델리, 카이로에서 여인은 좀 더 큰 관심을 일으킨다. 어떤 이들은 뒤돌아보거나 잠시 멈춰 그를 바라보기까지 한다. 하지만 가장 큰 호기심을 자아낸 곳은 라고스로, 비디오는 한 사람 한 사람의 얼굴과 감정과 반응을 보여준다... 하지만 도쿄의 경우 익명의 군중에 드러난 감정의 요소라고는 어느 여성의 얼굴에 떠오른 미소가 유일하다. <집 없는 여성>에서는 카이로 사람들이 가장 큰 관심을 보인다. 일군의 남성들이 못 이기고 여인에게 접근해 가까이 다가와서는 카메라를 똑바로 바라본다.

• 2005년에 열린 제51회 베니스 비엔날레를 위해 김수자는 파탄(네팔), 하바나, 리우데자네이루, 은자메나(차드), 사나(예멘), 예루살렘 등 도시 여섯 곳을 더 방문해 <바늘 여인>의 슬로우 모드로 된 새 판본을 만들었다. 연속된 여섯 개의 스크린이 하나의 비디오 설치로서 절대적 침묵 속에 전시된 가운데, 우리는 와글대는 행인들 소리와 멀리 도로의 소음을 그저 직관으로 느낄 뿐이다. 다시 한 번 작가는 우리로 하여금 자신이 빚은 그 형언할 수 없는 인물을 두고 사람들이 보이는 다양한 반응을 마주하게 한다. 새롭게 추가된 비디오 중 사람들이 작가의 존재에 가장 궁금해하는 곳은 리우데자네이루이다. 예루살렘에서는 몇몇 사람만이 호기심 있게 바라보지만, 경찰관 한 명이 미소를 지으며 작가에게 다가와 쳐다보고는 구경꾼들을 손짓으로 물려 보내고 그를 혼자 있게 해준다. 하지만 전반적으로 보아 행인들은 작가보다는 그의 오른쪽에서 벌어지고 있는 어떤 일에 이목이 더 쏠린 듯한데, 그들의 시선이 그쪽에 멈춰 있다. 파탄에서는 화면을 가로질러 날아가는 새 떼와 주민들의 차분한 평온함이 대조를 이룬다. 파탄에서 움직임 없는 작가의 형상에 이끌린 이들은 주로 아이들이다. 하바나에선 한 남자가 그를 보고 얼굴을 찌푸리는데, 다수는 미소를 짓고 일부는 걸어가다 무어라 말을 한다. 사나에서는 남자들, 특히 젊은 남자들(거리에서 여성은 거의 찾아볼 수 없고 있더라도 검은 장옷에 눈 부분만 트인 스카프로 온몸을 가리고 있다)이 그를 둘러싸고는 유심히 쳐다본다. 은자메나에서, 작가의 형상은 사람들의 각양각색 옷이 빚어낸 색의 매스와 군중이 움직이며 자아낸 리드미컬한 일렁임 속에 녹아든다. 머리에 짐이나 통을 지고 지나던 사람들은 작가를 둘러싸고 발걸음을 멈추어 가만히 보다 손짓으로 인사를 건네고 말을 걸기도 하는데 무어라 질문을 던지는 듯 하다. 그들의 얼굴에 떠오른 호기심이 분명히 보인다. 그들의 행동을 지켜보는 단순 관찰자일 뿐인 우리는 기대하는 마음으로 바라본다. 작가의 존재에 사람들이 어떤 반응을 보일지 어쩔 수 없이 약간은 긴장하게 된다. 언제라도 갑자기 폭력이 일어날 수 있다는 사실을 알기에, 불시의 일이 일어날까 두려운 마음이다. 하지만 전개되는 상황을 보고 있노라면, 자신을 향한 시선과 미소와 이런저런 말에 과연 작가 본인은 어떻게 반응하는지가 궁금해진다. 놀란 행인들이 무슨 말을 하고 있을지도 궁금하다. 뜻밖에 나타난 작가의 존재에 입 밖으로 나왔을, 하지만 막상 우리가 들을 수는 없고 추측할 뿐인 그들의 말이 궁금하다. 우리는 더 알고 싶다. 사람들 사이에 함께 서서, 우리 나름의 결론도 내려보고, 사람들 의견은 어떤가 파악하고, 과연 뜻밖에 마주친 저 부동의 여인에게 사람들 마음이 끌린 건지 아니면 불안하거나 당황스러운지 알고 싶다. 물론 사람들의 반응을 관찰할 수는 있다. 사람들이 카메라의 시야로 걸어들어와 무심코 주인공이 될 때 카메라가 얼굴을 보여주기 때문으로, 대체로 존중하는 반응이다. 하지만 동시에 본능적으로 우리는 행인들이 무슨 말을 하는지 듣고 싶어 한다. 작가는 자신을 드러내고 또 우리를 드러낸다. 작가를 관찰하는 우리 역시 군중에 열린 존재가 되어, 사람들의 반응을 새기며 작가와 함께 군중과 하나로 합쳐든다. 하지만 우리는 언제나 더 알고 싶다. 그들이 드러내는 개별성의 작은 단서를, 이 세상에 존재하며 그들이 발하는 작은 불꽃을 말이다.

• 사람들이 보이는 행동과 그들이 작가와 마주치며 보이는 표정과 반응을 통해, 김수자는 다른 나라에서 다른 사람들이 실제로 어떤 상황 속에 살아가는지 우리의 이해가 얼마나 제한적인지를 체험하게 한다. 작가는 나라마다 사람마다 그 사이에 놓인 최소한의 차이를 탐구해, 무엇이 어느 하나를 나머지와 구별 짓는지를 짚어내려 한다. 그는 무작위로 퍼포먼스를 진행할 도시와 국가를 고른 것이 아니다. 김수자의 선택은 포스트식민주의, 내전, 국경 분쟁, 극심한 빈곤으로 촉발된 해당 지역의 갈등을 그가 인식하고 있음을 보여준다. 하지만 김수자는 지치고 노쇠한 유럽과는 전혀 다른 곳, 그토록 갈등에 시달리며 알 수 없는 상황과 날카롭게 맞서는 곳에서 슬픔을 발견하고 영감을 얻는 듯하다.

• 이 모든 비디오에서 김수자는 반복되는 상황과 변치 않는 자신의 이미지를 연속하여 제시함으로써 이 세상에 자신의 존재를 각인시킨다. 사람들의 신체적, 물리적 존재는 자연과 마찬가지로 그의 작업 속에 침투한다. 사람들은 세상에 다양한 존재 방식이 존재하고 우리가 고독한 존재임을 표명하는 동시에, 세계란 언제나 존재하고 있으며 우리는 타인에 둘러싸여 살아간다는 사실을 일깨운다. 김수자의 작업을 두고 젠더 문제로 지나치게 단순화하는 시각이 있지만, 그의 작업은 젠더 문제를 훨씬 넘어선다. 그는 우리가 살아가는 이 혼돈의 세계 속에서 인간으로 존재한다는 것이 중요한 이유를, 그 모든 고독과 덧없음까지 함께 보여준다. 직접적으로든 간접적으로든, 인간이 남긴 흔적, 즉 사람들의 '발자국'을 통해 인류는 김수자의 작업에 언제나 존재한다.

• 정치적 문제에 직접 맞서는 것이 그의 관심사는 아니지만, 인간이 처한 상황과 현실을 향한 그의 시선은 종종 정치적, 사회적 사건과 분명 연관된 설치 작업으로 이어졌다. 때로는 사건에 대한 반응이고, 때로는 그에 관한 기억의 구성이며, 희생자에 대한 오마주이기도 하다. 제1회 광주 비엔날레에서 선보인 <바느질하며 걷기(Sewing into Walking)>(1995)는 공원의 땅바닥에 흩어 놓은 헌 옷가지와 보따리들로 구성되어 있는데, 그 모습이 마치 전장에 널브러진 시신 같다. 이 작품은 1980년 5월 광주에서 민주주의를 위해 싸우다 목숨을 잃은 수백 명의 광주 학살 희생자에게 헌정되었다. 일본 나고야 시립미술관에서 선보인 <연역적 오브제 – 내 이웃에 바침(Deductive Object – Dedicated to my Neighbors)>(1996)에서는 한국인과 일본인의 옷가지들이 섞여 있다. 같은 해 작가의 동네에서 벌어진 서울 삼풍백화점 붕괴 사고 희생자에게 바치는 의미를 담은 작품이다. 제48회 베니스 비엔날레에서 전시한 <모든 것에 열린, 혹은 망명의 보따리 트럭(D'APERTutto or Bottari Truck in Exile)>(1999)은 색색의 보따리를 가득 실은 트럭 앞에 거울을 설치하여 트럭의 거울상을 보여준다. 거울이 끊임없이 공간의 열림을 창출하지만, 거울은 제 앞에 열린 트럭의 길을 스스로 막고 있다. 코소보 내전 난민에게 헌정된 이 작품은 당시 베니스에서 불과 몇 킬로미터 떨어진 곳에서 벌어지고 있던 강제 이주, 죽음, 파괴 등 전쟁의 참상을 상기시켰다. <묘비명(Epitaph)>(2002)은 2001년 9월 11일에 일어난 사건에 응답하여 선보인 작품이다. 감성적이고 아름다운 이 강렬한 사진 속에서 작가는 브루클린 그린론 공동묘지 땅 위에 색색의 이불보를 펼쳐 놓는다. 살아있는 자의 비석과도 같은 맨해튼 스카이라인을 배경으로 쌍둥이 빌딩이 사라지고 남긴 거대한 빈자리가 보인다.

• 작가로서 활동한 내내, 특히 최근 몇 년 사이 김수자는 설치, 사진, 퍼포먼스, 비디오 작업과 더불어 장소특정적 프로젝트에 참여해왔다. 천, 특히나 눈길을 사로잡는 한국의 이불보, 빛과 색의 시퀀스, 티베트 · 그레고리오 · 이슬람 수도자들의 성가, 작가 본인의 숨소리 등이 작업의 주요 수단으로, 그의 작업임을 알리는 특징이 되었다. <심겨진 이름들(Planted Names)>과 <등대여인(A Lighthouse Woman)>(2002)이 그러한 사례로, 노스캐롤라이나 찰스턴에서 열린 스폴레토 페스티벌 USA 2002의 일환으로 설치되었다. 김수자는 찰스턴이라는 식민지 수도의 세계도시적 성격과 도시의 해양 유산을 일깨우는 《물의 기억》전시에 참여했다. <심겨진 이름들>은 드레이튼 홀 농장에서 일했던 노예들을 기리는 한편, 군인 장교의 딸로 비무장지대에서 자라 이후 가족과 이 도시에서 저 도시로 이주하며 성장해온 작가 본인의 이야기를 반영한다. 네 장의 검은 카펫 위로 드레이튼 홀 농장에서 노예해방 때까지 일했던 아프리카 출신 노예들의 이름이 흰 글자로 두드러지게 적혀 있다 . 드레이튼 홀 1층의 대형 홀 주변의 방마다 설치된 카펫은 공간을 변화시켰다. 작품이 설치된 드레이튼 홀은 미국에 현존하는 가장 오래된 농장 저택으로, 조지안 팔라디안 건축 양식의 보물로 여겨지며 보존 중인 건축물이다. 과거의 묵상으로서 카펫은 자유를 박탈당한 이들의 기억이 특히 울림을 주는 공간에 전략적으로 배치되었다. <등대 여인>에서 작가는 빛과 색과 바다소리를 사용해 사우스캐롤라이나 찰스턴의 모리스 섬에 버려진 등대를 기념비로 변모시킨다. 모리스 섬에서 벌어진 남북전쟁의 희생자를 기리는 이 작품은 등대 자체가 상징하는 빛과 물의 영원한 관계에 바치는 헌사이기도 하다.

• 비엔나 쿤스트할레에서 전시된 <빨래하는 여인(A Laundry Woman)>(2002)은 다채로운 이불보와 티베트 승려들의 독경 소리로 구성되어 있다. 거대한 창문을 통해 쿤스트할레 바깥에서 이불보를 볼 수 있는데, 마치 빨랫줄에 빨래를 널듯이 설치되어 있다. 이불보는 여성의 역할을 나타내는 은유로 기능하며, 쿤스트할레의 내부 공간과 바깥의 도시 풍경, 더 나아가 삶과 예술, 내밀함과 보편성 간의 대화를 형성한다.

• 제2회 발렌시아 비엔날레 측은 김수자에게 도시 안의 빈 부지를 활용한 설치 작업을 청했다. 그렇게 탄생한 <솔라레스코프(Solarescope)>는 건물에 다변하는 오방색의 빛 시퀀스를 영사한 작품으로, 버려진 부지에 생명력을 선사했다. 프랑스 릴의 라모 팔라스에 설치한 <로투스 – 0의 지점(Lotus: Zone of Zero)>(2003)은 307개의 연등과 음악으로 구성된 작품이다. 붉은 연등이 연꽃 모양으로 배열되어 건물의 원형 홀에 매달려 있다. 그리고 공간 속으로 티베트, 그레고리오, 이슬람 성가 소리가 흘러 넘친다. 눈길을 사로잡는 설치의 아름다움을 넘어, 인간 존재 사이에 평화와 사랑과 이해를 촉구하는 작품이다.

• <거울여인 – 어디에도 없는 땅(A Mirror Woman: the ground of nowhere)>(2003)은 하와이 호놀룰루 시청 내의 메인홀에 설치한 작품으로, 미주 한인 이민 100주년을 기념해 열린 「크로싱 2003: 한국/ 하와이(Crossings 2003: Korea / Hawaii)」 의 일환으로 선보였다. 고운 거즈 천으로 된 커튼이 지면에서 18m 위에 걸려 있는데, 아래에서 말려 올라가 직경 6m에 달하는 거대한 원통 관 형태를 이룬다. 바닥에 깔린 거울 위로 하늘이 반사된다. 그 거울/바닥 위를 거닐거나 누우면, 관객 눈에는 오로지 흰 구름이 뜬 짙푸른 하늘과 자신의 거울상만이 보일 뿐이다. 이 작품은 한국인 이민자들이 미국에 도착하며 느꼈을 희망, 설렘, 향수의 분위기를, 또한 100년 전 하와이섬에 첫 발을 디딘 1세대 이민자들을 압도했을 상실의 감각을 포착하려 한다.

• 2004년 뉴욕 더 프로젝트의 전시실 한 곳이 4채널 사운드의 티베트, 이슬람, 그레고리오 성가 소리로 가득 찼다. 김수자가 이곳을 위해 구상한 <만다라 – 0의 지점(Mandala: Zone of Zero)> (2004)이다. 고립, 묵상, 몽상의 공간을 창조한 그는 전시실의 네 개 벽마다 화려한 주크박스 스피커를 배치했다. 불교 만다라와의 형태적 유사성을 활용한 것으로, 서양의 대중문화적 사물에 동양 종교의 함의를 불어넣는다. 주크박스에서 흘러나온 성가 소리들이 하나로 뒤섞여 관객을 소리의 빔으로 에워싼다. 작품은 서로 다른 문화와 사회적 맥락과 미학의 동화를 표현하며, 마음과 몸이 영적으로 하나가 된다는 개념에 따라 통합성과 총체성을 탐구한다.

• <등대여인>과 <솔라레스코프> 같은 장소 특정적 프로젝트에서 이미 선보인 빛과 색상의 실험을 이어가며, 2003년 김수자는 빛과 색의 시퀀스를 실험하는 비디오들을 제작하여, 빛과 색이 지닌 아름다움과 에너지를 활용해 주파수와 리듬을 탐구했다. <보이지 않는 거울(Invisible Mirror)>, <보이지 않는 바늘(Invisible Needle)>, <바람의 여인>이 이 연작에 속한다. <보이지 않는 거울>에서 색은 스펙트럼 전체를 소화할 때까지 거의 알아차리지 못할 만큼 서서히 색의 범위와 강도를 변화시킨다. <보이지 않는 바늘>에서는 시퀀싱 속도가 점점 증가해 스크린을 가로지르는 색조를 맨눈으로 알아볼 수 없을 만큼 정신없이 진행된다. 세 번째 <바람 여인>은 자연을 다룬 작품으로, 미국의 헨리 아트 갤러리에서 처음 선보였고, 이후 유럽에서는 베니스의 베빌라쿠아 라 마사 재단에서 처음으로 전시되었다. 김수자는 카메라로 자연을 고속 촬영하여, 게르하르트 리히터 스타일의 추상 비디오를 만들어냈다. 세 작품 모두 무성으로, 사운드는 유일하게 우리 상상 속에 존재한다. <보이지 않는 거울>과 <보이지 않는 바늘>은 한 편의 비디오 설치로 합쳐졌고, 여기에 2004년 작가의 숨소리로 만든 <직물 공장>[JL5] 의 사운드를 입혔다. 세 작품의 결합체인 <호흡 – 보이지 않는 거울/ 보이지 않는 바늘(To Breathe : Invisible Mirror / Invisible Needle)>[JL6] 이 2006년 1월 27일 베니스의 라 페니체 극장에서 첫선을 보였고, 2월과 3월에는 당시 극장에 상연되던 에르마노 볼프-페라리의 오페라 「네 명의 시골뜨기」와 바그너의 「발퀴레」 공연에 앞서 영사되었다. 관객이 마주한 대형 스크린 위로 색상 스펙트럼의 색들이 서서히 변환된다. 관객은 어디선가 들려오는 느릿한 숨소리에 놀라지만, 극장에 들어설 때는 소리의 출처가 어디인지 알아차리기 힘들다. 서로 다른 강도의 색이 스크린 위에 펼쳐지는데, 마치 극장에서 반사된 색을 거울처럼 그대로 비추는 듯하다. 한편 호흡은 점점 강렬하고 깊어져, 공간 전체에 팽배한 느낌이다. 작품 전반부에서 작가의 호흡 리듬은 점차 빨라지고 깊어져 진정한 고통의 순간에 다다른다. 후반부로 가면 호흡의 음조, 조절, 리듬이 바뀌어가며 조화로운 절정에 이르러, 하나의 찬가, 기도, 합창, 관악기 소리처럼 변모한다. 관객은 이러한 경험 속에 밀려 든다. 스스로 작품의 일부가 된 느낌으로, 들숨과 날숨이 빚는 카덴차와 속도를 뒤쫓는다. 우리는 작가의 호흡에 나의 불안감이나 안도감을 싣는다. 호흡이 삶의 은유인 것처럼, 불확실함에서 평온함으로, 고뇌에서 휴식으로, 심각한 위험에서 진정한 즐거움으로 무척이나 다양한 감정 상태를 오가게 된다. 우리는 건강과 질병, 혼돈과 조화를 느낀다. 호흡이 우리를 너무도 깊이 흡인해 그 숨이 몸속으로 들어오는 것만 같다. 이 작품은 자체로 대비를 통해 작용한다. 하지만 라 페니체에 놓임으로써, 호흡의 단순성과 색에서 발산된 빛의 순수성이 조화롭게 공간을 감싸며 바로크 양식의 리릭(lyric) 오페라 극장과도 절묘한 대비를 이룬다.

• 단순한 요소들을 최소한으로 사용하며, 김수자는 최대한의 효과와 감각과 감정을 성취하고 풍부한 발상과 개념을 던진다. 그의 예술은 감각과 상상에 모두 호소한다. 어마어마하게 아름답지만, 그렇다고 해서 삶의 경험에서 마주하는 개념과 상황에 던지는 불편한 질문에서 한눈팔게 만드는 일은 없다. 자신의 시대와 그 문제에 참여하는 예술가로서, 김수자의 작업은 내면으로 파고드는 동시에 세계에 말 없는 시선을 던져 세상을 끌어안는다.

• 그의 작품은 침묵에 휩싸인 듯하다. 고립과 침잠을 향한 열망이 퍼포먼스를 담은 비디오, 천으로 만든 설치작품, 심지어 사운드가 포함된 비디오 설치에서도 스며 나온다. 그것은 주변 세계의 혼돈과 소음에서 잠시 벗어나, 우리 자신을 다시 마주하고 우리와 타인의 관계를 질문하며, 또한 이 세계 속 우리 자리에 관해 성찰하고 존재의 본질적 문제를 정면으로 응시해 보자는 초대와도 같다. 전시 공간은 하나의 성소가 되었다.

• 김수자의 <호흡 – 거울여인(To Breathe – A Mirror Woman)>은 마드리드의 크리스털 팰리스에 설치한 작품으로, 해당 공간에 대한 개입과 사운드 전작인 <직물 공장(The Weaving Factory)>(2004)이 작품을 이루고 있다. 이 프로젝트는 전작들과 논리적 연속선상에 있다. 김수자는 크리스털 팰리스의 구조를 활용하였는데, 공간의 본래 구조는 그대로 유지하면서 바닥에 거울을 설치하여 하나의 전체를 이루게 하였다. 거울은 원 공간의 증식기이자 통합기 역할을 한다. 여기에서 김수자는 최소한의 요소, 즉 수정궁의 유리 돔과 벽을 감싼 투명 회절 필름, 바닥을 덮은 거울 그리고 자신의 숨소리를 활용하여 우리를 변모의 경험에 빠뜨린다. 우리는 마음과 감각을 실험하며 감각적 인식과 상상을 자유롭게 펼치게 된다.

• 제목 자체는 거울과 호흡을 활용했던 기존 프로젝트 외에도, 바늘과 바느질 작업을 재참조한다. 작가 자신이 군중을 꿰뚫는 바늘이 된 <바늘 여인> 같은 비디오 설치에서 그러했듯, <거울 여인>에서 작가는 곧 거울이 되니 현실을 반영하면서 동시에 창출하는 거울이다. 다가온 것을 되돌려보내는 표면처럼, 작가는 하나의 현실을 흡수해 다른 현실을 반사하여 또 다른 현실을 창조한다. 그는 반영자이자 또한 거울이 비춘 현실의 창조자이다.

• 하나의 전체로서 <호흡 – 거울여인>은 우리를 다시 보따리로 이끈다. 보따리에서도 그는 싸고 감았다. 이 프로젝트에서 그는 크리스털 팰리스를 투명 필름으로 감쌌다. 하지만 보따리가 옷가지와 소지품을 싸서 멀리 옮기는 것이라면, 여기에서는 건물이 바로 우리를 감싸 신체와 상상과 감각의 경험을 통해 우리를 실어 나른다.

• 외부의 빛이 파빌리온의 유리를 통과해 들어오면 투명 필름이 빛을 무지갯빛 스펙트럼으로 분산시킨다. 그래서 궁 안에서 보는 외부 모습을 변형할 뿐 아니라, 실내의 모습과 느낌도 달라지는데, 실내 전체 구조와 다채로운 빛줄기가 거울 바닥에 반사되고 또 반사된다. 밖에서 본 궁의 내부도 빛과 나무들이 비치며 모습을 달리한다. 이러한 효과는 특히 맑은 날 강력하게 발휘된다. 하지만 흐린 날이라 해도, 구름 낀 하늘이나 성난 하늘에 잠시 해가 고개를 내밀면, 햇살이 빛의 대비 수준을 높여 여러 개의 무지개를 만들어낸다. 비슷하게, 햇빛이 회절 격자 필름에 직사하면 빛의 스펙트럼이 궁의 실내 표면에 투영되는 효과가 추가로 빚어지는데, 거울이 이를 다시 방문객과 실내 전체에 반사하면, 마치 무지개 속으로 빨려들어 그 일부가 된 듯한, 무수한 무지개 중 하나가 된 듯한 느낌이 든다. 무한히 재생산되는 빛의 스펙트럼은 낮 동안 변화하며, 직선, 일렁임, 후광, 지그재그 등 여러 형상을 낳는다. 이는 김수자가 자주 쓰던 색색의 전통 이불보나 <바람 여인>에서 자연으로 행한 작업을 연상시킨다. 특정 시간대가 되면 빛의 강도에 따라 유리 건물이 주변 정원의 나무들과 어우러져 한 점의 추상화가 된다.

• 자연광, 색, 소리 같은 모든 무형의 요소가 손에 잡힐 듯 공간을 가득 채운다. 시선을 방해하는 어떤 사물도 없이, 그저 빛과 색뿐이다. <직물 공장> 퍼포먼스의 숨소리가 공간에 넘쳐들어, 거울을 통해 거듭 반향되고 반향되어 실내 전체로 확장하여, 결국 내부와 하나가 되고 시간과 공간의 경계를 허물어뜨린다. 작가는 이렇게 설명한다. "공간 속에서 빛과 소리의 파동과 거울의 파동이 우리 몸과 함께 호흡하며 엮여든다. 나는 거울비춤이 또 다른 방식의 바느질이라고 생각한다."

• 퍼포먼스 전반부에서 김수자의 숨소리는 느릿느릿 부드럽고 거의 들리지 않다가 점점 깊어지고 빨라져 참을 수 없는 속도에까지 다다라 고통에 찬 불안감을 자아낸다. 우리는 작가의 호흡 패턴을 통해 급변하는 감정 상태를 경험하며, 그러다 결국 그의 호흡과 우리의 호흡이 하나가 된다. 후반부에서 그의 숨소리는 배경음 정도로 들릴 뿐 거의 분별할 수가 없다. 호흡의 음조, 조절, 리듬이 변하였다. 혹시 밖에서 들려오는 소리인가 싶지만, 숨에 다른 음의 숨을 겹쳐가며 이 리듬감 있는 크레센도와 조화의 감각을 창조하는 것은 여전히 작가 본인의 호흡이다. 퍼포먼스의 전후반부 모두 들숨과 날숨은 코로만 이뤄진다. 호흡하는 동안 그는 입을 다물고 있다. 그런데 후반부에서 김수자는 코로 호흡만 하는 것이 아니라 허밍도 한다. 작가는 거울의 반사가 호흡과 같다고 여기는데, 두 작용의 구조가 동일하기 때문이다. 반사도 호흡도 안에서 밖, 밖에서 안이라는 지향성을 가지며, 그리하여 둘 다 하나의 현실을 끌어내 또 다른 현실을 창출한다.

• 김수자는 몸의 최소 부위를 사용해 무수히 많은 소리를 만들어내는데, 회절 필름이 다채로운 광선을 낳는 것과도 비슷하다. 소리와 색이 덮쳐와 감정의 전 영역을 경험케 한다. 11분 38초간 오디오 퍼포먼스가 이어지는 동안, 우리의 마음은 당혹감에서 기쁨으로, 불안에서 환희로, 반신반의에서 깨달음으로 치솟는다. 김수자는 내부로의 여행에 우리를 초대한다. 공간의 내부, 무지개의 내부, 거울의 내부, 호흡의 내부로 말이다. 여행의 최종 목적지는 바로 우리 자신 속이다. 안을 향해 들어가는 이 여행에서 우리는 김수자의 작업에 언제나 존재하는 타자와 마주한다. 거울은 에고와 얼터에고를 연결하고, 우리가 항상 품고 있는 타자성을 비춘다. 거울은 끌어당기고 반사한다. 반사는 에고를 외화하는 또 다른 방법이다. 김수자는 우리 몸과 공간의 관계를 말하고 있다. 그는 예술을 우리의 몸과 마음, 감각적 지각, 상상력의 경험으로 만들어낸다.

• Kimsooja (Taegu. Korea, 1957) has dedicated her long, intense artistic career to developing her own personal vision of the world through the use of installations, performances, photography, videos and site-specific projects. Her obvious singularity has tempted some to seek out links with certain Eastern philosophical and artistic traditions, but her core material is reality itself. The ideas that inform her work follow from questions she asks about life and art, about individuality and our relationship to others, about emptiness and the ephemerality of our existence. Her upbringing and life experience have helped shape her thinking into a unique blend where Christianity and Western philosophy is intimately entwined with Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Shamanism and Tao. In the history of Western art, we can find several referents to her work in performance and body-art circles, where artists such as Marina Abramovic and Ulay or Valie Export parallel her concerns. But rather than allowing herself to be swayed by theoretical issues and philosophies, whether Eastern or Western, Kimsooja has followed a trajectory marked mainly by a social and political commitment ensuing from her own life story, memory and sensitivity. Her work has deep universal roots and aspires to capture the totality of human experience: her creations appeal equally to mind, body and soul.

• From the beginning of the Nineties, after having worked with abstract collage compositions combining sewn objects with drawing and painting, Kimsooja began to create installations and spatial objects that she dubbed Deductive Objects, where sewing was both a metaphor and an activity in itself. Needles, cloths, threads, quilts and such like formed part of her creative universe. Sewing, wrapping, stretching, folding, unfolding, covering are activities to which she repeatedly returns. The materials she chooses and the way she employs them derive from the traditional use of cloths in Korea. She began to show her bottariat two exhibitions she held in New York in 1993: the first in PS.1, where she had arrived the previous year on an international residence grant, and the other at the ISE Foundation. The bottari are bundles stuffed with cloths, clothes, etc, wrapped up in well-worn traditional Korean bedcovers. As the artist explained, second-hand bed clothes "bring with them smell, memories, desires, holding the spirit and life of former owners". From then on, these commonplace objects in Korean culture became a constant in her work. In Korea they are associated with mobility (voluntary or obligatory), as they are used to carry around unbreakable domestic chattels such as clothes, books, food and gifts. Kimsooja's work presented them in all possible combinations: individually; alongside bedding laid out on the floor; against the backdrop of a landscape evoking their core function as a way of transporting necessary goods, symbolizing nomadic values; in dialog with video installation, etc.

• The artist went on to use the term bottari as the recurrent title for a series of videos she made in several different countries during 2000 and 2001. One such was Bottari-Zócalo, where we see a huge crowd of people - tiny multicolored bundles- swarming around the Zócalo plaza in Mexico City. Another was Bottari - Alfa Beach, shot in one of the slave-trading ports of Nigeria. On a screen split in two with sea and sky inverted, the constant to-and-fro of the waves in a green-grey sea, occasionally splashed by the white foam of breaking waves, contrasts with the quiet sky of fluffy clouds underneath. It transmits the same hope and uncertainty that the slaves must have felt in the face of an unknown future that loomed before them. Then there is Bottari - drawing the snow, where dark snowflakes fall across the white screen like birds scattering from their flock in all directions. And Bottari - waiting for the sunrise, filmed in Real de Catorce, Mexico, where a fixed camera focuses on a stony road that disappears into the horizon. The day is breaking but we cannot yet see the sun. For nearly five minutes, during which nothing moves, we try to discern the landscape, feeling the slow passage of time. Suddenly, we notice white light moving at the back from the right to the left of the screen. As the light coincides with the center of the road it seems that time and space have merged; but before it can begin to dazzle us, the video ends.

• These three videos were first presented, alongside another four, at the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation exhibition in Venice, January 2006, and foreshadowed Kimsooja's most recent works. They emit no sound. It seems as if the artist wants us to concentrate on the space, on what the screen is showing, placing unique importance on vision. Everything else is left to our imagination. The sense of movement, traveling, transition, disorientation, uncertainty and hope — all aspects that play a vital role in our lives — is ever-present in the author's videographic output and connects them to both her earlier and her later work. Kimsooja reflects on various aspects of life in which analogy and metaphor assume special relevance.

• Apart from the bottari, another characteristic element in her work is the employment of brightly colored, well-used traditional Korean bedclothes. For Kimsooja, they symbolize women, sex, love, the body, rest, sleep, privacy, fertility, longevity and health. Elements brimming with significance and present in human life from cradle to grave. Like the bottari, the bedclothes appear in various works, assembled in different manners: spread out on the floor in Sewing into Walking (1995); in combination with bottari in Deductive Object (1996); covering a mannequin in the photograph entitled Encounter - looking into sewing (1998-2002), which speaks to us both of loss of identity and of its weight; hanging from pegs as if hung out to dry in, for example, A Laundry Woman (2000) and A Mirror Woman (2002), another metaphor for female roles. These last two were presented in several places, including the Contemporary Art Museum in Lyon and the Peter Blum Gallery in New York, respectively.

• As of the mid-Nineties, Kimsooja began to use video fundamentally as a way to document and record performances in which she herself played a leading role. Between 1997 and 2001 she filmed a series of videos from performances she held in various towns and places the world over. Both the process and the pictures that these generated link into her attempt to reconcile the tensions inherent in the relationship between our ego and others'. The first video she entitled Cities on the Move - 2727 Kilometers Bottari Truck. It was made in November 1997, on an eleven-day journey through Korea on a truck loaded with colorful bottari. The 7:03 minutes of footage record the trip in space and time. A metaphor for her own life — constantly crossing frontiers — but also for one of the characteristics of contemporary artists and our society as a whole: nomadism is one of the mainstays of Kimsooja's art. We find it in many works of hers: in the installations with the bottari as symbolic elements and in other video pieces.

• The common denominator to this series of videos is the female form, a motionless woman with her back to the camera. It is presented in a myriad of settings: standing amongst passers-by in Tokyo, Shanghai, New Delhi, New York, Mexico, Cairo, Lagos and London or reclining on a rock in Kitakyushu, Japan — A Needle Woman (1999-2001); sitting on the pavement asking for alms in Cairo, Mexico and Lagos — A Beggar Woman (2000-2001); lying in the streets of New Delhi and Cairo — A Homeless Woman (2001); or standing next to a river in New Delhi — A Laundry Woman (2000). But wherever she may be, the figure of the artist is always inaccessible, her face hidden from the viewer. The viewer is thus refused what the crowds are permitted. The woman who will not let us see her face, who obliges us to ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves, becomes an abstraction. Her image, immobile before the river Yamuna, ends up merging into the current and flowing away with the debris that it carries. In these works, immobility envelops everything. However firmly the author places herself in the centre of the picture, she still manages to distance herself from it. Her simple yet oddly energizing appearance there is a kind of self-affirmation. She manages to be herself and the 'other' at one and the same time: both presence and absence. Kimsooja is simultaneously subject and object of our gaze; an individual and an abstraction; a specific woman and all women; instrument and actress; immobile and resolute. This seamless duality is something that Bernhard Fibicher described in "Obvious but Problematic", his article for the exhibition catalogue for Kimsooja, A Needle Woman, held in Kunsthalle Berne, in 2001.

• There is no sound in the bustling streets and in the landscapes where we see the artist, so reception is reduced to pure vision. Nor do we know who is filming her, what she is like, or with what expression she might face the crowds. The passers-by, inhabitants of enormous cities, become involuntary actors. In the Needle Woman video, the artist is standing stock still in the middle of streets overflowing with people. Her absolute immobility contrasts with the hurly-burly of the metropolis and with the noise that -although we do not actually hear it — we cannot help but divine must be there. The camera films the mass of passers-by treading the streets of these cities. It shows the faces of this anonymous throng while hiding that of the artist. Thousands of people walk towards her, enter the camera's field of vision and then disappear. Like a sociologist, the camera records the reactions of this multitude in a confrontation with the 'other'. In London, New York and Mexico, people almost ignore the artist as they pass her by. In Shanghai, New Delhi and Cairo, she sparks more interest. Some people even turn round or stop a moment to look at her. But it is in Lagos that she elicits greatest curiosity. Here, the video footage shows individual faces, feelings, reactions... However, in Tokyo, a smile on the face of a woman is the only element of emotion amidst the anonymous crowd. In A Homeless Woman, it is in Cairo that people pay most attention to her. A group of men cannot resist approaching her, moving in close and staring directly into the camera.

• For the 51st Venice Biennial in 2005, Kimsooja made a new version of A Needle Woman for which she visited a further six cities: Patan (Nepal), Havana, Rio de Janeiro, N'Djamena (Chad), Sana'a (Yemen) and Jerusalem. In six contiguous screens, presented as a video-installation in the midst of absolute silence, we can only intuit the teeming sounds of the passers-by and the noise of traffic in the distance. Once again, the artist brings us face to face with people's varied reactions to the ineffable figure she cuts. In this new set of videos, it is in Rio de Janeiro where people are most inquisitive about the artist's presence. In Jerusalem, only a small minority observe her with curiosity, although a policeman comes up to her smiling, looks at her, makes a hand-gesture to onlookers and leaves her alone. In general, however, passers-by seem more drawn to something that must be happening to her right, which is where they fix their eyes. In Patan, where flocks of birds swarm across the screen in stark contrast to the placid tranquility displayed by the inhabitants, it is mainly children who are attracted by her unmoving form. In Havana, a man pulls a face at her; many smile at her and a few can be seen making comments as their paths cross. In Sana'a, the men, especially the young men (there are hardly any women out on the street and where there are, they are fully covered by their black tunic and scarf with just a tiny slit at eye level) surround her and stop to stare at her attentively. In N'Djamena, the artist's figure merges into the mass of colorful garments and the rhythmic swarm of the passers-by — many of them carrying packages and bowls on their heads — as they surround her, then stop and gaze at her fixedly, greeting her with hand-movements, even speaking to her and apparently asking her questions. The curiosity on their faces is unmistakable. We, mere observers of their actions, look on expectantly. We cannot help but be slightly nervous of the reactions that people might have to the artist's presence. We fear the unexpected, always aware that there could be a sudden outbreak of violence at any moment. But as we watch the action unfolding, we wonder about the artist's reaction to the stares, smiles and comments to which she is subjected. We begin to feel intrigued about what the surprised passers-by could be saying, the words we cannot hear but deduce her unforeseen presence must elicit. We want to know more. We would like to be in the middle of this mass of people so that we could gather our own conclusions, evince their opinions, discover whether they are attracted by this sudden encounter with an unmoving figure in their path, or whether it has unsettled or upset them. It is true that we can observe their reactions, which in general appear to be respectful, since the camera shows their faces as they enter its field of vision, as they become unwary protagonists. But at the same time, we have an innate desire to hear their comments as they pass by. The artist exposes herself and exposes us. Observing her, we are also opened up to the crowd; with her, we merge into the surrounding mass, registering people's reactions. But we always want to know more, to have a hint of their singularity, a spark of their being in this world.

• Through their actions, capturing their expressions and reactions as they come across her, the artist also forces us to experience the shortcomings to our understanding of the real situation in other countries as lived by other peoples. The author is investigating, seeking out the minimal differences between each country and each person, trying to put her finger on what sets one apart from the rest. She shows human beings as individual beings and as experiences. Her choice of cities and countries for the performances is not random. Kimsooja's selection reflects her awareness of the conflicts that assail them, problems stemming from post-colonialism, civil wars, border skirmishes and violence triggered by the extreme poverty of their inhabitants. However, it is in these countries, ridden by conflict, far from jaded, ageing Europe, in stark confrontation with the unknown, that her creativity seems to find moaning and inspiration.

• In all these videos, Kimsooja makes her presence felt in this world through the continuity of reiterated situations and shots of her own unaltering image. People's physical, material being intrudes into her work in the same way as Nature. They are all a manifestation of different ways of being in this world, a statement of our alone-ness, but also a reminder that the world is ever present and that we are surrounded by others. Her work goes far beyond the gender issues, an area where she can be too simplistically pigeon-holed. She is demonstrating the manifest importance of being human in the chaotic world we inhabit, with all its solitude and its ephemerality. Directly or indirectly, through the traces that it leaves behind, people's 'footprint', humankind is always present in her work.

• Although the artist is not interested in tackling political issues as such in her creative output, her interest in the human condition and human reality has, on occasions, led her to create installations that are clearly related to political or social events. Sometimes these are a response to what has happened, other times they constitute a memory of them or render homage to their victims: Sewing into Walking (1995), presented at the first Kwangju Biennial, consists of a set of used cloths and bundles scattered over the ground in a park. They look like bodies abandoned on the battlefield. The piece is dedicated to the victims of the massacre at Kwangju, which took place in May 1980 when hundreds died in their struggle for democracy. Deductive Object - Dedicated to my Neighbors (1996), shown at the City Art Museum of Nagoya, Japan, uses a mixture of Korean and Japanese cloths; it is dedicated to the victims of the collapse of the Sampoong department store in her neighborhood in Seoul that same year. D'APERTutto or Bottari Truck in Exile (1999), presented at the 48th Venice Biennial, shows a truck reflected from a mirror structure installed in front of it, loaded up with brightly colored bottari. The mirror creates an endless opening, but the truck is blocking its own way ahead. It is dedicated to the refugees from Kosovo, a reminder of the dreadful consequences of war: displacement, death and destruction that were occurring at that time only a few kilometers from Venice. Responding to the events of the 11th of September 2001, Kimsooja created her Epitaph (2002), a powerful, emotional and beautiful photographic image in which the artist unrolls a colorful quilt on the ground in the Greenlawn cemetery in Brooklyn. In the background we can see the gaping absence of the emblematic Twin Towers on the Manhattan skyline.

• Throughout her career, and especially in recent years, along with her installations, photographs, performances and videos, Kimsooja has also been involved in setting up site-specific projects. Cloths, especially the eye-catching Korean bedclothes; sequences of light and color; mirrors; the chanting of Tibetan, Gregorian and Islamic monks, and the sound of her own breathing are resources that she uses for these and have become identifying characteristics. Planted Names and A Lighthouse Woman (2002), were two such projects, installed under the umbrella of the Spoleto Festival USA 2002 in Charleston, South Carolina. The artist was responding to an invitation to join in an exhibition entitled Memory of the Water, evoking the cosmopolitan character of this colonial capital and its maritime legacy. Planted Names commemorated the slaves who served in the Drayton Hall plantation. It also echoes the artist's own story as daughter of an army officer, growing up in the demilitarized zone in South Korea and continuously on the move from one town to another with her family. Four black carpets with the names of the African-origin slaves who worked in that plantation until their emancipation standing out in white lettering, transformed each of the rooms around the great hall on the first floor of Drayton Hall — the oldest plantation mansion still standing in America, conserved as a jewel of Georgian Palladian architecture. They are acts of meditation on the past and strategically placed in surroundings where the memory of these people who were deprived of freedom has special resonance. In A Lighthouse Woman, the artist uses light, color and sound to transform the abandoned lighthouse in Morris Island (Charleston, South Carolina) into a memorial. Made to commemorate the victims of the civil war fought out on Morris Island where the lighthouse is located, this work is also a tribute to the eternal relationship between light and water, symbolized in the lighthouse itself.

• Exhibited in the Vienna Kunsthalle, A Laundry Woman (2002) comprises colorful bedclothes and the sound of Tibetan monks chanting. The bedclothes can be seen from outside through the enormous windows of the Kunsthalle: they are pegged onto ropes, as if hanging on a clothesline. They operate as a metaphor for female roles, establishing a dialogue between the interior space of the Kunsthalle and the urban landscape, between life and art, intimacy and universality.

• The organizers of the 2nd Valencia Biennial invited the artist to set up something on an empty site in the city. The resulting Solarscope is a sequence of light with a range of changing colors projected onto a building, conferring life on what had been an abandoned plot of land. In the Rameau palace in Lille (France) her Lotus: Zone of Zero (2003) was an installation of three-hundred and seven lights with music. The red bulbs hang in a lotus-flower arrangement in the circular hall of the building. The space is flooded with the sound of Tibetan, Gregorian and Islamic chant. Over and above the eye-catching beauty of the installation, it is a call to peace, love and understanding amongst human beings.

• A Mirror Woman - the ground of nowhere (2003) was installed on a roundabout at the Honolulu city-hall in Hawaii. The piece formed part of Crossings 2003: Korea / Hawaii, a series of activities organized to celebrate one century of Korean immigration to the United States. A fine gauze curtain hangs eighteen meters from the ground, rolled up at the base to form a huge cylindrical tube, six meters in diameter. The sky is reflected in the mirrored flooring. Walking or lying on this mirror/floor, visitors can only see the cobalt-blue sky with its white clouds and their own reflection. The piece tries to capture the atmosphere of hope, excitement and homesickness that the Korean immigrants must have felt on arriving in the United States, the sense of nothingness that must have overwhelmed this first wave of newcomers arriving on the island of Hawaii one hundred years earlier.

• Four sound-channels broadcast Tibetan, Islamic and Gregorian chants, which inundated one of the rooms at The Project in New York, for which Kimsooja conceived Mandala: Zone of Zero, in 2003. Creating a space for isolation, meditation and daydreams, she placed a brightly colored juke-box speakers on each of the four walls of the room, exploiting their formal similarity to traditional Buddhist mandalas to imbue an object of Western pop culture with Eastern religious connotations. The mixture of chants issuing from the record-players surround and envelope the spectator with their beams of sound. Reflecting their assimilation of different cultures, social contexts and aesthetics, this installation explores the notion of unity and totality according to which mind and body are spiritually united.

• In 2003, following up the idea of playing with light and color already used in some of her site-specific projects, such as A Lighthouse Woman and Solarscope, the artist made a set of videos experimenting with sequences of light and the color palette, employing its beauty and energy to play with different frequencies and rhythms. Invisible Mirror, Invisible Needle and A Wind Woman belong to this series. In the first, the colors change their range and intensity slowly, almost imperceptibly, until they have exhausted the entire color spectrum. In the second, the speed of sequencing increases until it becomes so frenetic that the eye can barely perceive the tonality of the colors whizzing across the screen. The third, A Wind Woman is a work on Nature. It was first shown in the United States at the Henry Art Gallery and then presented for the first time in Europe at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa exhibition in Venice. The artist created an abstract painting in the style of Gerhard Richter, using her video camera to record high-speed Nature. All three are silent videos where the only sound is in our imagination. The first two have been put together in a single video-installation into which The Weaving Factory 5.1 has been synchronized. This latter piece was made in 2004 with the sound of the artist breathing. The ensemble, entitled To Breathe / Respirare (Invisible Mirror, Invisible Needle), was presented at the Fenice Theatre in Venice on 27th January 2006 and projected during February and March before the opera performances of the Die Walkure and / Quatro Rusteghi by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, scheduled in the theatre for this time. Visitors are confronted by a large screen on which all the tonalities of the color range gradually succeed one another. They are surprised by the sound of slow breathing, whose source is intriguingly difficult to identify on entering. The colors, with their different intensities, are shown on a screen which seems to be mirroring the colors thrown back at it from the theatre. Meanwhile, the breathing becomes more intense, deeper, and seems to pervade the entire space. In the first part, the rhythm of the artist's breath speeds up and deepens until it reaches moments of real anguish. In the second, the tone, modulation and rhythm of breathing change as they reach a harmonious crescendo that turns into an anthem, a prayer, a choir, the sound of wind instruments. Visitors are impelled into this experience. Feeling that we form part of the piece, we follow the cadenza and the different rates of air-intake and expulsion. We accompany the breathing with our own feelings of anxiety or relief. As if it were a metaphor for life, we oscillate through the most diverse mood states: from uncertainty to calm, from anguish to respite, from the twinge of danger to real enjoyment. We feel health and sickness, chaos and harmony. The respiration seems to absorb us so deeply that it enters inside our very body. It is a piece that, on its own, acts through contrasts. But placed where it is placed, the simplicity of the breathing and the purity of the light emanating from the colors, harmoniously bathing the space, contrast exquisitely with the baroque style of the theatre.

• With a minimum number of simple elements, Kimsooja achieves maximum effects, sensations, emotions and a rich onslaught of ideas and concepts. Her art appeals both to the senses and to the imagination. Its enormous beauty in no way distracts us from the disquieting questions it poses about concepts and situations in our life experience. As an artist who participates in her times and their problems, her work avoids introspection and embraces the world by subjecting it to the wordless scrutiny of her gaze.

• Her pieces seem to be enveloped in silence. An aspiration to isolation and withdrawal seeps through videos of her performances, in the installations made with cloths and even in her video-installations with sound. They are an invitation to escape momentarily from the chaos and noise of the world around us, in order to re­encounter our selves and question our relationship with others; to reflect on our place in this world and stare the essential problems of existence in the face. Exhibition space made sanctuary.

• For the Palace de Cristal in Madrid, Kimsooja has made To Breathe - A Mirror Woman, comprising an intervention in space and her earlier sound piece, The Weaving Factory, 2004. The project is a logical continuation of her previous works. The artist has exploited the structure of the building, leaving it intact so that it forms a whole with the installation of a mirror on the floor. This acts as a multiplier and a unifier of the original architectural space. Here, Kimsooja submerges us in a transfiguring experience that uses minimal elements: a translucent diffraction grating film covering the glazed dome and wall of the crystal palace, a mirror covering its floor and the sound of her own breathing. We are invited into an experiment with our minds and our senses, to give free rein to our sensorial perception and our imagination.

• The title itself not only refers back to other projects in which the artist used mirrors and the sound of her breathing, but also to her work with needles and sewing. As in her video-installations, such as A Needle Woman, where she herself is the needle piercing the crowd, in A Mirror Woman the artist is the mirror; the mirror that reflects and creates reality. Like a surface returning what comes to it, the artist sucks up one reality but reflects another, creating another reality. She is the reflector and also the creator of the reality that the mirror reflects.

• The project as a whole also takes us back to her bottari since there too she was enveloping and wrapping. In this case, the author has enveloped the Palacio de Cristal with translucent film. However, whereas the bottari wrapped and transported clothes and belongings over distance, here the building is wrapping us and transporting us through an experience of our bodies, imaginations and senses.

• The light shining in from outside enters through the glass of the pavilion and the translucent film disseminates it into rainbow spectra. This not just transforms the view of the exterior we see from inside the palace but also the look and feel of the interior, where the entire structure and the multi-colored rays of light are reflected and re-reflected in the mirrored floor. Seen from outside, the interior of the palace is transformed by the reflection of light and trees. This effect is especially powerful on sunny days. But even when it is overcast, any break in the clouds or in stormy skies, any sunbeam that slips through, increases the contrast levels of the light, thereby creating a multiplicity of rainbows. Similarly, the direct sunlight on the diffraction film produces an additional effect of projecting its spectra onto the interior surface of the palace, where the mirror bounces back the colored light onto the visitors and throughout the interior of the building. We get the impression of being drawn into the rainbows, of forming part of them and becoming one with them. The ad infinitum reproduction of the spectrum varies throughout the day, acquiring different shapes: rays, gusts, aureolae, zigzags, etc. It not only brings to mind the colorful traditional Korean bedding so often used by the artist, but also her work with Nature in A Wind Woman. At certain times of day, depending on the intensity of the light, the glazed structure of the building becomes an abstract painting configured together with the trees in the surrounding gardens.

• Natural light, color and sound, all such very ethereal elements, almost tangibly fill the space. There are no objects to distract our gaze. Just light and color. The artist's breathing from her The Weaving Factory performance pours into the space, bouncing back again and again from the mirroring, expanding throughout the interior of the building, becoming one with it and breaking down the barriers between time and space. As the artist explains: "The waves of light and sound, and those of the mirror, breathe and interweave together with our body within the space. I find mirroring to be another way of sewing."

• Her slow, soft, scarcely perceptible respiration in the first part of the performance gradually becomes deeper and faster, until its pace becomes unbearable, producing a sensation of anguished discomfort. We experience rapidly changing mood states through the artist's breath pattern, which merges into ours. In the second part, we can hardly make out her breathing, except as background sound. The tone, modulation and rhythm have changed. We would think that it is an external sound, but it is still her own respiration that is creating this rhythmic crescendo, this sensation of harmony, obtaining by superimposing different notes one on top of the other. In both the first and the second part of the performance, the inspiration and expiration is exclusively nasal. She never opens her mouth. However, in the second she not just breathes but actually hums through her nose. The artist considers reflecting to be like breathing, since the structure of both operations is the same; both share the directionality from out to in and in to out so that both extract one reality and create another.

• She uses a minimal part of her body to achieve a myriad of sounds, similar to the myriad of light beams produced by the diffraction film. The onslaught of sound and color runs visitors through an entire spectrum of emotions. During the eleven minutes, thirty-eight seconds of the audio performance, we are rocketed from puzzlement to delight, from anxiety to joy, from uncertainty to recognition. Kimsooja is inviting us to take an inward-bound trip: to the inside of the space, the inside of the rainbow, the inside of the mirror, the inside of our breathing. The final destination is inside ourselves. And on this inward trip we come face to face with the other, that other so ever-present in her work. The mirror connects the ego and the alter-ego and reflects the otherness that we always carry within. The mirror attracts and reflects. Reflecting is another way of exteriorizing the ego. Kimsooja is talking to us about the relationship between our body and space. She makes art into an experience of body and mind, of our sensory perception and of our imagination.

• Space, light and the body are the elements with which Kimsooja gives form to the world. The purity of the images might seem to situate the vision elsewhere, but this feat has to do with the physical dimension. In her Bottari(bundles made with bedspreads), what strikes us is the feeling of the light, perhaps due to the reflective quality of the silk, or that the bundles of cloth seem to float weightlessly—and light has no weight. The Bottari are also a metaphor for the body, because the bed is the place that witnesses the primary events of existence: birth, slumber, dreams, love, death. The knot that seals these sculptures increases their silence and evokes the inaudible sound of light, and also that particular tonality that is connected with exile, when the sudden memory of a light, once known and now lost, reappears.

• In the space-light-body interaction the figure of the artist seen in the video indicates the subjectivity of the creator, outlining the space between transcendence and embodied reality. A space that is not limited to the self-portrait, but in the recovery of everyday gestures, like sewing and housework (the Bottari), sheds light on the link that unites being and things. For thousands of years these things have been the symbolic belt zone of female identity, and the place where its exclusion was effected. This is where Kimsooja searches for being, toward “a play between place and quarter, i.e., between the gathering of things in the locality of their reciprocal belonging and the vast open expanse in which each thing simply rests in itself,” as Gianni Vattimo writes in the introduction to Martin Heidegger’s Art and Space[1].

• For Heidegger the place is defined by the possibility of arranging things, which are, in turn, themselves a place: therefore the locality is a grouping of places (and we cannot help but be reminded of the Bottari Compressed in a truck), while the quarter indicates the vast open expanse, or the condition that permits things to arise, to rest in themselves, to gather in their mutual “belonging” (here we make an immediate association with the videos entitled Bottari, that show whirling snow, the storm, the rising sun, the sea). Heidegger believes the space of art, understood as making space, exists within this exchange.

• The works of Kimsooja, besides creating a space, “make space” in the sense that they belong to the place in which they appear and, at the same time, they open the vision of an “open vastness.” When Heidegger talks about making space, leaving space, of creating a void so the “co-belonging” of place and quarter can happen, he is referring to sculpture.Kimsooja’s videos are also sculpture, because what emerges is the circularity of things that gather in on themselves to define the place and to open a quarter, while time incorporates the image, sharpening the three-dimensional aspect. The viewing proceeds in alternations of stillness and movement, indicating a full space-time whole, rather than a sequential notion of time.

• As Heidegger says: “The play of relationships of art and space should be thought about starting with the experience of place and quarter, not simply taking possession of space. Sculpture is not actually a confrontation with space. Sculpture would be the way places embody themselves, opening a quarter and caring for it in order to keep something free gathered around them, to grant a dwelling to all things, to permit man to dwell in the midst of things.”[2]

• I see this game of relations in all the videos of Kimsooja: they do not express possession of the space that takes form in her works, given the reciprocal belonging between her figure, the things she sets forth, and those that constitute the places in themselves (the views and events she presents); they do not, in fact, possess the spaces that host them, because their vastness does not occupy the places of the representation, but actually enhances the voids required so that both are able to “co-belong.” It is an emotion that is almost directly transmitted to the observer as well.When we see her standing still as a needle in a crowd (A Needle Woman, 1999–2001), what disturbs and engages us is the relationship between her body and the self-embodiment of a locality, including places of real edification and the emotional, social, rational sites generated by those who live in the urban environment.

• In the moment of their contact with the body of the artist, a new “locality”of being appears, not defined in an abstract way, but through the encounter of different bodies: those of the men crossing the streets of Delhi, Lagos, Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, London, Shanghai; those of the individual places in which Kimsooja has done the performance; the psychic bodies that still exist in the male/female opposition. The needle, in the person of Kimsooja, becomes the boundary necessary to perceive a void in which to make room for feminine identity. It is a needle in a haystack, hard to recognize, easy to lose, but in the very moment when the (albeit narrow) space takes the form of a lone woman, motionless, silent in the crowd, a vast space opens up.Thus Kimsooja’s needle passes from an internal image, underlining the symbolic activity of sewing the hems of experience, to a metaphor of the earth's axis, joining the hemispheres and permitting rotation. The fact that all this becomes visible in a sculpture that, in spite of its lack of volume as a video projection, presents volume par excellence—namely the human figure—brings us back to the relationship between transcendence and embodied reality, which is the field of art’s actuation, but also of the mystery that links the permanence of life to death.

• The projection of the color spectrum in To Breathe / Respirare(2005) incorporates the space of Teatro La Fenice, but allows it to breathe independently, giving form to the inherent void of art’s spacemaking. The video is projected on the firewall during the hour before the beginning of Richard Wagner’s The Valkyrie, as the audience prepares to listen. The theater, not yet transfigured by the performance, is in a state of emptiness: seating, stage, balconies, furnishings define it as the“place” that is about to open to the “quarter” that will take form in the music, the singing, dancing and acting.

• This is where Kimsooja intervenes with To Breathe / Respirare. It is the union—created for Teatro La Fenice—of two videos: Invisible Mirror and Invisible Needle. The color spectrum invades the diaphragm that separates the hall from the stage, a void. The colors slowly shift from one to the next and become a mirror in which the theater itself is reflected.Then they proceed in a convulsive manner, like the invisible, repetitive penetration of a needle. An an iconic vision hovers, breath-like, circumscribing the space. The space cannot be possessed. It is possible to be part of this rib cage in which everyone feels sheltered and enclosed. The result is an immaterial sculpture in which, as Heidegger said, “the self-embodiment of places” is in direct relation to the quarter that “grants a dwelling to all things.”

• Kimsooja’s colors do not arrange themselves as an image added to existing images, but as a place capable of containing the theater itself, sheltering its authenticity. The breath she has translated into vision intertwines with the sound of the orchestra tuning up in that hour-long void of performance. It is not a set, a backdrop, but it creates conditions so that different expressions can flow together and draw light from one another.

• Nevertheless there is a hidden link in the construction Kimsooja has designed. It can be seen on January 27, a day without a performance of The Valkyrie, when the theater will be open to the public only for the screening. No players will be tuning up in the orchestra pit, so there will be another void. The spectators will not be waiting for an event; the event will be the theater itself. That evening To Breathe / Respirare will be accompanied by the “sound sculpture” The Weaving Factory 5.1 (2004).The sound is produced by the gradually accelerating breathing of the artist, which interweaves in synchrony with the images and spreads out into the space like an impalpable bubble. The sensation is exactly that of the “self-embodiment” that prevents possession of the space.

• An equally impalpable architecture of walls, arches, floors and windows rises inside and around the theater, while the color spectrum is reflected in the lights that mark the orders of the balconies, at times igniting a spotlight. The action of breathing, inside the image and the sound, redefines the space of the theater.

• If we think about the human body we know how to recognize breathing, but plants, water and earth also breathe, though inaudibly. Kimsooja, when she uses her rib cage to create a volume of air, triggers our perception of being contained in a space. Who has never felt a sense of expansion when something has been reached? Doesn’t that expansion of the mind and the heart correspond to a great breath?

• The verb “to breathe,” which unifies the three works shown at La Fenice And those in the exhibition at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, evokes the gesture of shaping a volume with air, light and color. It may seem like a poetic metaphor, but it actually corresponds to the activities of life that not only produce tangible objects, but also multiple airy sculptures such as thoughts, sentiments, fears, anxieties, joys. Their consistency crowds our existence, including those who are not able to process them in the circumscribed spaces of art, poetry and intellectual endeavor.

• In this project for La Fenice, Kimsooja makes a passage with respect to her previous works: to an increasing extent, the visible loses its perspectival limits, moving toward an expansion that is not resolved in abstraction, but in the self-embodiment of art as it grasps the dimension of openness that rests within being and, as such, has no frames, no preset spaces, but is an eternal arrangement of things in response to the mobility of experience.

This has often been seen as the original quality of artistic invention. But every work, even the most rigidly concluded one, harbors change inside it; from time to time it takes on new meanings, in fact, depending on the existence of the observer. Kimsooja focuses her gaze inside the mobile matter of perception and translates it into works that set out to give form to the openness that lies within human existence and nature.

• Kimsooja accepts being part of and recording a passage, a boundary, a duration. In short, she is willing to become a needle, precise like that of a scale, but also slender, invisible.

• The fact that the word “needle” is found in many of her titles underscores the link between the visible and what determines it, though the latter is not in the foreground, including the manual activity that has had such an important role to play in defining the material culture of women. Sewing is an action that excludes: it must be stationary work, yet it cannot limit the perception of an inescapable opening. We can try to forget about it, but it pricks and stings anyway.

• In the exhibition at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Kimsooja presents several videos never shown elsewhere, representing the background for this new passage in her work. All of them put us face to face with the immobility of passing time: seemingly a paradox, but an actual reality. It’s hard to perceive the transient nature of time. Usually we need a separation, an element that modifies the habitual state. Kimsooja frames this apparently immobile mobility. She guides us through the effort of waiting, of letting ourselves be crossed by time and image.

• Deep Breathing (1998): The sky is empty, dense with humidity, foggy phantoms twist in eddies, two birds cross the sky along unpredictable routes. The breathing of the title is immersed in depth, but also light, like flying.

• Bottari – chasing the fog (2000): We’re in Mexico, at Real de Catorce. A Plain with low shrubs is covered by fog that is not particularly dense, but prevents us from seeing the sky. The camera moves horizontally, in short movements, as if it were “digging” through the fog, carving sculptures out of the soft material of the condensed water and air. The camera movements cut the image, hewing out evanescent volumes.

• Bottari – waiting for the sunrise (2000): A rocky, desert-like road, again inReal de Catorce. The dawn has already brought light, but in the background, amidst the pale pink clouds, one can sense that the sun hasn't yet risen, or at least that point on the horizon is not visible. The video lasts five minutes, a short span, yet very long if nothing is moving in the scene. The effort involves summoning the concentration required to see the vastness, not just to imagine it. Gradually the eyes take over from the mind, joining with time, accepting the invisible. At the end the clouds light up completely and we can make out a beacon moving in the distance, along the horizon. A car driving down a road? Perhaps. We understand that life is reawakening, that the sun has completely emerged. The video ends without warning, just as happens with the sun.The initial grazing light lasts a long time and then, suddenly, invades the sky above us.

• Bottari – throwing the globe (2000): Mexico, Real de Catorce. The earth is a magma thrown into the air, it rotates and drags with it the sky and the profile of a plain, frayed by golden lights. It is an unreal cosmic motion governed by the desire to throw us into a symbiotic circularity with nature, independent of the physical laws of gravity.

• Bottari – drawing the snow (2001): New York. There is no longer any distance between the observer and the sky in which snowflakes whirl, dense, thin, spread like leaves, creating eddies and pauses. It’s a kind of dripping, gorgeous, beyond human gesture.

• Bottari – Alfa Beach (2001): the relationship between earth and sky is inverted. Below, in place of the beach, we see the sky. Above, the sea.They are divided by a cutting line that makes a division with respect to the boundless vastness of the horizon. In this gravitational inversion, the eternal alternation of the waves loses its meaning of natural cohesion and creates disorientation. At the end the caption says: “The video was shot in Nigeria, at Alfa Beach, one of the many ports of the slave trade.”Perhaps this overturning indicates the unnatural reversal of freedom into slavery. In that moment, even the cosmic coordinates are disrupted.

• A Wind Woman (2001): Gusts of intense gray, alternating with patches of blue, cross the screen creating fluid paintings. For centuries women have been interpreted as a metaphor of nature. In ancient societies, before the birth of the Greek civilization, as the great anthropologist Marija Gimbutas has written, the feminine presence was worshipped and formed the focal point of a social development in which there was no war. Relationships were based on an egalitarian dynamic between men and women. This was not matriarchy, but recognition of the reproductive mystery of life.

• With this “wind woman,” Kimsooja shifts feminine symbolism away from the usual Mother Earth metaphor toward an energy, the wind, that buffets every living species. A relationship arises between the Needle Woman, standing still in the midst of a human current, and the Wind Woman, who flies in the air: both are places from which to access the vastness of coexistence and the biological structures that determine us.

• The sense we get of all the videos presented in Venice by Kimsooja has to do with a theme that frequently returns in the history of the art of the last century, namely the pursuit of an abstraction within which one rediscovers the original moment of vision and thought. Malevich said he wanted “to go beyond the despicable surface of real things” to “discover the silent worlds that live behind the light of the sun.” Kimsooja seems to take the opposite path, investigating the light that rests inside everyday things.

• In the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, the urge to break with figurative canons was in tune with the birth of modern physics. Today, computer technologies have created a direct contact between scientific discovery and its everyday appreciation. So the conceptual, abstract aspect is less urgent. Instead, there is a need, foreseen by Heidegger in1969, to delve into the dynamic between the space of art and that which concerns “the habitation of men, for a possible dwelling of the things that surround them and have to do with them.”[3]

• Here lies the question: what does habitation mean today? What are the things that surround us? The Internet has brought the entire planet within reach. The art scene has expanded and the forms it offers us create an iconographic interdependency, never previously feasible, just as there was never such a numerous presence of women artists. All this radically modified the concept of dwelling and the relationship with the things that surround men and women.

• Kimsooja is Korean, but she lives in New York: as she reports, it was very hard to be an artist in her country. The fact that many of the videos shown in Venice portray events in different parts of the world, and that her Bottari come from Korean wedding ceremonies, is indicative of a radical change in the relationship among the things that surround life. What appears is a transitory character of existence that doesn’t have to do only with the fact that today we live in a more nomadic way; it also regards the idea that nomadism is an ontological condition, even for those who always live in the same place.

• The absence of perspectival boundaries in the videos at Fondazione Bevilacqua and Teatro La Fenice evokes, on the one hand, the mobility of living; while, on the other, it moves away from the concept of abstraction toward a purified image of truth, which can be connected to the abandonment of her place of birth and to Buddhist culture.

• Nevertheless, the representation of a truth that does not claim to be the center of the world, but just one of the places that make up the world, is decisive. In this way Kimsooja creates a relationship of belonging with her own place of origin and those embraced by her works.

• It’s what happens to everyone: the effort lies in purifying the things that surround us, so others can interact. One must make space for the events of living and grasp the vastness they contain: for Kimsooja they are the consistency of color, of snow, of fog, of the landscape, of the metropolitan crowd.

• In her 2006 New Year's wishes to her friends, Kimsooja included a short and true story about a pair of twin girls who were born prematurely. One of the twins was not expected to live. A nurse from the hospital decided to break the rules and placed the two infants in the same incubator. Once the newborns were placed together, side by side, they embraced each other. The stronger of the two helped to regulate the body temperature and heartbeat of the weaker one, thus enabling the weaker one to survive against all expectations. Nothing could introduce this book, the second collaborative effort between La Fenice Theatre and the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, more poetically than the story of this metaphoric event. For the duration of one month, and preceding each opera performance at the Teatro La Fenice, the public will have the opportunity to view Kimsooja's latest video work projected on the theater's screen. The Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation is proud to be the first Italian art center to have established an agreement of this kind with an opera house. Upon viewing Kimsooja's videos, both at La Fenice and at the gallery space of the Foundation, but in particular the one selected for the theater, it seems only fitting to ask ourselves what the contents and significance of such videos are. Indeed, here is one of those rare occasions that demonstrate how the methods of interpreting contemporary art are not so dissimilar from those used for interpreting opera: the initial and instinctive pleasure one receives is deepened and made more complete only upon having learned something about the musical score and the operatic libretto. It is only after a first reading that one is then ready for a second, more competent and knowledgeable understanding.

• The title of the video chosen for the occasion is To Breathe / Respirar. It is a succession of colors that anticipate the rhythm of breathing‑at times hurried, at times calm and composed. The video does not portray any images, rather only colors, and speaks of the need for air, emptiness, and space for filling our lungs. Breathing is an act of survival as well as a therapeutic response to the small and large troubles that life imposes on us. Breathing as an essential act explains why the video is an image reduced to its basic essence, that is, to light.

• Although indebted to Mondrian from an artistic and theoretical point of view, as Kimsooja confirms herself, the artist does not betray her first and foremost tradition which stems from a deep relationship to Korean life and aesthetics. In this way To Breathe / Respirar leads us to look for its origins in the artist's previous works. In the 1980s Kimsooja used the fabrics and clothes that had belonged to her grandmother as a source for her geometric patchworks, which were often made in the form of a cross as in The Earth and the Heaven (1984). To the detriment of its geometry, the fortuitousness of the composition as then intensified in such later works as Toward the Mother Earth (1990‑91) and The Mind and the World (1991): pieces of material arranged like rapid brush strokes, but also like fragments of life, collected from the street and somehow brought back to life. Also the series 'Deductive Objects', created in the early 1990s, included strips of material compiled in this same way, even if scattered on the floor in a multi‑colored trail or hung like tablecloths over tiny bar tables.

• Many of the artist's subsequent works show concepts similar to the one presented in the video at La Fenice, where the idea of pieces of fabric, or rags, has been substituted by the valuable cloth that in Korea is given to newly wed couples as a nuptial bed covering. We are speaking of Bottari, which Kimsooja has used in numerous and varied ways. On different occasions they have been displayed like ordinary clothes, or as extremely decorative and interrelated layers of colors (e.g., Bottari, 2000; A Laundry Woman, 2000; A Mirror Woman, 2002). In the early 1990s Kimsooja presented the Bottari in another form, that of a traveling bundle: a swollen fruit containing just a few of one's possessions. In the performance presented at the exhibition "Cities on the Move", Kimsooja traveled by truck for eleven days in November of 1997 through all the Korean towns and cities that had been fundamental to the formation of her own identity. She was aware that she would soon be leaving behind Korea — and her fond attachment to it — to live and work in Europe and the United States. The images produced in this performance show her standing upright, with her back against the truck cab, and supported by the mound of Bottari that also served as a psychological reminder of her burden.

• The Bottari as a sign of bound identity, as a way to be seen but also as a way to not see, became a cascade of color that draped and spilled forth from the body of the artist in the performance Encounter: Looking into SewingA Needle Woman (1999‑2005). Here her body is presented as a needle which, although immobile and harnessing the flow of people around her, penetrates the crowd and knits the people together. In metaphorical terms, the combining of colors and pieces of cloth is no different than the "gathering" or "garnering" of people.

• Breathing is a symmetrical act, and thus it is akin to a given aesthetic found in the majority of Kimsooja's works — both those where her own body is at play and those where objects are the central focus. Take for example the installation Lotus: Zone of Zero (2003) erected in the center of the nearly monumental greenhouse of Lille. The installation consisted of 307 lanterns in the form of lotuses, from which issued the sounds of three cultural sources: an interweaving of Tibetan, Gregorian, and Islamic chants, presented always in the spirit of sewing and binding. The symmetry also becomes a way for emphasizing the relationships therein: right / left, above / below, inner / outer. It is no coincidence that in the version of A Mirror Woman presented at the Honolulu City Hall (A Mirror Woman - the ground of nowhere, 2003), hands, emotions and friendships were sewn together in a completely symmetrical tower of gauze. Here visitors were invited to lie down on a circular mirror placed on the floor, one that reflected a portion of open sky exposed by another circle located above the tall cone of gauze. The position that Kimsooja assumes in almost all of her performances is one of symmetry, including her solitary meditation along the sacred Yamuna River, as well as her immersion in the chaos of Times Square on March 11, 2005 (A Beggar Woman). The emotional shock produced which in the first case can be seen simply by the artist's exposure to nature and to her own intimate and internal thoughts — is also felt in A Beggar Woman by all those people who notice her sitting on the ground, immobile as a lotus, like some unexpected flower that has suddenly sprung forth. Even in those images where symmetry is absent, such as in the portion of A Needle Woman in which the artist leans against a rock, or in the disjointed movements of A Wind Woman (2005), the lack of harmony is reasserted along with a desire to regain it. This also happens in the repetitive and circular passage of day into night, a cycle characterized by a conciliatory symmetry that the artist has marked out in more than one of her videos.

• The video To Breathe / Respirar is an extreme and mature synthesis of all the themes presented in Kimsooja's works. Nothing is more symmetrical than the monochrome. These monochromes are sewn together by that electronic needle called post‑production. The color and form are similar to a kind of Asian silk, but also to Western modernism: in this way, one inhales and exhales, duality harmonizes, distant cultural traditions unite and connect like mirrored images, or like two twins helping each other to live.

• 바늘과 거울은 여성성과 연계되어 있다. 그것들은 타인을 위해, 혹은 자신을 위해 하는 일을 나타낸다. 하지만 김수자의 손에서 이 단순한 오브제들은 우주적 은유가 된다. 가정의 고요한 울타리를 초월하여, 우주 속 우리의 자리를 사유하는 새로운 방식을 가리킨다.

• 바늘을 예로 들어보자. 김수자는 '바늘여인'의 역할을 맡으며, 어머니와 함께 바느질하던 기억, 할머니가 정성스레 꿰맨 이불을 덮던 옛 기억을 떠올리게 한다. <바늘여인>은 일상을 지속하게 하는 단순한 행위들이 서로 다른 것을 연결하고 결속시킨다는 개념을 제시한다. 바늘 여인의 페르소나에는 김수자가 바늘을 천에 꽂을 때 느낀 특별한 경험도 반영되어 있다. 당시 그는 온 우주의 에너지가 바늘 끝에 모여든 것처럼, 놀라운 에너지를 느꼈다. 이 경험은 공간, 시간, 에너지가 서로 연결되어 있다는 아인슈타인 이후의 개념으로 그를 인도했다. 그 각각의 존재가 절대적이 아니라 상대적이라는 통찰이 <바늘여인>(1999-2001) 같은 작업의 이면에 깔려 있다. 이 작품에서 김수자는 어지럽고 혼잡한 일련의 도시 풍경 안에 멈추어 선 한 점이 된다. 이 <바늘여인> 연작에서 우리는 델리, 라고스, 런던, 멕시코시티, 도쿄, 카이로, 상하이 등지의 도시인들이 거대한 무대 위에 오른 배우처럼 그의 앞으로 주변으로 스쳐가는 와중에, 미동도 없이 가만히 선 그의 뒷모습을 본다. 목 뒤에서 묶어 등으로 곧게 떨어뜨린 검은 머리칼은 하늘과 땅을 가르는 수직의 선이 되어 그녀를 이 세계에 뿌리내리게 한다. 작품은 세 가지 양상의 시간 경험을 제공한다. 우리의 참조점이 되는 작가의 시간, 평소의 일로 바삐 움직이는 주변 도시인들의 시간, 그리고 이 두 가지 상이한 양상을 동시에 경험하는 관객의 시간이다.

• 김수자는 이러한 개념을 다른 여러 작품에서 확장해 갔다. 2001년 라고스와 나이지리아에서 촬영한 <구걸하는 여인>에서 그는 걸인처럼 양 손바닥을 펴고 거리에 앉아 있다. <집 없는 여인>(2001)에서는 델리의 분주한 길거리에 움직임 없이 무방비하게 누운 채로 있다. 일상적 시간을 초월한 그의 모습에 정치적 색채가 묻어나는 것은 그가 자신을 사회의 소외된 사람들과 동일시하기 때문이다.

• '바늘여인'으로서의 심적 상태를 설명하며, 김수자는 이렇게 말했다. "천을 꿰뚫는 것은 바늘 끝이고, 바늘 구멍에 꿴 실로 천의 다른 두 부분을 이을 수 있다. 바늘은 신체의 연장이고, 실은 마음의 연장이다... 바늘은 매개이며, 신비이고, 현실이자 남과 여를 품은 이중의 존재, 하나의 척도이자, 선(禪)의 순간이다." 하나의 바늘로서 그는 세상의 힘을 자신 안에 끌어모아, 다시 그것을 세상으로 되돌려 보낸다.

• 거울 역시 복잡한 상징을 품고 있다. 흔히 거울은 여성의 자기애를 드러내는 도구로 여겨지지만, 거울은 더 깊은 실재를 엿보게 하는 반사면이다. 세상을 비추는 거울로서의 회화라는 개념은 서구 미술 전통의 근간을 이루어 왔다. 그러나 현대에 들어서면서, 거울은 외부 세계가 아닌, 내면 세계를 반영하는 방향으로 바뀌었다.

• 그러나 거울은 신뢰하기 어려운 도구이다. 거울은 오해를 불러일으키거나 심지어 기만적일 수도 있기 때문에, 예술가들은 이 속성을 이용해 관객의 눈을 속이는 장치를 만들어 왔다. 유명한 사례가 벨라스케스의 <시녀들>이다. 왕가의 초상을 담은 그림 속 배경에 걸린 거울이 그림의 반대편을 비추는데, 거울에 담긴 것은 반대편에 있을 법한 현재의 관객이 아니라, 애초 이 그림을 그려달라고 한 후원자들이다. 마네의 <폴리 베르제르의 술집>에서도 비슷한 일이 벌어진다. 여종업원이 관객을 정면으로 마주 보고 있지만, 뒤편 거울 속에서는 남자 손님을 응대하는 모습으로 바뀌어 있다.

• 보다 최근에는 미술가들이 아예 실제 거울을 작품에 들여왔다. 공간을 배가하거나 확장하기 위해, 관객과 주변 환경의 거리를 무화하기 위해, 혹은 관객이 있는 공간의 안정성을 흔들기 위해서이다. 거울 미술의 주요 인물로 미켈란젤로 피스톨레토와 쿠사마 야요이 두 사람을 꼽을 수 있다. 피스톨레토는 고도로 연마한 강철판 위에 남성과 여성의 사진 이미지를 실크스크린 기법으로 입혀, 말 그대로 관객을 이미지 속으로 끌어들여 "현실"과 재현의 영역을 붕괴시킨다. 한편 쿠사마는 완전한 거울방에 수백 개의 작은 조명을 채워 관객의 거울상을 증식하는 동시에 왜곡하였고, 결국 관객은 자아 감각을 잃기 시작한다.

• 김수자의 <거울여인>은 감각의 혼란을 불러일으키는 유사한 성격을 지닌다. 그의 작업에서 거울은 내면과 외부 현실 사이의 경계를 해체하여, 개인의 의식이 보다 거대한 우주와 융합될 수 있도록 한다. 2002년의 설치작 <거울여인>에서 김수자는 전면이 거울로 된 전시실 안에 한국 전통 이불보를 쌍으로 엮어 걸었다. 이 설치물은 관객이 직접 걸어다닐 수 있는 미로를 만들어냈고, 관객의 몸과 천이 서로 합쳐진 듯한 효과 속에서 만화경 같은 분열의 감각을 자아냈다.

• 이처럼 ‘바늘여인’과 ‘거울여인’은 김수자가 추구하는 우주적 융합의 두 가지 양상이다. 바늘 여인이 풍경을 가르는 것은 다시 꿰매기 위함이며, 거울 여인은 내부와 외부의 차이를 무화한다. 두 페르소나는 두 개의 공공 설치 작업에서 가장 온전히 구현되었는데, 라 페니체 극장 설치의 전조와도 같았다. 먼저 <등대여인>은 2002년 사우스캐롤라이나 찰스턴에서 열린 스폴레토 페스티벌의 일환으로 제작되었다. 김수자는 컴퓨터와 동기화된 야간 디스플레이(김수자: "이 작품은 실제 광원을 쓴 조명 설치였고, 라 페니체 극장의 경우는 조명 설치라기보다 컴퓨터로 생성한 색상 스펙트럼을 보여주는 비디오였다.")를 선보였는데, 쉼 없이 변하는 유색광의 시퀀스가 지금은 사용되지 않는 등대의 외관을 물들였다. 금색, 진홍색, 연청록, 보라색의 장막이 우아한 19세기 등대탑을 천천히 뒤덮는 광경은 넋을 잃을 만큼 아름다웠다. 여기에서 등대는 김수자의 몸을 대신하는 역할을 했다. 그는 자신을 이 구조물에 투사하였고, 그것은 수년 동안 바다로 떠난 이들의 안전한 귀환을 기다려 온 수많은 여인들의 상징으로 거듭났다. 이 작품은 에너지를 수집하는 매개체로서의 바늘 개념을 상기시키는데, 여기에서는 그 바늘이 등대의 기둥으로 표현됐다. 또한 보따리가 등장하는 이전 작업과도 공명하는 부분이 있어서, 보따리가 회화이자 캔버스로서 공간을 변형하고, 기억과 역사 그리고 의식을 하나로 엮어냈던 작품들을 떠올리게 한다. <등대여인>에서는 빛이 과거와 현재, 하늘과 바다, 마음과 물질이 어우러진 색의 태피스트리가 되어 비슷한 효과를 창출했다.

• 한편, 지금까지 거울 여인을 가장 완전히 구현한 작품은 《크로싱 2003: 한국/ 하와이》의 전시작 <거울 여인: 어디에도 없는 땅>이다. 호놀룰루의 식민지 시대 시청 내부, 지붕 없이 개방된 아트리움 중앙부에 약 18m 높이의 흰 천으로 된 수직 원통이 들어섰다. 작품 설치를 위해 김수자는 관계자와 조율하여 오랫동안 닫혀 있던 아트리움 지붕의 개구부를 재개방했다. 천 기둥은 주변 공간과 차단되어 있는데, 기둥 바로 윗부분만은 자연 환경에 열어 놓았다. 기둥 안에는 바닥에 거울을 설치하여, 모슬린 천으로 된 벽 안으로 들어선 방문객들은 한 조각 하늘 위에 선 자신을 발견할 수 있도록 했다. 한편, 천은 바람결에 부드럽게 흔들리며, 방문객에게 살아 숨 쉬는 공간에 들어와 있다는 느낌을 선사했다.
  위에서 흘러가는 구름이 아래에 반사되며 역설적으로 훤히 트인 바다 위에 떠 있는 느낌을 자아냈고, 밤이면 별들이 위아래로 반짝였다. 하와이 한인 이민 100주년을 기념하는 예술제의 전시작으로서, <거울 여인>은 이민자들이 겪는 정체성의 불안함을 상징적으로 드러낸다. 그러나 이 최면적인 설치 작품은 하늘과 땅과 하나가 되는 보편적인 체험 또한 제공했다.

• 위 두 작품이 김수자가 이번 라 페니체 극장에서 선보인 설치 신작 <호흡 - 보이지 않는 거울/ 보이지 않는 바늘>(2003-2005)의 토대를 이룬다. 이 작품 역시 디지털 영상 설치이다. 천천히 변화하는 유색광이 관객석과 관객을 적시며 지나간다. 그와 더불어 작가의 호흡 소리로 직조된 코러스가 나란히 들려온다. 하와이의 <거울 여인: 어디에도 없는 땅>과 찰스턴의 <등대 여인>에서처럼, 이 공간 또한 생명으로 가득찬다. 빛과 소리의 교향곡이 눈과 귀를 사로잡으면서, 시간은 더 이상 선형의 틀에 갇히지 않고, 공간과 자아, 타인의 경계가 해체된다.

• 김수자의 작업을 두고 이민자, 노마드, 서구 문화로 이주한 아시아 여성 등 그의 위치와 관련지어 논의하는 경우가 종종 있다. 보따리 같은 한국적인 재료로 인해 이런 생각은 더욱 강화되었으니, 김수자는 묶어 맨 꾸러미인 보따리를 자주 선보이며, 세간을 싸서 언제든 쉽게 떠날 수 있는 삶의 방식을 제시했다. 이런 이주의 감각이 <떠도는 도시들 - 2,727km 보따리 트럭>(1997)과 같은 작품에 스며들어 있다. 이 영상은 동여맨 보따리 더미를 가득 실은 트럭의 짐칸에 타고 한국의 산골을 여행하는 여정을 담고 있다. 이 작품에서도 카메라는 변화하는 풍경 속에 정지해 있는 중심점으로서 그녀의 뒷모습을 보여준다. 이런 작업이 고향, 뿌리 같은 전통적 개념을 떠올리게 하고, 우리에게 장소감을 부여하는 전통적 여성 활동을 기리는 면이 있는 것은 사실이다. 그렇다 해도 김수자의 의도를 지나치게 단선적으로 해석하는 것은 문제의 소지가 있다.

• 한편으로, 김수자의 작업은 정신/물질, 공간/시간, 자아/타자 같은 쌍을 별개의 것으로 구분하고 화해 불가능한 존재로 여기는 서구의 이원론을 분명히 거부한다. 대신 그녀는 불교에서 영감을 받은 시간의 순환적 성격과 욕망 및 신체의 한계를 초월하는 사유에 귀를 기울인다. 하지만 그는 동양과 서양을 쉽게 이분화하는 태도 또한 거부하고, 오히려 서양에도 자신의 사유와 맞닿은 전체론적 전통이 있음을 상기시킨다.

• 예를 들어, 프랑스의 철학자 앙리 베르그송이 19세기 후반 탐구했던 지속이라는 개념이 있다. 베르그송은 지속을 체험된 시간(lived time), 즉 시간과 공간, 과거와 미래가 연속적 현재와 융합하는 경험이라 설명한다. 그는 지속을 춤의 지각과 연결지었는데, 춤의 경우 무용수가 이어지는 동작을 행하는 매 순간에 그 이전과 이후의 움직임이 내포되어 있다. 시간의 선형적 경험이 과거에서 미래로 향하는 정해진 길로 우리를 밀고 나갈 때, 현재는 사라지고 만다. 대신 지속은 세계의 역동적 본연과 우리가 합일되어 있다는 의식을 창출한다. 이러한 사유는 <호흡> 연작이 일깨우는 경험을 설명하기에 충분해 보인다.

• 베르그송의 사상이 발표되고 수십 년 뒤, 알베르트 아인슈타인이 물리학으로 시간을 사유하는 혁명적인 방식을 제안했다. 그의 상대성 이론은 시간과 공간을 자족적이며 서로 독립된 실체로 보는 생각을 거부했다. 대신 그는 시간과 공간을 상호작용하는 단일한 실체, 즉 시공간으로 통합했다. 최근 들어서는 전자통신의 발전으로 비디오 아티스트 빌 비올라가 “평행적 시간"이라 부르는 경험이 가능해졌다. 이것은 자기 몸에 머물면서 머나먼 어딘가에서도 동시에 존재하는 듯한 감각을 의미한다. 빌 비올라는 뉴욕의 어느 로프트에서, 파리의 길거리에서, 아니면 중동의 전쟁터에서 지금 무슨 일이 일어나는지 인지할 수 있다고 말한다. 이러한 생각은 분명 바늘 여인이 표현하는 시간과 공간의 다중적 경험과 공명한다.

• 이처럼 김수자는 고대 아시아의 전통과 철학을 바탕으로, 오늘날의 복잡한 삶을 성찰할 수 있는 새로운 인식의 틀을 관객에게 제안한다. 바늘 여인과 거울 여인은 뒤를 그리고 앞을 바라보며 역사와 미래를 하나로 묶어, 결국 우리가 살아가는 시간이 무한한 현재임을 일깨운다.

• Needles and mirrors are associated with femininity. They represent things done for others, or things done for oneself. But in the hands of Kimsooja, these simple objects become cosmic metaphors. Transcending the quiet confines of the domestic world, they point to new ways of thinking about our place in the universe.

• Take the needle, for instance. When Kimsooja assumes the role of A Needle Woman, she draws on early memories of sewing with her mother and using bed clothes lovingly sewed by her grandmother. A Needle Woman makes reference to the simple actions that bind things together to sustain daily life. But this persona also reflects the fact that the first time Kim held a needle, she felt an incredible surge of energy, as if cosmic forces were converging on the needle's point. This experience has lead her to the post-Einsteinian notion that space, time and energy are interconnected. Their existence is relative rather than absolute — an insight which lies behind a work like A Needle Woman 1999-2001, in which the artist becomes a still point within a series of cityscapes marked by the swirl and chaos of urban life. In this series of videos, we see the motionless back of the standing artist, as residents of such diverse cities as Delhi, Lagos, London, Mexico City, Tokyo, Cairo and Shanghai pass before and around her like actors on a giant stage. Her long black hair, tied at her neck and dropping straight down her back, becomes a vertical force line anchoring her to the earth. This work offers three experiences of time — that of the artist, who becomes our reference point, that of the surrounding urbanites, rushing about their daily business, and that of the viewer who experiences these two very different modes simultaneously.

• Kimsooja has extended this idea in a number of other works. For A Beggar Woman, filmed in Lagos, Nigeria in 2001, she sits on a street with her hands open like a beggar. In Homeless Woman (2001), she lies motionless and vulnerable on the bustling streets of Delhi. In this works, her transcendence of ordinary time takes on a political cast, as she identifies herself with the outcasts of society.

• Describing her mental state as Needle Woman, Kimsooja has remarked: "it is the point of the needle which penetrates the fabric, and we can connect two different parts of the fabrics with threads, through the eye of the needle. A needle is an extension of the body, and a thread is an extension of the mind... The needle is medium, mystery, reality, hermaphrodite, barometer, a moment and a Zen." As a needle, she gathers power into herself so as to refocus it out into the world.

• The mirror has similar complexity. In the popular mind, it symbolizes female vanity. However, a mirror is also a reflective surface in which we hope to glimpse deeper realities. The idea of painting as a mirror of the world is a mainstay of western art tradition. In the modern era, the mirror has turned inward, reflecting an interior world rather than external one.

• But mirrors are unreliable tools. They can be misleading and even deceitful, which is why artists have so frequently employed them to play tricks on viewers. One famous example is Velazquez' Las Meninas in which a mirror in the background of a royal family portrait reflects back the image, not of present day viewer who seems positioned to be its subject, but the patrons for whom it was originally created. Something similar happens in Manet's A Bar at the Folies Bergere, in which the a frontal view of the barmaid directly confronting the viewer is transformed in the reflection of the mirror behind into an image of the woman serving a male customer.

• More recently, artists have incorporated real mirrors into works in order to multiply or expand space, to dissolve the distance between viewer and surroundings or to destabilize the space which the viewer inhabits. Two notable practitioners of mirror art are Michelangelo Pistoletto and Yayoi Kusama. By silkscreening photographic images of men and women onto sheets of highly polished steel, Pistoletto literally brings the viewer into the image, collapsing the realms of "reality" and representation. Kusama, meanwhile, has created several completely mirrored rooms filled with hundreds of tiny lights which so multiply and distort the viewer's reflection that one begins to loose any sense of self.

• Kim's Mirror Woman partakes of a similar disorientation. In her work mirrors dissolve distinctions between interior and exterior realities so as to allow individual consciousness to meld with the larger cosmos. In an 2002 installation titled A Mirror Woman, Kimsooja strung pairs of colorful fabrics, traditional Korean coverlets, in a room with completely mirrored walls. They created a maze through which the viewer could wend, creating a kaleidoscopic sense of fracture, as body and fabric seemed to merge into each other.

• Needle Woman and Mirror Woman are thus two aspects of Kim's quest for cosmic integration. Needle Woman cuts through landscapes in order to stitch them up again. Mirror Woman dissolves differences between inside and out. These personas are most fully embodied in a pair of public installations which serve as precursors to Kim's installation at the Teatro La Fenice. A Lighthouse Woman was created as part of the 2002 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. In this work, Kim created a computer synchronized nighttime display ( KS: "This was a lighting installation using actual light source and the pieces I show in La Fenice is video piece which was computer generated color spectrum rather than lighting installation." ) which bathed the exterior of a disused lighthouse with an ever changing sequence of colored light. The work was mesmerizingly beautiful as saturated veils of gold, crimson, aquamarine and purple washed slowly over the elegant nineteenth century lighthouse shaft. For Kim, the lighthouse served as a surrogate of her own body. She projected herself into the structure, which became the embodiment of all the women over the years who waited for the safe return of those who had gone to sea. This work harked back to the idea of the needle, here symbolized by the lighthouse shaft, as the collector of energy. It also echoed Kimsooja earlier works in which bottari served as both paint and canvas to transform space, and knit together memory, history and consciousness. Here, a similar effect was created by light as a tapestry of color merged past and present, sky and water, mind and matter.

• Mirror Woman, meanwhile, reaches her fullest embodiment to date in A Mirror Woman: The Ground of Nowhere, a work created for the exhibition Crossings 2003 Korea/Hawaii. Installed in the lobby of Honolulu's colonial era City Hall, this installation consisted of a sixty foot high vertical cylinder of white fabric set in the center of an uncovered atrium. In order to create this work, Kim orchestrated the reopening of a long closed aperture in the atrium roof. She sealed off all but the area directly above her fabric column, which she left open to the elements. Inside the fabric column, Kim laid down a mirror floor, so that visitors who stepped inside the muslin walls found themselves standing on a piece of sky. Meanwhile the fabric swayed gently in the breeze, giving a sense that one was inside a living, breathing space.

• Clouds drifting above and reflected below gave one the feeling, paradoxically, of rolling on an open sea. At night the stars flickered above and below. As part of an arts festival celebrating Korean emigration to Korea, A Mirror Woman made reference to the immigrant's sense of destabilized identity. But this hypnotic installation also provided visitors a more general experience of becoming one with earth and sky.

• These works provide underpinnings for Kim's new installation. TO BREATHE - Invisible Mirror / Invisible Needle - 2003-2005 which has been installed in the Teatro La Fenice. This work is also a light installation. It consists of a slowly changing overlay of colored light which washes across the auditorium and audience. Accompanying this display is a chorus woven together from the sounds of human breath ( KS: "my own voice and performance" ). Here, as in Mirror Woman in Hawaii and Needle Woman in Charleston, space is infused with a sense of life. As ear and eye are taken over by the symphony of light and sound, time loses its schematic quality and distinctions between space, self and other disappear.

• Kim's work is often discussed in relationship to her status as an immigrant, a nomad, or an Asian woman displaced into western culture. These ideas were reinforced by her use of Korean materials like the bottari, which she has often presented bound up in bundles (Bottaris in Korean), suggesting a lifestyle in which all one's worldly goods are easily gathered for easy departure. A sense of displacement permeates works like 2727 Bottari Truck (1997), a video depicting her journey through rural Korea on the back of a truck filled with bundles composed of bound bottari. Here again, the camera presents her from the back, a still center in the midst of a changing landscape. But if works like these touch on traditional concepts of home and roots and celebrate the traditional female activities which give us a sense of place, it is dangerous to oversimplify Kim's intentions.

• On one hand, her work clearly involves a rejection of western dualisms which make distinct and irreconcilable entities of such pairs as mind/matter, space/time, or self/other. Instead, she is more attuned to Buddhist inspired ideas about the circular nature of time and the transcendence of desire and physical limitations. But she refuses the easy division of East and West. Instead, she reminds us that even in the West, there are more wholistic traditions which bear kinship to her thinking.

• For instance, there is the notion of duration as explored by French philosopher Henri Bergson in the late 19th century. Bergson described duration as lived time, the experience in which time and space and past and future are fused with the continual present. He likens duration to the perception of dance, where prior and future movements are implied at every moment in the sweep of the performer's continuous gesture. Thus, instead of making the present disappear, as happens when the linear experience of time rushes us along a prescribed path from past to future, duration creates a consciousness of our unity with the dynamic nature of the world. This seems a satisfying description of the experience evoked by TO BREATHE.

• A few decades after Bergson published his speculations, Albert Einstein turned to physics to propose a similar revolution in our thinking about time. His theory of relativity also rejected the notion of space and time as self sufficient and independent entities. Instead, he fused them into a single interactive entity called spacetime. More recently advances in electronic communication make it possible to experience what video artist Bill Viola calls "parallel time", the sensation of existing simultaneously in one's own body and in some far flung locale. Viola notes that it is possible to be as aware of what is happening in a loft in New York as in a street in Paris or a war zone in the middle east. This idea certainly resonates with the multiple experiences of time and space expressed by the Needle Woman.

• Thus, in referencing ancient Asian traditions and philosophies, Sooja Kim (Kimsooja) is also presenting us with tools for thinking about the complexities of life today. Needle Woman and Mirror Woman face backward and forward, tying together history and the future, while reminding us that in the end, it is the infinite present in which we live our lives.