South Korea's residential culture inspires new exhibition

South Korea's residential culture inspires new exhibition

It has something strange to enter a building and straighten it into another, which is why you have to orientate yourself for a moment when you enter the second floor of the renowned Tate Modern Art Gallery in London. Right in front of the entrance there is an exact 1: 1 replica of Do Ho Suh's childhood house in Seoul, which he wrapped in mulberry paper and carefully followed with graphite to create an artistic rubbing of the facade. This is just one of many versions of the concept of home that the Korean artist has developed in the past 30 years.

The exhibition "Walk the House"

The exhibition "Walk the House", which can still be seen in the Tate Modern until October, is Suh's largest solo exhibition in the United Kingdom, where he has lived since 2016. He had previously studied in the United States, among others at the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University in the 1990s.

the origin of the name

The title of the exhibition comes from an expression that in the context of the Hanok , a traditional Korean house that can be broken down due to its construction and the light materials. These buildings become less common over time due to urbanization, wars and occupations that have destroyed many traditional houses in the country.

memories of childhood

Suh's own childhood was an outstanding example in the walking city landscape of Seoul, which was in rapid development after the Korean War. This inspired Suh for his ongoing jobs with the term "home" - both as a physical space that can be revived and revitalized, as well as a psychological construct that reflects memories and identity.

exhibits and interactive art

The exhibits of the exhibition include embroidered works of art, architectural models in different materials and sizes as well as film works that use complex 3D techniques. The detailed outlines, which are visible in Suh's Hanok Rubbing, reflect in two closely related large-format pieces, which are exhibited for the first time and can run into the visitors. "Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul" (2024) uses various 3D elements from the apartments in which Suh lived worldwide, and transfers it to a tent-like model of his London apartment. "Nest/s" (2024) is a pastel -colored tunnel based again in different places, found the Suh as a home, and linked incompatible corridors - a space that has a symbolic meaning for the artist.

The meaning of the room

"I think the experience of cultural alienation has helped me to see these gaps, the space that connects places. This trip enables me to concentrate on transition areas such as corridors, stairs and entrances," Suh ​​told CNN during the opening of the exhibition. Another exhibit is "Staircase" (2016), a 3D structure that then collapsed into a red, curved 2D structure. "In general, we tend to concentrate on goals, but we often neglect these bridges that combine these goals. In fact, we spend most of the time in this transition stage," added Suh.

transparent quality of the works

Much of what is exhibited has a transparent quality. Fine, transparent textiles are used directly in many of the works, and they also act as subtle room divider - the closest thing that resembles an inner wall in the main area.

a creative challenge for curators

"For the first time since 2016, the galleries of the exhibition are removed all the walls to make room for the numerous large works that are materialized there, as well as for the different times and rooms that transport these works," explained Dina Akhmadeeva, assistant curator of international art at Tate Modern, the exhibition together with Nabila Abdel Nabi, the leading curator for international art on Hyundai Tate Research Center: Transnational, curated. "The open layout should not form a linear passage or a narrative, but stimulate the visitors to wander, return and explore them in loops - an experience that comes closer to the function of memory."

The influence on the art scene

suh's emphasis on spatial interventions brings creative challenges for both curators and for the institutions that accommodate these works. An example is "Staircase-III" (2010), which was acquired by Tate in 2011 and often has to be adapted to the respective circumstances. "I wanted to disturb the usual experience of meeting a work of art in a museum," said Suh. Akhmadeeva noted that this approach challenges the "idea of ​​durability - both the work and the room"

The essence of the room

The removal of the gallery walls also reflects Suh's interest in being due to environments to their basics. "It is simply the bare room that the architects originally designed," he said. Suh's works often concentrate on spatial experiences instead of material goods, because just like the rooms and buildings, which we inhabit, an empty space acts as a "container" for memories. "Over the years and the time you have spent in this room, you project your own experiences and energies on it, and then it becomes a memory."

The focus on transience

The artist occasionally focuses on ornaments and furnishings, such as in his monumental film "Robin Hood Gardens" (named after the residential complex in the east of London), which used photogrammetry to blame drone shots to a building that is waiting for its demolition. This is a rare opportunity that SUH is documenting both the residents and their possessions.

The political dimensions of art

The film illustrates the subtle political aspects of Suh's practice. "In my case, the colors, the craft and beauty of my works often direct from the political undertones," he said. Topics such as privacy, security and access to rooms are closely linked to classes and public politics, but his comment will cover up in a gentle fabric veil or the gentle scratch of the scrap of graphite. The latter technology is also used in "Rubbing/Loving: Company Housing of Gwangju Theater" (2012), which deals with the fatal Gwangju uprising from 1980. The work of art is like the shell of a room that has become dismantled to form a flat, vertical structure - comparable to a deconstructing box. It is based on a scratch that made SUH and its assistants blind - an indication of the censorship of the violent reaction of the military and its absence from the collective memory of South Korea.

sociopolitical questions in focus

The exhibition is framed by works that deal with socio -political issues. "Bridge Project" (1999) examines, among other things, land ownership, while "Public Figures" (2025), a further development of a work that SUH created for the Venice Biennale in 2001 represents a subverted monument with an empty podium that directs the focus on the many miniature figures that support it. For Suh, it should address the history of Koreas both oppression and resistance. Although these two exhibits may appear differently, they question all the boundaries between private and public space as well as the conditions that enable transience or enable them.

The effects of pandemic

The tension between the public and privacy became particularly clear during pandemic when the Lockdowns forced people to spend most of the time inside. Although Suh "examined all the corners of his home critically" during this time, the Lockdowns did not find themselves in his practice how one could expect. Instead, it led to a more delicate reflection of what is often the creation of a home: people. This explains why there are two small tunics among the numerous, often colorful structures in the exhibition, which have been made for (and with) their two small daughters and have bags that keep their most valuable objects, such as colored pencils and toys

"As a parent, it was a rather vulnerable situation. I can't speak for other families, but it really helped us to be together," said Suh.