PRESENTATION: Do Ho Suh-In Process

Having lived primarily between the cities of Seoul, New York and London, Do Ho Suh’s work explores concepts of home, both physically and psychologically, as well as issues of displacement, migration, memory, and the passage of time. Through sculpture, works on paper, and video, the artist invites us to consider topics ranging from personal identity to the socio-political implications of our actions in a complex, ever-changing world.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Moody Center for the Arts Archive

Do Ho Suh’s solo exhibition “In Process” forgoes the formalities of a traditional gallery display in favor of creating a studio-like space highlighting the artist’s research and collaborative projects. By privileging the dynamics of open experimentation over the finality of the end result, The exhibition invites visitors to experience the methodologies by which Do Ho Suh iterates on ideas, engages experts from diverse fields, and expresses complex themes through the physical manifestations of his artistic practice. According to Do Ho Suh this exhibition marks a milestone in his career, “I am a hugely process-driven artist. This exhibition is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. Much of the work I exhibit I consider to be part of larger processes – whether mental or physical – and for me, it is about that process as much as it is about the outcome. It takes an institution like the Moody to present an exhibition as unusual as this one – it’s a gift as an artist”. In addition to a presentation of the finished works “Inverted Monument” (2022) and “Blueprint” (2010), the exhibition will include a display of iterative, collaborative work including “The Bridge Project” as well as a selection of Do Ho Suh’s rubbings, sculptures, and maquettes taken directly from his studio. Visitors will also be invited to contribute to Suh’s “Artland”, a sculptural landscape comprised of islands inhabited by characters that guests can create from malleable clay. Since 2010 Do Ho Suh has worked closely with engineers, architects, and designers to conceptualize a bridge connecting his homes in Seoul, London and New York City. For the past year, Suh collaborated with a team of Rice University engineering students to further his research for “The Bridge Project”, inviting them to conceive of a viable structure addressing the challenges of climate, the oceanic environment, structural integrity, and the elements needed to support human life. The resulting models by students will be on display together with drawings and videos by the artist in the Moody’s Central Gallery. The exhibition includes a combination of rubbings, sculptures, maquettes, and finished artworks highlighting the conceptual and tactical processes that comprise Do Ho Suh’s practice. For example, life-size rubbings made as part of a habitual practice by the artist, as well as a step in the creation of the large-scale sculpture “Portal” (2015), a work concurrently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, will be displayed in crates specifically designed for transport from the traditional Korean gate’s original location in Seoul to the U.S.-based fabricator who, through a ten-year collaboration with the artist, devised an innovative technique to recreate the exact structure in acrylic resin. Finished works in the gallery include “Inverted Monument” (2022), a sculpture made of extruded thermoplastic polyester, developed as part of a long-term research project with a robotics team at the University of the West of England’s Centre for Print Research. Addressing themes of commemoration and history in dialogue with current national conversations around civic sculpture, Inverted Monument invites visitors to question both historic notions of authority and the agency of the artist’s hand, while considering the roles of collaboration and technology in the creative process. “Artland” is a fantastical ecosystem dreamed up in 2016 by the artist and his two young daughters. Comprised of a series of fantastical islands inhabited by colorful creatures and wonderous plants, creative visitors of all ages will be invited to contribute their own elements to the work and to imagine alternative universes powered by the human.

Photo: Do Ho Suh, Blueprint, 2010, Polyester fabric, stainless steel tubes, laminate panel, Approximately: 1330 x 635 x 337cm, © Do Ho Suh and Suh Architects, Courtesy of the artist; Lehmann Maupin, New York and Seoul; Victoria Miro, London/Venice, Installation view at Venice Biennale 2010, 12th International Architecture Exhibition and Leeum Museum of Art, 2012. Photography at Leeum Museum of Art by Kim Hyun Soo

Info: Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX, USA, Duration: 6/9-21/12/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00, www.rice.edu/