Kimsooja: ‘Thread Routes’ – Chapter II, Chapter IV, Chapter VI
Kimsooja, Chapter II, ‘Thread Routes’, 2011. Single-channel video, stereo sound, HD, colour, 24 min
Kimsooja, Chapter IV, ‘Thread Routes’, 2014. Single-channel video, stereo sound, HD, colour, 28 min
Kimsooja, Chapter VI, ‘Thread Routes’, 2019. Single-channel video, stereo sound, HD, colour, 28 min
About the Work
Chapters two, four and six of ‘Thread Routes’ were filmed in Europe, China, and Morocco respectively, as part of an ongoing series comprising six chapters, each shot in a different part of the world. Each film creates a mosaic of shared performative elements that unify various textile cultures. These films reveal the structural and performative continuity between textiles, architecture, nature, agriculture and gender relations. Using a non-narrative documentary framework, Kimsooja immerses the viewer in poetry and visual anthropology. ‘Thread Routes’ juxtaposes weaving traditions from six cultural zones, emphasizing textiles as a source of philosophical and anthropological insight into the diversity of human life across different cultures.
About the Artist
Kimsooja (b. 1957; based in Seoul, Paris and New York) is an international conceptual artist. Her artistic practice transcends conventional distinctions of medium and form, encompassing painting, sewing, installation, performance, video, light, sound and architecture. Integrating women’s domestic labor in contemporary art, Kimsooja's use of sewing with used bed covers and clothing, along with wrapping found objects in used cloth to create bottari, transforms cultural products into critical multi-dimensional objects. Key solo exhibitions include Bourse de Commerce – Pinnault Collection, Paris (2024); Centre Pompidou-Metz, Lorraine (2023); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2021); and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea, Seoul (2016). Her works are in the numerous collections including M+, Hong Kong; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
About EMAP x FRIEZE FILM SEOUL
For the third year in a row, Frieze Film returns to Frieze Seoul 2024. This year’s programme is presented in partnership with Ewha Media Art Presentation (EMAP) and is on view from 2 – 6 September at Ewha Womans University and online at frieze.com.
Curated by Joowon Park and Valentine Umansky, this year’s programme is titled ‘All that Weaves the Universe: Of Quantum Entanglements’. It brings together time-based media works of 37 international artists, unfolding under eight chapters.
