Kimsooja: To Breathe – Sunhyewon: Sunhyewon, Seoul

Located in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Sunhyewon is a site steeped in the history and tradition of SK Group, recently reopening as the group’s new research institute. To introduce this special place to the public and expand its role as a cultural platform, PODO museum has launched a new cultural program, “Sunhyewon Art Project 1.0.” The inaugural project presents an exhibition by Kimsooja, a world-renowned artist representing Korea.

This exhibition marks a special moment where the historical depth of Sunhyewon meets Kimsooja’s artistic universe, offering visitors a contemplative experience that transcends time and space. The central work, To Breathe—Sunhyewon, 2025, is a site-specific installation that transforms Gyeongheunggak, a traditional Hanok building that retains the dignity of Korean architecture, into a whole piece of contemporary art. By covering the floor with mirrors, Kimsooja reflects the architecture, light, and viewers, dissolving boundaries between built structure and indivual. This immersive space reinterprets the stillness of Hanok into a sensorial experience where the past and the present, the space and being intersect. Even the seemingly fixed architecture begins to shift and flow as it blends with ephemeral light and reflections.

Notably, this is the first time Kimsooja’s To Breathe series has been installed within a traditional Hanok structure, adding symbolic significance to the juxtaposition between the work and the historic context of Kyongheunggak. As suggested by the title To Breathe, the piece captures the subtle movement of light and air within the tranquil beauty of the Hanok, drawing the viewer’s breath and footsteps into the artwork itself.

As they walk across the mirrored floor, visitors find the architecture and sky unfolding beneath their feet—crossing boundaries between horizontality and verticality, interior and exterior, self and the other.

The exhibition also features several of Kimsooja’s representative series. Bottari, 2022 transforms the act of wrapping and tying everyday textiles, such as hanbok fabrics and old bedding, into a sculptural language. These bundles symbolize feminine experience, labor, and the binding of memory and history. The act of wrapping a bottari is not a mere repetition but a sensory gesture that traverses boundaries between inner and outer worlds, self and other, the land and the people.

Deductive Object – Bottari, 2023, inspired by the iconic shape of the Joseon Moon Jar, was created in collaboration with German porcelain manufacturer Staatliche Porzellan- Manufaktur Meissen. Its asymmetrical form and hollow interior convey presence and identity, expressing the artist’s concept of “deductive reasoning” as it moves from logic to form.

Shown alongside this work is Sewing into Soil: Invisible Needle, Invisible Thread, 2023, in which porcelain panels are pierced with a needle to form holes of light. The piece symbolizes the energy of nature and the serendipity of creation. The needle becomes a vertical force upon the horizontal ground, linking the artwork to the earth and the viewer’s senses. In Kimsooja’s work, the needle is a conceptual symbol of human existence, traverse and cultural boundaries.

Spanning installation, video, and performance, Kimsooja’s practice explores migration, memory, and the body through poetic language. Her works have consistently reflected on home, identity, and the universal connectivity of humanity. In dialogue with the unique spatial context of Sunhyewon, this exhibition invites visitors into an interaction between tradition and contemporaneity, the individual and the other.

Images: Courtesy of PODO Museum