Do Ho Suh

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Do Ho Suh
Sarah Newman
James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
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82
Do Ho Suh
Sarah Newman
James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
What has lead to Do Ho Suh recreating
these spaces with fabric instead of a
more traditional building material?

Do Ho Suh’s use of fabric has a num-
ber of dierent origins. Most directly,
he was looking to create a “suitcase
home,” that he could pack up and
take with him and erect anywhere in
an attempt to live in the presence of
the places he had left behind. Fab-
ric is light and packable, and it has
an ethereal, translucent quality that
hints at the structure’s transience; it
is a representation of a memory that
still feels like memory.

In Korean, the verbjitdameans to
make a dress and to make a house,
both of which are containers of per-
sonal space and have an intimacy
that is shared. e particular fabric
he works with is used in Korean sum-
mer wear and is cheap and readily
accessible.

Final ly, the fabri c’s translucence mim -
ics the rice paper used in traditional
Korean architecture and that is a
reference point.

is type of work is clearly time- and
labor-intensive, what is he trying to
show people or make visitors feel when
they experience his work?

He is literally inviting people into his
homes, and the act of making the
objects and sharing them with people
is incredibly intimate. His technique
is hugely time- and labor-intensive,
and expresses the care and attention
to each object that he recreates. As
a result, the objects embody not only
a physical space but a mental and
emotional space.

is work is quite unique to the art-
ist, but how did he get to this point
with his art? How does it embody the
authenticity of Do Ho Suh?

Do Ho Suh’s idea to recreate his
homes in this way started when
he moved to New York, and spent
a sleepless night in his noisy new
Do Ho Suh, Apartment A, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA (detail), 2011-2014. Polyester fabric and stainless steel tubes. 96 7/16 × 271
5/8 × 169 5/16 in. (245 × 689.9 × 430.1 cm). Installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, downtown location, 2016.
apartment. He felt an intense longing
for the quiet of his childhood home
in Korea, and formed the desire to
replicate it in a form he could take
with him. e works are an attempt
to assuage this longing but are tinged
with an intense melancholy, recog-
nizing the loss inherent in the project.
Physically, they embody both the
wonder at resurrecting a place, as
well as a ghostly sadness. Images:
Photographer: Pablo Mason
Images courtesy of
Museu m of C ontem porary Art S an Di ego

83Installation view of Do Ho Suh at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, downtown location, 2016.
Installation view of Do Ho Suh at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, downtown location, 2016.