Korean conceptual artist Kimsooja was given carte blanche to create a massive installation inside Paris’ Bourse de commerce, which is home to the Pinault Collection. The result is To Breathe – A Constellation, which is on view along with many other works as part of the Le monde comme il va (“The World as It Goes”) exhibition. By placing mirrors on the floor of the rotunda, Kimsooja alters the reality of the space and transforms Tadao Ando‘s architecture.
As visitors enter the space, their bodies are reflected back at them, positioning them within the artwork itself. The piece echoes the artist’s desire to create participatory art. “I would like to create works that are like water and air, which we cannot possess but which can be shared with everyone,” Kimsooja says.
“By using [the mirror], our gaze acts like a sewing thread that moves to and fro, entering into the depths of our self and of the other, reconnecting us to their reality and inner world. A mirror is a fabric woven by own gaze in an ebbing and flowing motion.”
By becoming actors in the piece’s narrative, visitors simultaneously view the art and become the art. By blurring these lines, Kimsooja implicitly asks us to think about the cause and effect of our own actions and how they impact the collective whole.
But the artist’s contribution to the exhibition doesn’t end in the rotunda. She has also taken over 24 display cases in other areas of the museum to showcase her vast catalog of works and video installations. These pieces speak to the recurring themes found in her work, which include identity, borders, memory, exile, movement, and the use of weaving.
Le monde comme il va is on view at the Bourse de commerce until September 2, 2024. The exhibition also includes work by Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Maurizio Cattelan, Sigmar Polke, and many others, alongside Kimsooja.
The Pinault Collection gave Korean conceptual artist Kimsooja carte blanche to create a massive installation inside Paris’ Bourse de commerce.
For To Breathe – A Constellation, the artist placed mirrors across the rotunda floor.
“I would like to create works that are like water and air, which we cannot possess but which can be shared with everyone.”
Kimsooja’s work is on display until September 2 as part of the The World as It Goes exhibition.
