PERTH.- Zone of Nowhere is the first solo exhibition in Australia by internationally acclaimed, New York based multidisciplinary artist Kimsooja.

The exhibition features selected works from the South-Korean artist’s 30-year career, a major new site-specific work created for PICA as well as a public art project on the streets of Perth.

Kimsooja explores the human condition through installation, performance, sculpture, video and photography and invites us to question the major challenges we face in this complex era.

Heavily influenced by Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism, Christianity and the role of the artist as shaman, she creates lyrical artworks that draw inspiration from everyday activities and imagery.

To Breathe – Zone of Nowhere (2018) is an awe-inspiring installation of 30 large translucent flags suspended above PICA’s central gallery space. It originates from her earlier video work To Breathe - The Flags (2012), commissioned by the International Olympic Committee for the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

In this work, as in the earlier video version, national flags are layered upon each other, offering a translucent dissolving of symbols and emblems and a breakdown of international hierarchy or political prejudice. The work expresses a wish for coexistence; for a society in which individuals unite in celebration of their distinctions and common humanity.

The flags can also be seen affixed to the facades of communal spaces in Northbridge from mid-February to early March, as part of an extended public art project, supported by Wesfarmers Arts.

PICA invites the Perth community to seek out these bright beacons of hope and share their images on social media using the hashtag #ZoneofNowhere.

PICA’s Senior Curator Eugenio Viola said, “This work has heavily informed the exhibition’s title ‘Zone of Nowhere’, which refers to a no man’s land, a territory that is under the control of no-one.”

Some of Kimsooja’s most iconic works also feature in the exhibition, including her Bottari sculptures, which have repeatedly appeared as a site-specific signature since her 1992 residency at MoMA PS1 in New York. The word bottari means ‘bundles’ in Korean and refers to the traditional Korean bedcover used to wrap belongings when leaving a native place.

Tierra - Agua - Fuego - Aire / Earth - Water - Fire – Air (2009-2010) is a monumental 6 channel video installation that explores the four elements employed by Eastern and Western philosophers to describe the source of all energy and life while Mandala: Zone of Zero (2010) is a mesmerising installation that explores the mandala’s religious and cultural connotations and its significance as a symbol of eternity.

“This exhibition by Kimsooja, deftly curated by PICA’s Eugenio Viola so that it infiltrates our surrounding streets, is indeed timely,” said PICA Director Amy Barrett-Lennard. “The artist’s subtle and poetic responses to the global issues of migration and displacement, actual and perceived national hierarchies and the symbolism of nationhood seem particularly pertinent to us here, as we emerge once again from an Australia day long weekend spent grappling with how we might appropriately celebrate or express ourselves as Australian.”

Kimsooja: Zone of Nowhere is a Perth Festival event supported by Visual Arts Program Partner and PICA Public Project Partner Wesfarmers Arts. The exhibition is complemented by the presentation of Kimsooja’s work Sewing into Walking, on display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 17 February to 21 May 2018.