Kimsooja

To Breathe – Coachella Valley

b. Daegu, South Korea, 1957
Based in Seoul, South Korea and Paris, France

To Breathe – Coachella Valley
33.962040, -116.488532
Pierson Ave. between Foxdale Dr and Miracle Hill
Desert Hot Springs, CA

Our cultures, lifestyles, rituals, and belief systems may differ, but we are all connected by the air we breathe, the planet’s circular rotations, and the cycles of life and death that it sustains. This interconnectedness runs through a diverse body of Kimsooja’s work that includes sculpture, painting, film, performance, and installation.

In her latest installation, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Kimsooja integrates various ideas from her broader practice. The glass structure serves to define a performance space, inviting the audience to interact with the essential elements of the desert: the texture of sand underfoot, the air we breathe, and the light around us. Drawing inspiration from bottaris, the fabric-encased bundles of belongings prominent in her work and in Korean culture, Kimsooja describes this installation as a “bottari of light.” By wrapping the glass surface in a unique optical film, she transforms the physical architecture into a dynamic spectrum of light and color. “This diffraction film acts as a transparent textile, featuring thousands of vertical and horizontal scratch lines akin to warp and weft, and envelops the architecture in light.”

Mirrors have also played a significant role in her exploration of light’s ephemerality. To Breathe – Coachella Valley reflects another work located in the desert of AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Connected by the air that sustains us, this iteration not only references its counterpart nearly 8,000 miles away but also acknowledges the historical origins of the Light and Space movement on the U.S. West Coast. With its ever-changing approach based on color spectrum theory from Chinese Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, To Breathe – Coachella Valley enriches these traditions by incorporating the female perspective of East Asia. The result is an experience that is both ephemeral and profound.

Generous support is provided by Ed Campanaro and Alan Weisberg, Ron Florance, Marcy and Harry Harczak, the Posner Foundation, Janelle Reiring, Melissa and John Russo, Roswitha Smale, and Richard H. Wood.