Join us for a conversation between artist Kimsooja and her son, architect Jaeho Chong, followed by an audience Q&A.

Doors open at 5:45 p.m. Free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Explore the Visiting Artists Program homepage for visitor information, recordings of past events, and more.

Currently based in Seoul and Paris, Kimsooja is an international conceptual artist whose practice explores the totality of life and art, transcending distinctions of medium and form through works of painting, sewing, installation, performance, video, light, and sound. In the 1980s, she began to experiment with alternative modes of expression while contemplating the two-dimensional structure of painting, leading to a series of sewing works that revealed a dualistic order of vertical and horizontal as the foundation of the world, thus expanding the object of her artistic inquiry from the material to the non-material. Kimsooja’s resolute pursuit of the latter and adoption of “non-doing, non-making” as an aesthetic framework inform her long-standing engagement with various media and methodologies, driving her persistent questioning of art and humanity in conceptual, contemplative aesthetics and humanism.

Her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in major international museums as well as site-specific installations, for example, at the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris (2024); Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Ethnologisches Museum, Humboldt Forum, Berlin (2023); Cisternerne, Frederiksberg Museums, Copenhagen (2023); Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz, Metz, France (2022); Wanås Konst, Wanås, Sweden (2020); Traversées/Kimsooja in Poitiers, Poitiers, France (2019); Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (2019); Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Chapel, West Bretton, United Kingdom (2019); Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (2017); MMCA Hyundai Motor Series, Seoul (2016); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (2015); Centre Pompidou Metz, Metz, France (2015); Crystal Palace of Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid (2006); Museum of Contemporary Art Lyon, Lyon, France (2003); Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan (2003); National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (2005); Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2004); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2002); Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland (2001); and MoMA PS1, New York (2001). She has been part of numerous biennials and triennials such as BIENALSUR (2021, 2023), documenta 14 (2017), Venice Biennale (2013, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999), Gwangju Biennale (2012, 2000, 1995), Lyon Biennale (2000), São Paulo Biennale (1998), Istanbul Biennale (1997), and Manifesta 1 (1996).

Jaeho Chong is a principal at Gongwon Co., a Seoul-based architectural design consultancy operating at the intersection of art and architecture. The studio works with leading institutions and individuals from around the globe to realize cultural projects that help expand the reach of human experience. Having a specialty in cross-disciplinary approaches that integrate contemporary art and architecture through collaborative research, Chong has led the production of many city-level initiatives: biennials, permanent public art commissions, and architectural interventions in historic monuments and urban infrastructures.

He has worked with government organizations, transport agencies, cultural institutions, and companies across a wide spectrum in varying capacities, including the cities of Metz, Poitiers, and Nara; the Royal Commission for AlUla; Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York; RATP in Paris; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Centre Pompidou-Metz; Guggenheim Bilbao Museum; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea; Leeum Samsung Museum of Art; the Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennial; Hyundai Motor Company; Fondation d’entreprise Hermès; Asia Society; Cornell University; Art Basel; and Frieze, among others. While engaging art projects, Chong’s architectural works include a 4,200 square meter commercial office tower in downtown Seoul, both as the lead design architect and a real-estate developer; a 155,000 square meter hot spring resort masterplan on Jeju Island; and a series of cultural programming and architectural interventions in the southern islands of the Korean peninsula.

Chong holds a master of architecture from Yale University and a bachelor of architecture from The Cooper Union. Prior to founding his firm, he taught at Hong Kong University and practiced at a number of internationally recognized architecture firms in New York.

This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible and hearing assisted devices are available. For additional access requests, including ASL interpretation or audio description, visit saic.edu/access.

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Tags: Architecture, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Jaeho Chong, Kimsooja, Loop, Monuments, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Visiting Artists Program