Mixed media / Site-A Gallery Beneath the Railway in Koganecho, Yokohama / Ziu Suh
This work was inspired by the architecture seen while walking along the Ōoka River in Yokohama. Additionally, I incorporated images and text commonly found on Japanese signs and reflected sculptural elements from building structures.
Where does Ziu in the APT. listen to?
Ziu Suh is a relentless observer. That is why he picks things up. Just as "farming" in online games refers to the repetitive act of collecting resources or items, the artist constantly"farms" his surroundings, searching for traces of what is left behind. He captures images of 90s-era apartments, evoking a deep sense of nostalgia, or pulls out crumpled old newspapers wedged between stone walls and tucks them into his coat pocket. What he focuses on is not just the visual elements, but the history embedded in these places and the traces left by those who lived there. Like an archaeologist unearthing fragments from the earth, Ziu Suh collects the trivial elements of everyday life and reconstructs them in his own way. Thus, the precious materials he picks up from the scene are mixed with cement, and the time is momentarily frozen. (Excerpt from the Preface)
Curatedby | Heeyoon Jung / Installation | Bongseok Choi / Graphic Design | Donghyeon Kim, Jijin / Photography | Yongbin Lee
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wood, nail, cement, bronze, mixed media
19.5 x 20.5 x 42.8 cm
Curated by, Lee Boyeong / Exhibition Coordinator, Seo Naim
260×45×45cm. (Commissioned by Wooran Foundation.)
-Text Sohyeon Bang, Curator / Minji Jin, Coordinator
4 or 5 years ago, I had visitors who came to see me as part of some historical tour program in which several areas of this neighborhood were bundled into a single course. The tour started at Dodangteo (site of Zelkova God worship) near Sadang Station, and passing through me, visited the only site of Baekje ceramic kiln in Seoul, and the tomb of Lee Kyung-jik, a civil servant in the mid-Joseon period. The area around Sadang Station, where I am located, is currently Seoul's transportation hub as well as a place where traces of history can be found piled up everywhere.
In fact - if you pay just a little attention to the surroundings where humans live - history, society, and traces and stories of someone can be read from within. For instance, in the process of dismantling and assembling the wooden pillars and beams in the attic space while I was being moved, parts of the wood that were rotten or frail were replaced with new wood, and these parts are different in color even now. As such, buildings have various clues which are only visible to those who take a closer look.
In his early 20s and new to society, S is looking for a job to settle down while working part-time. After moving to Seoul from the provinces, he has found a semi-basement for rent. Upon removing the wallpaper of the old semi-basement that was moldy due to poor ventilation, an unevenly constructed concrete surface was revealed. A rough and ignorant feeling, with walls and floors that are not even level. S thinks the rough, protruding concrete wall looks like a portly sack of rice. Searching on the Internet, he finds that a building code was created in the 1970s requiring an underground bomb shelter in preparation for a possible war, which is the beginning of the creation of semi-basement spaces. In the semi-basements, windows are hung above people's eye level in order to get as close to the ground surface as possible. So, he often has to smell unwanted fumes or the unpleasant sewers. Still, having eye contact with the neighborhood stray cat, whom S has named Tok-tok, is a small pleasure.
[2024 / Gakkesu-ri]
<Gakkesu-ri>is a new body of work created for the group show Weaving relations at Nam-Seoul Museum of Art that reflected the foundational history, locality, and architectural features of the exhibition site. The title, “Gakkesuri,” refers to the Korean antique furniture of safekeeping valuables and is originally from the term, “kakesuzuri,” Japanese stationery furniture. The artists detected the external features that are similar to the “gakkesuri” from the Joseon Dynasty period such as red bricks, gigantic black wooden doors, and more, and expressed in the work how each room consisting of the exhibiting space resembled the drawers of “gakkesuri.” The artist also researched the site image of the Nam-Seoul Museum which was moved and rebuilt from Hoehyeon-dong to Sadang-dong and reproduced the wooden framework of the museum in the process.
[2024 / Jepibang series.2: 178(sqft) one room]
[2022 / Momttung-i]
[2022 / Udukeo-ni.1, 2]
cement, wood, steel, gravel, broken stone, granite, red brick
128 x 55 x 225 cm.
Curated by, Lee Boyeong / Exhibition Coordinator, Seo Naim
[2023 / Gugi]
[2023 / Bugak]
cement, wood, LED lighting, AC motor
35 x 47 x 157 cm.
2022-
wood, box, colored paper
21 x 21 cm
wood, box, colored paper
26 x 26 cm
wood, box, colored paper
35 x 35 cm
cement, gypsum, silicone, wood, styrofoam, paint
164 x 167 x 362 cm.
cement, wood, iron powder, steel, red brick, broken stone, pin
20 x 23 x 180 cm.
2022 / Pude-gi
cement, gypsum, wood, clay, tile, steel, broken, stone, nail
31 x 33 x 154 cm.
cement, wood, stainless steel, steel, wallpaper, silicone, corrugated flexible pipe
30 x 43 x 176 cm.