‘Bottari – Alfa Beach’ 2001 by Kimsooja
Single channel video, 6:18 looped
Image courtesy the artist and Kudje Gallery
KIMSOOJA (Korea, b.1957) works in video, installation, sculpture and performance practices. Her work is highly meditative, achieved through the mindful repetition of actions, imagery and materials drawn from the everyday. The video work Bottari – Alfa Beach (2001) exhibited in LANDSEAKSY examines the notorious Nigerian beach, a site used to ship slaves off the continent, bound for colonial destinations around the globe. The artist has described the horizon she saw on Alfa Beach as ‘the saddest and most shocking line I’ve ever seen’. The inverted horizon, rather than the troupe of optimism or romance, is now uncharacteristically negative and an enduring link to the site’s horrific past. The infusion of history to an otherwise anonymous view into space dramatically expands our perception and conceptually animates the landscape.
Kimsooja’s work has been featured in major exhibitions at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2009); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2008); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2006); Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall, Sweden (2006); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2005); and other institutions. Kimsooja has participated in international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2001, 2005, 2007); Yokohama Triennial (2005); and Whitney Biennial (2002)