Installation view of 《0 Columns》 © TINC

The first shape appeared with humans building something on land began with erecting a column. This point of view extends beyond the physical aspect of the structural meaning when actually building a space. Given the relation with its surroundings, the erected sculptural structure involves the attitude of activating along with the environment.

It becomes a complete form in itself belonging to the spatial system, understood in the context of architecture with the space it forms. In Juree Kim’s solo exhibition 《0 Columns》, the artist traces the senses of accumulated time which can be discovered in the constructive manner applied in ‘Wet Matter’ which she had continuously experimented with. Such sense of time is also implied in the form which envelops her work. 

Juree Kim’s sculpture resembles the origin of architecture which begins with erecting a column on a piece of land. The column as the act of establishment is continued onto the sculptural attitude while building a structure, weaving a mass, or carving a surface. During such process, the philosophical and formative meanings are discovered.

In 《0 Columns》 there is a huge, pleated sculpture which conjures up a sort of curtain, and there are some separated lumps derived from it. Thus, the focus is on the fluid time of condensation and reproduction between the sculpture and architecture. This is born from all the standard and atypical forms that human beings and their history have known.

Kim refers to them, weaves the ‘wet matter’ based on its texture and form in order to construct the senses of the past and the present. It is as if she has invited a phantom that never dies via this huge tomb, and a peculiar situation is created by the curtain which covers up something we refuse to see the most, or the contrary.

In this regard, the number ‘0(zero)’ mentioned in the title implies that the single big sculpture allows something to be plural rather than a fixed number, and when it volatilizes, the intangible senses that are accumulated converge the variables of both extremities: ‘which is nothing’ or ‘which can become anything.’ 

Memories and senses collected throughout the creative process are fossilized real-time. By witnessing such opposite nature, we are quickly drawn to the supernatural effort and search into material shown though the scale of work and space revealed by the sculpture. The series “Wet Matter” composed of several masses reminds us of the ancient huge stone culture.

For example, just the fact that a huge stone was moved around in the past would make us think of some magical nature allowing its transport from a place to another. Thus, the ritual character of a place is emphasized many times more. The fantastic and peculiar sense of rendering a mass gigantic is realized when the sculpture and space meet symbolically.

In this exhibition with the element of gigantism put forward, we are led to view the space where the basic materiality of wet dirt is expanded, then we find a landscape blended in it, of a mixed nature and separation. Furthermore, the lumps interact with their environment, and when erected in a specific space the decisive factors which would discern the border are texture, silhouette, volume, size of each mass. When all these factors gather, space is formed and meaning of border is found. 

Time scattering and gathering in between the border of space and sculpture reveals itself as distorted incomplete form and materiality. On the other hand, Kim’s twofold attitude of solidly using the fluid form of earth, which is a variable matter, represents her intent of freezing time. The series “Wet Matter” shown in 《0 Columns》 which attempts to display an array of white surface and transformation of loose forms, recomposes the materiality on purpose so that the matter itself may become a form.

Physically important characters are conferred upon this recomposed materiality which maintains its dullness and wetness as well as stand as a mass of great gravity. That is, the fundamental material which reminds us of wet land and surface resembling ‘flesh’ upon the view of this condensed mass of something raw, is invited to be perceived through the device of ‘crease’ which had involved the artist’s body modeling the form.

For example, the modeled crease on the wet dirt surface allows us to breathe against the full blocked view. It guides us to observe the surface itself since we cannot fathom what is behind such a mass. Therefore, we are led to focus on the ‘state’ of being able to discern the object or perceive it real-time.

Here, the viewer is allowed the time to sense the physical distance, to approach closer to the surface and check the texture and verify the actual matter. While seeing the frame of surface, one can realize the moment of subverting the perception of visibility in the fact that one verifies the physical location of a surface, rather than focusing on the texture, between two surfaces. 

The exhibition 《0 Columns》 naturally tries to question the original version of the material in the process of designing the wet state in “Wet Matter,” as its ‘state’ is rendered by blending dirt particles and artificial ingredients. As the basic material for sculpture, earth moves with the artist’s body and carves the surface and silhouette in real-time since the movement maintains the form. Parts of this form are linked in the intuitive flow.

In the end, the attempt made by the artist is to maintain the materiality of earth and to simultaneously diminish such nature. She acknowledges the nature of expansion and contraction of dirt particles and applies the changes to her work to create detailed forms. In doing so, she succeeds in making the specific material weaved onto the sculpture reveal the relation between structure and materiality and approach the essence of form.

But at the same time, the material created by Kim feigns being the original version of the matter and goes against its nature. This attitude itself becomes the matter itself. This could be read as a defensive gesture toward the ‘reason’ of the object. The artist attempts to sense the memory and history potentially embedded in the medium through the method of materializing the memory and sense of immaterial elements such as temperature and humidity which surround time and space.

Hence 《0 Columns》 may regain the maximal value of materiality which Kim has realized by creating the visual spectacle made by the sheer density of the mass which fills up the space to suffocation, which matches the fluid nature of the matter in question.

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