First-generation South Korean woman sculptor Kim Yun Shin’s solo exhibition Kim Yunshin—Letters from Argentina is currently on view at Lee Ungno Museum in Daejeon, Korea. This exhibition commemorates the 60th anniversary of Kim and Lee’s first encounter in Paris and highlights Kim’s creative passion and artistic practice cultivated across the globe over decades. The exhibition showcases approximately fifty works including sculptures, paintings and archive materials all stemming from Kim’s unique visual language deeply rooted in naturalist philosophy, of which thirty of them are publicly revealed for the first time in Korea. 

The interaction between Kim Yun Shin and Lee Ungno came to an end when Lee was implicated in the East Berlin Incident of 1967. However, their practices share similarities in treating painting and sculpture as complementary genres rather than as two different parts of a dichotomy, which allowed them to flexibly expand their artistic worlds through experimental attitudes. In particular, Kim has been experimenting not only with crossing the boundaries between painting and sculpture but also with interpreting and experimenting with dichotomous values such as life and the absolute, ephemerality and eternity, in new dimensions.

Chronologically illuminating Kim’s representative works through the lens of "natural abstract," the exhibition presents the Yeokdong (Dynamism) series from the late 1970s, where she first experimented with the boundaries between plasticity and flatness after moving to France; and the Song of My Soul series from 1984, produced after settling in Argentina, with an emphasis on the plasticity and color based on Latin American cultural influences. Following the 2010s, Kim has attempted to blur the boundaries between sculpture and painting, unifying the two mediums through the Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One series. One of the pieces on display, covered in geometric patterns and vibrant colors, embodies the interaction between the two diverging mediums. 

Kim Yunshin—Letters from Argentina offers an opportunity to encounter a comprehensive review of Kim’s artistic practice alongside an archived records that capture Kim’s interactions with Lee Ungno. The exhibition continues through September 22.

American contemporary artist Jenny Holzer’s major solo exhibition Jenny Holzer: Light Line is currently on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, USA. Simultaneously encompassing 40 years of her practice and realizing a perspective of continuation, the exhibition is her first institutional solo exhibition in 15 years since showing at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in 2009. Holzer’s career-spanning works which cover various mediums harmonize exceptionally with Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic architecture, providing an immersive and holistic experience to the visitors. 

The exhibition marks Holzer’s grand return to Guggenheim since 1989. In particular, this exhibition features a new manifestation of her signature text work Untitled (Selections from Truisms, Inflammatory Essays, The Living Series, The Survival Series, Under a Rock, Laments, and Child Text (1989), climbing up all six ramps of the building towards the oculus in the museum’s rotunda. 35 years after the work’s first presentation, it has been restored and updated through the latest digital technologies.

Jenny Holzer: Light Line also provides a comprehensive selection of Holzer’s works from the 1970s to the present day, including paintings, works on paper, plaques, and stone pieces. Moving beyond an archival purpose, the exhibition underscores the enduring power of language that transcends time. 

Globally acclaimed contemporary artist Roni Horn’s solo exhibition Give Me Paradox or Give Me Death is currently on view at Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany. The title is a play on the famous quote by the 18th century American revolutionary Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” where the term “liberty” is substituted with “paradox.” By equating the two values, she underscores the liberating potential of paradox, exploring ambiguity and variability in nature in this context.
 
One of the works on view, a.k.a (2008-2009) realizes the human being as organisms in a constant state of transformation, which Horn further describes as “the multitude in each of us.” The thirty self-portraits filmed throughout the course of her life, displayed in fifteen random pairs, provide a representation of her nonconforming identity long before terms such as “gender,” “genderqueer” or “non-binary” entered public discourse. Horn suggests through these fluctuating portraits that as appearance changes, everything else may change; similarly, that external qualities may reflect very little of their internal counterparts.

Also noteworthy is Untitled (Chambers St.) (1971-1989), a drawing series shown for the first time in Give Me Paradox or Give Me Death. Drawing is central to Horn’s practice; she has compared drawing to breathing, signaling the importance they hold within her oeuvre. Using thin, jittery lines, Horn created abstract, at times organic-looking forms by means of grid structures. Without any clear orientation, their motifs prompt numerous associations with nature, maps, or other micro or macro formations, while ultimately inviting viewers to the world of abstraction. The exhibition runs through August 11, 2024. 

ANISH KAPOOR UNSEEN, a solo exhibition of the leading contemporary British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor, is currently on view at the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Ishøj, Denmark. The exhibition marks his first major solo show in Scandinavia, showcasing a selection of Kapoor’s most iconic large-scale installation works spanning over forty years of his artistic career.

Featured in the exhibition are various works that delve into absence and void, central themes of Kapoor’s practice, using a variety of materials and forms, including Descension (2014), which creates the illusion of water spiraling into an abyss, and Memory (2008), a monumental piece weighing 24 tons designed to invite the viewers to glimpse into its vast and dark interior. In addition, Kapoor invites viewers to perceive and experience the world in unconventional ways through works that perfectly echo the exhibition space or, perhaps conversely, intentionally disrupt the exhibition flow.

ANISH KAPOOR UNSEEN runs through October 20, 2024.

Haegue Yang’s new commission work is featured in Ring of Fire – Solar Yang & Lunar Weerasethakul, a duo exhibition by Haegue Yang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, at Matabe. Located in the Honmura area in Naoshima, Matabe was renovated under the command of Hiroshi Sambuichi, a Japanese architect based in Hiroshima, who reinterpreted the original traditional Japanese house to create a new exhibition space.

The title of the exhibition, “Ring of Fire,” refers to a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. Fed by data from earthquakes, the works operate in two different modes, namely ‘Day’ and ‘Night.’ While Yang’s works respond to real-time data collected during the daytime from 11 o’clock in the morning, Weerasethakul’s video installation is activated only after sunset, using existing historical data of earthquakes accumulated since 1900 over the past 124 years. Weerasethakul’s work is on view during its screening time in the evening.

Upon entering the exhibition space, the very first sculpture that greets the visitors is a tall white lantern piece titled Mesmerizing Votive Pagoda Lantern – Snow Volcano Ultramundane Flowers (2024). Lit by vibrant red light that pierces through the holes cut in ornamented patterns on its hanging body, the lantern is a ritualistic object for mourning. The work responds to real-time global seismic dataset. With data input, the lantern blinks before lighting up to the maximum, then slowly starts to rotate. If no seismic data is detected or if it is minimal, the lantern pauses its movement and remains in a standby mode while gently maintaining a red light.

Further into Matabe, two sonic sculptures, collectively titled Sonic Eruption Upside Down (2024), are hanging from a wooden beam akin to rafters. Shaped like inverted cones, they also operate based on real-time seismic data. Vibrating motors installed on metal plates covering a mesh of hanging bead chains oscillate the metal bells at varying intensities and durations according to the input data.

Additionally, six miniature volcanic totems titled Minor Eruption – Sonic Golden Wreath (2024) are placed both inside and outside of the house, crafted from papier-mâché, colored, and coated with lacquer. These small volcano totems resembling necklaces adorned with golden bell chains that are hidden throughout the house, function as totems of dangerous beauty.

Charged with multisensory experiences including the movement of light and shadow, the vibration of bells and hypnotic rotations, and the unsettling blinking of light, all of which are triggered by data from the earth, this collaborative conception of a total environment encompasses both Yang’s mesmerizing presentation and activation of physical sculptures, and Weerasethakul’s cinematic play on light and shadow, thus creating a dynamic and comprehensive interplay between the physical and ephemeral components within one site. The exhibition continues until 2027. 

Haegue Yang, the recipient of the 13th Benesse Prize, is participating in a group exhibition currently on view at Benesse House Museum in Naoshima in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. In celebration of the partnership between Benesse Holdings, Inc. and the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) from 2016 to 2022, the exhibition features a selection of works by four past awardees of the Benesse Prize—Pannaphan Yodmanee, Zul Mahmod, Amanda Heng, and Haegue Yang.

In the exhibition, Yang presents Sol LeWitt Upside Down – Steel Structure, Scaled Down 10 Times (2021), a white, suspended venetian blind installation with a grid equipped with cool white light tubes. The installation, employing venetian blinds—one of Yang’s signature materials—is iconic in its distinctive play on Modular Structures by Sol LeWitt (1928–2007), an American minimalist and dominant figure in modern art history.

The work is installed at a location where visitors are guided to view the work through changing perspectives while descending along the ramp of the main exhibition hall of the museum, which was designed by the renowned architect Tadao Ando. The exhibition continues through January 5, 2025.

BURN TO SHINE, a solo exhibition by the Swiss contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone, is currently on view at Museum San in Wonju, Korea. The exhibition marks the artist's largest solo exhibition in Korea to date, featuring a selection of his signature works alongside the museum's architecture, designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The exhibition features the cycles and relationships of life and nature, and the human existence and experience shaped by them, which Rondinone has been reflecting on for the past 30 years.

Spanning the museum's three galleries, the Nam June Paik Hall, and the outdoor stone garden, the presentation presents more than 40 works including sculptures, paintings, and videos. Central to the exhibition is the performance video burn to shine, which creates an overwhelming sensory experience with intense sound and body movements. In collaboration with the French Moroccan choreographer Fouad Boussouf, the work combines traditional rituals from Maghreb, Africa, with contemporary dance. Featuring male and female dancers dancing around a bonfire in an infinite loop, the work festively celebrates and commemorates life, while exploring the boundaries between life and death.

nuns + monks, a series of giant bronze casted sculptures are installed across the Nam June Paik Hall and the outdoor stone garden, encouraging a binary reflection of one’s inner self and the surrounding nature. Standing in the center of the Paik Nam June Pavilion is a monumental 4-meter high sculpture aweing visitors with its solemn atmosphere under natural light, reminiscent of medieval saints.

Meanwhile, the two works on display in the galleries on the first and second floors of the museum—your age and my age and the age of the sun and your age and my age and the age of the moon—are ongoing participatory projects, comprised of over 2,000 drawings by approximately 1,000 children in Wonju. Displayed in identical formats, the two sets of works, each symbolizing the sun and the moon, resonate with each other. Other works include the mattituck series, which depicts the sunset and moonrise; and a series of horse sculptures in blue glass, including beaufort sea and celtic sea. BURN TO SHINE in on view through September 18, 2024.