Kimsooja: "A Beggar Woman" & "A Homeless Woman" | Art21 "Exclusive"

Episode #085: Artist Kimsooja reflects on her series of videotaped performances — "A Beggar Woman" and "A Homeless Woman" (both 2000-01) — realized in cities around the world: Cairo, Delhi, Lagos, and Mexico City.

Kimsoojas videos and installations blur the boundaries between aesthetics and transcendent experience through their use of repetitive actions, meditative practices, and serial forms. In many pieces, everyday actions—such as sewing or doing laundry—become two- and three-dimensional or performative activities. In videos that feature her in various personas (Needle Woman, Beggar Woman, Homeless Woman), she leads us to reflect on the human condition, offering open-ended perspectives through which she presents and questions reality.

Learn more about Kimsooja: http://www.art21.org/artists/kimsooja

VIDEO | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Richard Numeroff. Sound: Merce Williams. Editor: Lizzie Donahue & Paulo Padilha. Artwork Courtesy: Kimsooja.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• art21
• artist
• visual
• contemporary
• kimsooja
• video
• performance
• installation
• korean art

[hpeterswald]

Kimsooja has beautiful hair for a beggar :)

[quenchedinlife]

phenomenal work, i need to do some research on this artist.

[12paisley]

If this “artist” is seen in Somalia with a begging bowl, then will you understand that her actions are unconscionable? There ARE limits to Californication, even in the name of art!

[skittleburst1234]

@quenchedinlife this is actually a little different from what she normally does usually she stands in one place while people around her either pass her by, stare or try to disturb her

[TheArtfulHeart]

That is sadly beautiful.

[oneu778]

i saw quite a few of them in prague, its a bit strange but at least they dont swear at you like in england ~ google "Beggar in Prague" for pics

[Pawndurr]

Could you explain this technique?

[oneu778]

all beggars should use the "prague" technique.