This month, I had a chance to visit Do Ho Suh’s exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul.
I had first seen his work at the Naoshima New Museum of Art in Japan last year, and was immediately drawn to his use of polyester, nylon, silk, and other lightweight fabrics to construct architectural sculptures that visitors can walk through (Nest/s, 2024).
An Artist of Space and Memory
Born in Seoul in 1962, Do Ho Suh (서도호) is an internationally acclaimed Korean artist and sculptor known for transforming ordinary architectural spaces into deeply personal works of art. Through sculpture, installation, drawing, and video, he explores universal questions about identity, belonging, memory, and what it means to call a place home.
In the MMCA lobby
Much of Suh’s inspiration comes from his own experiences of moving between countries and cultures. Growing up in a traditional Korean house in Seoul before relocating to the United States and later living in Europe, he began questioning whether home is defined by a physical location or by the memories and experiences we carry with us.
His signature installations recreate rooms, corridors, staircases, and entire homes using delicate, translucent fabric, turning familiar architecture into something seemingly weightless and portable.
Everyday fixtures, recast
Home as Something We Carry
At the heart of Suh’s artistic vision is the idea that home is something we carry within ourselves. His works explore the relationship between individuals and their surroundings, examining how spaces shape our identities and preserve traces of the people who inhabit them.
While his early works often reflected his personal experiences of migration and displacement, his artistic perspective has gradually expanded to consider family, community, and our shared human experiences.
Three Decades in One Exhibition
His latest major exhibition, Do Ho Suh, at MMCA Seoul, brings together more than 500 works spanning approximately three decades of his career. Running from August 27, 2026, through February 9, 2027, the exhibition includes previously unseen early drawings, sculptures, architectural installations, and recent projects.
Drawings from across three decades
Through these works, visitors can trace how Suh’s understanding of home has evolved — from a physical place connected to his childhood into a broader exploration of memory, relationships, and belonging.
Floor (1997–2000)
Out of all the works in the exhibition, I was most drawn to Floor.
The piece consists of a transparent glass platform supported by tens of thousands of miniature, brightly colored human figures, each raising its arms to hold the weight above.
The figures holding up Floor
The work explores the relationship between the individual and the collective. Each figure appears small and vulnerable, but together they support an entire structure. By inviting visitors to walk across the surface, Suh makes them physically experience their dependence on the often-unseen individuals who sustain society.
A Question to Take Home
Ultimately, Suh invites us to reconsider a familiar question: Is home the place we live, or is it something we take with us wherever we go?
Do Ho Suh is on view at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, through February 9, 2027.
