Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space examines the psychological significance of domestic spaces, suggesting that intimate environments — such as rooms, attics, and cellars — become vessels for the imagination, evoking deep emotions and memories. This framework of spatial psychology provides a lens for understanding Do Ho Suh’s artistic practice.
“Do Ho Suh: In Progress,” Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, installation view. Photo: Anthony Rathbun
Suh’s exhibition In Process at Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts extends this exploration into the poetic and psychological dimensions of space. The exhibition, meticulously curated to resemble a working studio, features containers, models, and towering fabric structures that convey the labor-intensive and iterative nature of Suh’s process. The juxtaposition of unfinished and completed works highlights the continual refinement and reworking inherent in his approach to artmaking.
Do Ho Suh, “Artland.” Photo: Anthony Rathbun
A notable element of the exhibition is the participatory installation Artland, where visitors are invited to mold clay figures that populate the sculptural landscape. This engagement shifts the audience from passive observers to active participants, contributing their creative labor to the project. While the activity fosters interaction, it also positions the audience as contributors to the installation. This dynamic highlights the complex relationship between artist and audience, where the artist’s vision is expanded through the creative efforts of others.
Materials from the artist’s studio. Photo: Anthony Rathbun
Suh’s translucent fabric sculptures evoke a dual sense of presence and absence, solidity and ephemerality. By recreating architectural spaces from his past — such as his childhood home in Seoul and his apartments in New York and London — Suh navigates themes of impermanence, nostalgia, and identity. These structures transcend physical reconstruction, reflecting the emotional and cultural significance of the spaces individuals inhabit.
Materials from the artist’s studio, (detail). Photo: Anthony Rathbun
The delicate materials employed, such as silk and polyester, underscore the fragility of memory and the transitory nature of experience. Suh manipulates scale to create works that range from the monumental to the intimate, prompting viewers to engage with the installations in ways that are both physical and reflective.
Both Bachelard and Suh explore the power of imagination to transform ordinary spaces into extraordinary realms. Bachelard’s insights into the psychological resonance of spaces parallel Suh’s investigation of how environments hold and evoke memories. By foregrounding the process of artmaking, In Process compels visitors to reflect on the relationship between labor, collaboration, and the creation of meaning in artistic practice.
A view of a model from “Do Ho Suh: In Progress.” Photo: Anthony Rathbun
The exhibition serves as a layered investigation into the methodologies and themes that define Suh’s work. It invites audiences to consider the interplay of experimentation, souvenir, and labor in shaping perceptions of space. By aligning with Bachelard’s notion of the house as a symbol of the human psyche, Suh’s exhibition illustrates how intimate spaces and objects act as vessels for imagination, holding both personal and collective histories.
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