Soojin Kang
Soojin Kang’s practice is based in the exploration of textiles as a sculptural medium. Using natural dyes and hand spun yarns, Kang experiments with the evocative power of fibre to entangle the organic and the bodily with something other-than-natural. In Kang’s 2022 site-specific sculpture for jevouspropose in Zurich, forms resembling engorged anthers buckled against the clean walls of the gallery, while her Landscape installation at Ben Hunter, also in 2022, presented an infestation of the space with gargantuan larvae-like creatures, woven from crimson thread. The nutritive, wholesome allusions that handmade textile media often bears - embraced in Kang’s practice through the use of organic forms, raw edges, and earthy pigments - are shot through with traces of the monstrous. At Gathering, in her 2023 exhibition To Be You, Whoever You Are, Kang approached the human figure for the first time.
Kang was born in 1978 in Seoul, Korea and lives and works in Kulmbach, Germany. She received her MA in Textiles from Central Saint Martins in 2009. In 2017, Kang’s work Fall was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, for the museum’s permanent collection. Her first solo exhibition was staged at UNIT 9 in 2017; more recent solo exhibitions include Forgive yourself for everything, Galerie Khoshbakht (2024), Landscape, Ben Hunter, London (2022); jevouspropose, Zurich (2022) and Between the Lines, Movement Lab, Busan (2019). Kang’s recent group exhibitions include Prophetic Dreams, Kutlesa Gallery (2024), KREATUR, Reiter Galleries, Berlin (2022); Porosity, 021 Gallery, Daegu (2021); Weave, Spinalto, Mainleus (2020), and CROP, Sarah Myerscough Gallery (2019).
Soojin Kang lives and works in Germany
Solo and Group Exhibitions
2024
Forgive yourself for everything, Galerie Khoshbakht, Cologne, Germany Prophetic Dreams, Kutlesa Gallery, Goldau, Switzerland
2023
To Be You, Whoever You Are, Gathering, London, UK
2022
Landscape, Ben Hunter, London, UK Soojin Kang, Je Vous Propose, Zurich, Switzerland KREATUR, Reiter Galleries, Berlin, Germany Art Busan, 021 Gallery, Busan, South Korea
2021
Frieze New York (Online), Ben Hunter, New York, USA Porosity, 021 Gallery, Dae Gu, South Korea
2020
ABYSS, Ben Hunter, London, UK Soojin Kang and Connie Morsch, Turbinenhaus, Old Spinning Mill, Kulmbach, Germany Weave, Spinalto, Mainleus, Germany Two Persons Show, Turbinehaus, Kulmbach, Germany
2019
Between The Lines, Movement Lab, Busan, South Korea Masterpiece Art Fair, Ben Hunter, London, UK Crop, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London, UK Echoes of Quiller Orchardson, Ben Hunter, London, UK Spinnalto Arts Festival, Kulmbach, Germany
2018
New Work, Ben Hunter, London, UK Rhapsodies, Ping Pong, Brussels, Belgium
Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain
Adventitious Encounters, Openspace Contemporary at Whitelys, London, UK
2017
Growth, Unit 9, London, UK
Becoming and Dissolving, Alice Black Gallery, London, UK
Studio Toogood, London, UK
2016
Wild Things, Texture Museum, Kortrijk, Belgium
2015
GOODESIGN, The Natural Circle, Cascina Cuccagna, Milan, Italy
Reclaim | Repurpose, International Contemporary Craft and Applied Art, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
2014
Tablestitch, Friday Late Korea, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
2012
Threads That Bind Us, Plusdeign Gallery, Milan, Italy
2011
Chairs Flow, Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju, South Korea
Talking Textiles, Curated by Lidewij Edelkoort, Spazio Gianfranco Ferre, Milan, Italy
2025
I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams, Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria
Gathering Exhibitions
Selected Press
2 Apr 2025
Soojin Kang's solo show sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams opens at Galerie Kandlhofer on April 2
9 Nov 2024
Gathering's booth at Art Cologne features in Artsy's fair round-up
29 Oct 2024
Gathering is thrilled to participate in ArtCologne for the first time with a presentation of works by Emanuel de Carvalho, Francesco João and Soojin Kang
26 Jul 2024
Gathering is delighted to announce representation of South Korean artist Soojin Kang