“OUSSSMOS” places around 35 works across the museum rather than following a single exhibition route

Korean artist Koo Jeong A is presenting the largest solo exhibition of their work held in Korea to date at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul.

Titled “KOO JEONG A: OUSSSMOS,” the exhibition brings together around 35 works spanning from the 1990s to new commissions produced for Leeum. It runs through Dec. 27.

The works extend beyond the museum’s M2 exhibition galleries. They are distributed through the lobby, the permanent Korean art galleries, exterior walls and other spaces that visitors may encounter without advance notice.

“OUSSSMOS” combines “OUSSS,” a term created by Koo in the mid-1990s, with “cosmos.” Rather than defining a single idea, the term refers to a changing system in which objects, energy, time and different forms of life establish temporary relationships.

Koo’s early works frequently used fragile or ordinary materials, including pencil leads and sugar cubes. The practice later expanded to forces and sensory elements without fixed forms, such as gravity, magnetism, phosphorescent light, scent, sound and temperature.

Among the central works is “GRAVITTA,” a large reinforced-fibreglass structure coated with glow-in-the-dark paint. The work changes in response to lighting conditions and continues Koo’s long-running experiments with phosphorescent architecture and skateable sculpture.

The exhibition does not prescribe a fixed centre or viewing order. Some works are immediately visible, while others may be overlooked and encountered later through changes in light, smell, sound or the movement of other visitors.

Koo represented Korea at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. The artist has worked internationally for more than three decades, developing installations that reconsider how people perceive and move through architectural space.

“KOO JEONG A: OUSSSMOS” is on view at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul’s Yongsan District from Sept. 5 to Dec. 27.

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Jason Yim yimjongho1969@gmail.com