South Korean artist Do Ho Suh is returning home. A comprehensive exhibition of his four decades of artistic output has recently opened at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA). On view now through February 9, 2027, the eponymous show is his largest to date. It features over 500 of his works spanning his entire career, allowing visitors to examine both the breadth of his portfolio and the ever-present themes in the various forms they've taken throughout the many years.
Suh is best known for his 'fabric architecture' installations, in which he recreates spaces like his previous New York City apartment. The pieces are crafted from translucent fabric, allowing visitors to see through the architectural structure. In this way, the works are like an apparition—so real but also light enough that they could seemingly disappear at any moment.
The ghostly effect of the fabric architecture is in keeping with the larger themes of Suh's work, which questions dualities: individual and community, home and displacement, and memory and identity. His oeuvre is informed by growing up in Seoul and living in the U.S. and Europe, and the toll that relocation has on someone. It changes not only where they live, but also their relationships and can even allow for reinvention. Home, in this case, is not a fixed building, but it is an intangible space that holds memory and experience, enriched by travel. It exists beyond any single place or culture.
Suh's exhibition begins in a corridor leading up to galleries three, four, and five in the MMCA. In Gallery 3, visitors are greeted by Small Gate (2017), a reconstruction of the gate to the hanok (a traditional Korean house) where Suh once lived. This gallery also showcases about 200 drawings that go beyond record-keeping to 'chart the artist's creative domain.'
Gallery 4 focuses on Rubbing/Loving, which is a body of work that remembers places. To capture them, Suh pressed hanji (traditional Korean paper) against a surface and rubbed it with graphite or colored pencils. The paper was then assembled into a three-dimensional form. The work captures both the surface texture and represents the physical act of remembrance.
Gallery 5 displays the type of works for which Suh is best known, including Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul (2024), which is a reconstruction of his current London apartment along with architectural elements—door handles, outlets, and switches—from the many other homes he has lived in.
Parts of the exhibition will be on display elsewhere. From December 18, 2026, through March 28, 2027, Suh's iconic work Apartment A, Unit 2, Corridor, and Staircase, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA (2012) will be on view in the Seoul Box. It's the first time the work's complete set of units is being shown together in a single place.
Do Ho Suh is now on view through February 9, 2027. Visit the MMCA to learn more and get your tickets.
South Korean artist Do Ho Suh is returning home.
A comprehensive exhibition of his four decades of artistic output has recently opened at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA).
On view now through February 9, 2027, the eponymous show is his largest to date.
It features over 500 of his works spanning his entire career, allowing visitors to examine both the breadth of his portfolio and the ever-present themes in the various forms they've taken throughout the many years.
Suh is best known for his 'fabric architecture' installations, in which he recreates spaces like his previous New York City apartment…
… but his work comprises drawings, garments, and more.
Exhibition Information :
Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh
August 27, 2026–February 9, 2027
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
30 Samcheong-ro, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea
Do Ho Suh: Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by the MMCA.
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