Kimsooja’s work transforms simple, everyday actions into moments of meditation and transcendence. Archive of Mind is a participatory installation that, with visitor collaboration, builds over the course of the exhibition. PEM presents the North American premiere of this work, where museum visitors are encouraged to sit at the large work surface, empty their minds of distraction, and sink into the essentialized experience of forming a ball of clay with their own hands. Through the course of the exhibition, thousands of clay spheres are generated through small, individual gestures that reveal the emotional traces of their makers and cumulatively generate a complex array of texture, scale, and tone.

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Kimsooja: Archive of Mind was commissioned by the Peabody Essex Museum with the support of Axel Vervoordt Gallery. This exhibition is made possible by the Nancy B. Tieken Memorial Fund and supporters of the Present Tense Initiative, including The Jeffrey P. Beale Fund for Contemporary Art and Susan and Appy Chandler. Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation, Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard, Kate and Ford O’Neil and Connie and Stan Grayson provided generous support. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.