Jeewi Lee

The Korean artist Jeewi Lee grew up in both Germany and Korea. Her art is thus characterised by an exploration of heterogenous communication and language. Her multimedia projects are always prefaced by personal encounters, research, and on-site conversations. Lee goes in search of traces of hidden stories and contexts, which she then weaves into her works. For example, she frames parts of her studio floor like a painting, which, with its traces of paint and trampled leftover materials, suggests the process of creation of further works; she rolls out a carpet on a large street intersection to collect the imprints of Berlin traffic on it; or she shows, in the sand of a circus ring, the traces of circus acts already performed.

The situation at Silbersee—especially the knowledge that a former prisoner-of-war camp was located here—lead Lee into the water. The basic idea for her installation developed for Ruhr Ding: Klima is based on large air bubbles that rise like speech bubbles from the bottom of the lake to the water surface, bringing forgotten history back into view.

Jeewi Lee (b. 1987) lives in Berlin and Seoul.