Won Ju Lim
Longing for Wilmington
The large installation “Longing for Wilmington” by Californian artist Won Ju Lim opens up an imaginary space in the temporary exhibition area of the museum that awakens longing and memory.
Exhibition view, Intermedia, MGKSiegen, Work by Won Jun Lim, Longing for Wilmington, 2000, Courtesy the artist, Photo: Roman Mensing
Architectural models made of coloured Plexiglas and white hard foam panels are layered in the exhibition space to form complex formal and spatial structures. Slide projections of an industrial landscape light up the walls. "Longing for Wilmington" from 2000 refers to a real place in the USA, a suburb of Los Angeles characterised by its extensive oil refinery facilities. Won Ju Lim (born in Korea in 1968 and grew up in Los Angeles) uses it as a spatial frame of reference to open up an imaginary space for longing and memory with her suggestive installation. At the same time, the double meaning of the homely, which contains both the domestic and familiar as well as the hidden and secret, is an ambivalence that the artist sees manifested particularly in the architecture of American suburbs. In fact, Won Ju Lim was inspired by brochures for prefabricated houses to create the complex spatial structures in her installation.
Curator
Dr. Barbara Engelbach