Tate Modern has acquired a work by Suh Do-ho, a version of which was shown at the Hayward Gallery’s exhibition Psycho Buildings in 2008. This version was tailor-made to fit in a specific room in the Tate. Details below are from the Tate’s 2010-2011 Annual Report available as a pdf download from the Tate’s website here.
Do Ho Suh
born 1962
Staircase–III, 2010
Polyester and stainless steel
Overall display dimensions variable
Purchased with funds provided by the Asia Pacific Acquisitions Committee 2011
© Do Ho Suh, courtesy Lehmann Maupin Gallery, NYStaircase–III is a room-sized installation consisting of a translucent red polyester staircase suspended from a horizontal ceiling made from the same material. The staircase is a scale replica of the one in the artist’s apartment, and hangs from the middle of the fabric ceiling but fails to reach the floor below. Suh uses flexible, porous and translucent fabric to create large-scale architectural environments, spaces usually constructed with more solid materials. Buildings and interiors related to the artist’s personal history are the templates for his fabric installations. Suh specifically chooses spaces of transition, such as staircases, hallways and gates, to exaggerate the experience of spatial and psychological displacement in his work.
Suh Do-ho talks about the installation in this Tate video: