Earth’s Skin

Gallery 105

This gallery presents recently acquired works by emerging and contemporary artists. The selections, drawn from Cambodia, China, Ghana, and Korea as well as from Europe and the United States, reflect the museums’ growing interest in global artistic production. Together these works explore a wide variety of themes, such as identity, exile, memory, the poetics of architecture, the dynamics of the built environment, and physical violence and repression.

The first room in the gallery brings together the work of artist Mona Hatoum, whose Home (1999) is linked to her personal experience as a Palestinian born in Beirut and living in exile in London, and Danh Vo, whose Das Beste oder Nichts (2010) relates to his family’s desire for a better life as Vietnamese immigrants in Denmark. In the second room, Lee Bul’s sculptures and Julie Mehretu’s paintings illustrate how artists can use different mediums to address interconnected concepts such as visionary architecture, urban construction, and the effects of the built environment on individuals. The third room includes pieces by Ai Weiwei, Ik-Joong Kang, and Sopheap Pich, artists who use materials in expressive ways to make reference to biographical, historical, and political conditions. These works, along with Cristina Iglesias’ installation, engage in a rich dialogue with contemporary issues and cultural traditions around the globe.