SEOUL — Veteran artist Kimsooja, known for her work A Needle Woman, will represent the Korean pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, local organizers Arts Council Korea announced. 

This year’s pavilion is to be presented as a work of art in and of itself, a la Kimsooja’s recurring theme of “bottari,” a Korean word that translates to “bundle” or “parcel.” The artist’s concept of bottari as a self-contained world will be reflected in the transformation of the pavilion’s space — not physically with glass, metal, or wood, but with nonmaterial elements such as sound, light, and color. She will attempt to bring nature indoors, to be viewed from inside out.

Kimsooja will be working with curator Kim Seung-duk, director of international projects at France’s Le Consortium. The two have been frequent collaborators over the years, with their first joint project taking place in Germany’s 1995 Triennale Kleinplastik.

The artist, who has previously participated in the Venice Biennale’s main exhibition in 1999 and 2005, has established her name mostly overseas and is best known for her installation, video, and performance work. It has only been in recent years that she has returned to the Korean art world, including participating in the 2009 Gwangju Biennale (curated by Massimiliano Gioni, the director of this year’s Venice Biennale) and a solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery last year.

The Korean pavilion became a part of the Venice Biennale in 1995.