Youngeun Sohn: Openings: Night, Paper, Glass

The “opening” marks the beginning of an event, gathering an audience at a specific time and place. An Amsterdam-based Korean artist, Youngeun Sohn, expanded this idea into an exhibition composed solely of three openings. The publication Openings: Night, Paper, Glass was released alongside the exhibition of the same title, exploring the rhythms of different materials in relation to our bodies and senses. Youngeun used the book’s space to capture the process of making and to translate her performances into the language of the book. By slipping pieces of the performances into the book during the exhibition, she later reshuffled them with fragments of scripts, research notes, and photographs. With these threaded elements, she invites readers to experience moments in transition and the liveness of storytelling as they flip through the book.

The book was made in collaboration with curator Miji Lee and designer Haeok Shin, with photographic documentation by Ikhyun Gim and Donghyeok Shin. It includes text contributions by Miji Lee, Ernest A. Bryant II, and Femke de Vries. Youngeun Sohn explores the relationships between seeing and being seen, performer and audience, storyteller and reader. She draws attention to the everyday through an idiosyncratic narrative, visual storytelling, and a language of materials and gestures. Through her performative approach, she turns personal observations into tangible, gestural experiences for viewers.