Suh has created several pieces with miniatures of people in it. With these small figures he shows his ideas on individuality, collectively, anonymity, and his birthplace Korea. With this installation he wants to address the issues between collective action and individual identity. Korea is a very crowded country where people can easily lose their own identity. The thousands of plastic figures represent this crowd and you can see how easy it is to get lost in it.
I think this piece is very clever and I can totally see Suh's point and what he was trying to say. However, when I first saw this without knowing about his concept I saw this in a very different way. To me it first said that all these people/ figures are coming together and by doing that they can hold other people up. I think that is something that is happening these days, but definitely not often enough. This just shows to me that it is important to know something about the piece in order to perceive it the way the artist intended it.
For more images: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/artist-do-ho-suh-floor-installation_n_1231733.html#s638907
I agree with you. At first glance, I did not see Suh's point. I was looking at it pretty much the same way as you were. The more we can come together and hold each other up instead of allowing them to fall, we can build a better community. When and where I am weak, you are strong and vice versa. In the end, we all win. But seeing Suh's take on it, I get what he is saying too. As you stated...this piece is very clever. It speaks volumes.
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