Cause and Effect invokes concepts of individualism, collectivism, and unity. Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s work can sometime be related to the Minjung Misul (People’s Art) movement, which dives into social themes and political issues across Korea. An important aspect of Minjung Misul, which is juxtaposed in Korean lettering at the beginning of the video, is the unification of North and South Korea. By incorporating footage of North Korean military parades, ideas of ‘the group’ can be formed. Interwoven with shots of the sculpture itself, the goal of the video is to invoke ideas of collectivism and unity, and how these are composed of hundreds of thousands of individual selves.
When you ask a student at Western what they think of Cause and Effect, they’ll inevitably answer–well, usually “What’s that?” But! If you ask if they know the glittering two story chandelier composed of small naked people that hangs in Academic West, you’ll usually get one of two responses: either “Oh yeah, it looks so cool!” or “wait, naked people?”
Do Ho Suh’s Cause and Effect is a brilliant eye-catcher. It’s composed of over 1200 long strands of small male figurines, each sitting on the shoulders of those below, that come together to create a whole. A glittering upside-down volcano, with a dark red core that radiates out to a light pink and then pure white around the edges. The nearly identical but subtly different figurines all come together to form a brilliant tornado of people supporting each other. “It comes from a belief that every individual is spawned from the lives he/she may have lived previously,” says Do Ho Suh. “The vertical context of the figures becomes a collection of past influences, and again, begins to define the inherent powers and energies that characterize an individual.”
Ripple
A response to Cause and Effect, this piece is a comment on how the individual can contribute to the whole.
Suh himself drew heavily on past influences and experiences to create the sculpture now installed on our campus. Inspired by his experience in the military and childhood in the Korean education system, many of Suh’s sculptures evoke questions about homogeneity and the role each person plays within their national and global communities. The multitudes of small faceless epoxy men we see in Cause and Effect play a recurring role in Suh’s sculptures, including Karma (2003), Blue Green Bridge, Public Figures, Floor, and Net-work. Suh’s art depicts a closer look at society and community that is common within the Minjung Misul (People’s Art) movement in Korea, which began in the 1980s to dive into social themes and political issues that sparked controversy across Korea. Much of postmodern art in and from Korea is heavily tied to and influenced by Korea’s liberation.
With Cause and Effect, Suh not only created a masterpiece that students can enjoy and marvel at every time they walk through Academic West, he also created an opportunity to make us think. Beyond the initial “wait, are those naked people?” response, Do Ho Suh asks us to question our individual roles within the bigger pictures of our truths, to take a step back and look at how our actions affect the communities we find ourselves in.
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