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LED

Dresses

Tae gon KIM (South Korea / France)

LUMIERE DURHAM 2009, 2013, LUMIERE LONDON 2016

Shimmering dresses frozen in shop windows. 

Made from fibre-optic LEDs, the ghostly silhouette of each dress changed colour over time. In the creation of this work, the artist took inspiration from Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse and reflected on his own fascination with relationships and love. He invites audiences to contemplate the question: ‘who would we want to be, if we could wear our own desires?’

When we love someone deeply, sometimes we want to be them. This work thus leads us to imagine that we become the people we love. Dresses and materials transport us inside the image, as if we were wearing our desires. This set of images is also intended to evolve according to our desires.

Strasbourg-based, French-Korean artist Tae gon KIM creates large-scale artworks based on items of clothing. He uses fibre-optics and LED lights to create sculptures that appear big enough to be worn by one or more people. His work has been exhibited in numerous cities across the world.

Dresses could be seen in several locations during Lumiere London 2016: on King’s Boulevard and on Stable Street in King’s Cross, as well as in a window at the Liberty department store.

Dresses was first featured as part of the Lumiere Durham programme in 2009 and returned for Lumiere Durham 2013 and Lumiere London 2016.

Lumiere Durham 2013 partner

Lumiere London 2016 partner

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