Mirae kh RHEE: Constellations

June 21, 2025–January 4, 2026   Berlin-based artist Mirae kh RHEE, born in Seoul and raised in the United States […]

June 21, 2025–January 4, 2026

Berlin-based artist Mirae kh RHEE, born in Seoul and raised in the United States after her adoption, traces her personal journey through traditional Korean objects, ancient myths, and the glittering constellations once used to chart a course through the unknown. The immersive installation presented here explores the search for belonging within the vast universe.

In Seven Sisters (Missing Merope Version), glowing bamboo forms evoke the Pleiades constellation—where Merope, the faintest star, evokes absence and longing. The bamboo forms, known in Korean as jukbuin or “bamboo wife,” are hollow pillows used across Asia for centuries. Here, RHEE incorporates them as a way to reconnect with the culture into which she was born but not raised. At the same time, they suggest global histories of commodification, trade, and displacement. Through this layering of personal and collective experience, she creates a space for reflection and reclamation, and illuminates the strength, beauty, and resilience that emerge from shared experience.

Featured: Mirae kh RHEE, Seven Sisters (Missing Merope Version), 2023. Bamboo bolsters, LED lights, visors, shoes, mirror. Gift of Robin-Hwajin Yoon Kim, 2024.1 and Gift of Mia Hershiser, 2024.2. Photographer: Peter Holzhauer.