Koh's work draws the use of everyday objects and familiar concepts in order to examine how people interact with those they encounter while moving through the world.[3][5] For example, her piece "Call", is an old telephone in a public space. When the phone is picked up it randomly dials a number of a participant that has agreed to have conversations with strangers at any time of the day.[7]
There isn't a typical "Germaine Koh" piece - she utilizes many different materials for every piece she creates, yet each piece encompasses an ideology, perhaps best said by Koh herself in a Rhizome.org interview:[8]
I would characterize my work as a whole as an attempt to be attentive to the poetics of daily life by focusing on those phenomena that shape everyday experience, often slightly below the threshold of notice (and, yes, value)
Artistic styles and works
Germaine Koh, Knitwork, 1992, unraveled used garment reknit into growing object. This view: 1998 Biennale of Sydney
Koh's work encompasses the artistic styles of conceptual art, environmental art, and minimalism.[9] In an on-going work titled Knitwork (1992-present), Koh unravels used garments and re-knits the materials into one larger and constantly evolving object.[10] This piece demonstrates characteristics of environmental art through Koh's use of recycled materials and the ways in which she turns used and discarded items into a working piece of art.[9] In a similar artwork called Lumber (1991-1994, dispersed 2002), Koh makes use of flexible pieces of recuperated lumber glazed with oil and marine varnish to be installed alongside select architecture.[11] Various projects by Koh are also collaborative or rely on the active participation of its audiences. One example of such works include an art gallery titled "ad hoc gallery" which was put on display in collaboration with Geoffrey Brown from 1993-1994.[12][13]
An example of one which incorporates its participants into the art piece itself is League, which began in 2012 and is categorized as a "participatory project".[14] Koh describes League as "an open group of people who gather regularly to play sports and games invented or conceived by members of the community ... The project is founded in a belief in the value of emergent behaviour and the process of making sense of things."[15] Koh emphasizes games, sport, and play as forms of problem-solving which focus on the mental over the physical and the processes of learning, adapting, and evolution through iteration as central to the overall concept of the project.[15]
Koh combines both making use of discarded or found items and active participation in a project called Sightings (1992–1998), which involved the commercial printing and publishing of images found in public as postcards.[16] These postcards closely interacted with the individuals they reached, drawing emphasis on the ideas of making art out of common everyday objects and experiences as well as recognizing the uniqueness of common places.[17]
Other projects
In addition to her artistic work, Koh is co-founder of the Toronto-based record label and artist-management company Weewerk.[3][18] She is also an athlete. Koh played varsity volleyball and badminton at the University of Ottawa and is a former captain of roller derby team the Terminal City All-Stars. Her interest in the relationship between creativity and athleticism resulted in the creation of The Koh-Verchere Award for Athletic and Creative Excellence, an Emily Carr University of Art and Design student award,[19] and the establishment of Vancouver's League.[20][21] Koh was part of the design team for the No. 2 Road North Drainage Pump Station[22] in Richmond B.C., which was awarded the Public Works Association of British Columbia 2018 Project of the Year award.[23] In 2018, Koh became the first artist-in-residence in the City of Vancouver engineering department.[24]
Knitwork, The British Museum, London, UK, Feb-Apr 2002. Performance/installation related to conference "From Material Things: art and artefact in the 21st century". Curator: James Putnam & Gabriela Salgado.[45]
Germaine Koh: Around/About, Contemporary Art Gallery, Germaine Koh, Vancouver, BC, May-Jul 2001. Curator: Keith Wallace.[46]
Solo Exhibition, Watch, Toronto, ON, 5-7 Feb 2001. Curator: Barr Gilmore.
Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Germaine Koh: Knitwork, 1997.
This is it with it as it is, group exhibition at AHVA Gallery, 23 November 2016- 14 January 2017[53]
(im)mobile exhibition, Haus für Kunst Uri, 5 March – 15 May 2016[54]
(im)mobile, two-person show with Edith Flückiger, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Curator: Mireille Bourgeois & Chantal Molleur 17 October – 30 November 2014[55]
There/Here: Germain Koh and Gordon Hicks, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, BC, 2011. Participants: with Gordon Hicks. Curator: Jordan Strom.
Sorting Daemons: Art, Surveillance Regimes & Social Control, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, ON, Jan-loApr 2010. Participants: with Ian Verchere. Curator: Jan Allen & Sarah E.K. Smith.
Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativity, Luminato Festival 2009, Toronto, ON, Jun 2009.
Here Now or Nowhere, Prairie Art Gallery, Grande Prairie, AB, Jan 2009. Art in public places. Curator: Micah Lexier.[58]
Schematic: New Media Art from Canada, [space], London, UK, Nov-Dec 2008. Curator: Michelle Kasprzak, Gillian McIver & Heather Corcoran.
All Together Now: Recent Toronto Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Nov 2008-Spring 2009. Installation of works from the permanent collection. Curator: Michelle Jacque[59]
Untethered, eyebeam, New York, Sep-Oct 2008. Curator: Sarah Cook[60]
This Particular Day of June, Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC, May-Jun 2008. Curator: Jonathan Middleton.
On Being An Exhibition, Artists Space , New York, Oct-Dec 2007. Curator: Joseph del Pesco
Ingenuity Festival, Ingenuity Festival 2007, Cleveland, OH, 2007. Curator: Steve Dietz
Entre ciel et terre - Biennale nationale de sculpture contemporaine 2004, Galerie d'Art du Parc, Trois-Rivières, QC, Jun-Aug 2004. Curator: Gaston St-Pierre.
Koh has a multi-sport background which includes five years of experience playing for the varsity badminton team at the University of Ottawa. She also played roller derby for five years under the derby name "PLAYER 1" before captaining the Terminal City All-Stars.[63]
Legacy and influence
The project by Koh and Geoffrey Brown titled "ad hoc gallery" received a review from Gunter Nolte, Visual Arts Department Head at University of Ottawa, as he comments "They are making an enormous contribution to the community art scene. They are so committed they finance the gallery from their own jobs."[64] An aspect of the City of Vancouver's engineering art residence is bringing the community together to determine what they would like to see happen for buildings, pipes, public spaces, and also demolitions.[64] An example of this would be the "sewer time capsule" which was created 13 July 2019.[64] This brought together members of the community to paint on a pipe that was then used as sewer upgrades in the area which would stay in use for the next hundred years.[64] Koh herself said "The community can always feel like they had a little part to play in the infrastructure that lies below their street, and it's a concrete connection with sewer works that also serves to demystify infrastructure."[64]
Awards
In 2004, Koh was a finalist for the Sobey Art Award and in 2010 she won a VIVA Award in recognition of her outstanding achievement as a mid-career artist in British Columbia.[5]
Overflow: Germaine Koh (2007), Germaine Koh, Centre A - Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Vancouver, BC). ISBN9780973271157[68]
Opening hours: Germaine Koh (2002) Steven Reinke and Rosemary Heather, McMaster Museum of Art (Hamilton). ISBN9781894088367[69]
