Boohri Park - Without Anchor, Without Sail (exhibition)
Schedule
Thu, 02 Oct, 2025 at 06:00 pm to Mon, 06 Oct, 2025 at 06:00 pm
UTC+02:00Location
Hosek Contemporary | Berlin, BE
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Hošek Contemporary is pleased to host 'Without Anchor, Without Sail', an exhibition by Boohri Park.Opening reception on Thursday, October 2, 2025 at 6 PM
Duration: October 1-6, 2025
“the boat is a floating piece of space, a place without a place, that exists by itself, that is closed in on itself and at the same time is given over to the infinity of the sea.” 1)
Once a cargo vessel, now moored on the banks of the Märkisches Ufer in Berlin, Hošek Contemporary holds Boohri Park’s exhibition Without Anchor, Without Sail—an evocation of Michel Foucault’s metaphorical ship, a place without a place cast adrift upon the infinity of the sea. On the gallery floor, dark as a night ocean without coordinates or direction, white cushions drift unfixed—waystations that recall “non-places” of transit, and metaphors for those who move without anchor or sail.2) Each cushion is modeled after the floor plans and memories of the artist’s temporary dwellings—Jeju, Berlin, Seoul, Dresden—visualizing her life’s trajectory without destination or settlement.
The soundscape of airports, aircraft cabins, and rolling wheels heightens the sense of passage rather than permanence. To move from Jeju to Berlin, and to countless points beyond, often signifies the realization of freedom. Yet the artist recognizes the uncertainty and disconnection hidden beneath this seeming privilege. The transparent glass containers placed throughout the exhibition echo this illusion of freedom: inside them drift miniature rooms drawn from the artist’s homes in Berlin and Jeju. The spaces of the two cities, which appear as though they could move freely forever, are in fact enclosed by transparent walls that can neither be crossed nor penetrated. In doing so, they expose the boundaries between them and reveal the unbreachable fractures of identity that constantly shadow the freedom of mobility the artist inhabits.
One of the characteristics of Marc Augé’s “non-places” or Jerzy Kociatkiewicz and Monika Kostera’s “empty spaces” is that heterogeneous elements coexist within them, yet the differences between these elements are either blocked from view or rendered meaningless. In non-places or empty spaces, the identities of strangers are most often swallowed up or spat out. They may appear to drift together freely, as in the artist’s glass containers, yet in reality they remain blocked by invisible boundaries and can never truly be with one another. The models within these vessels and the cushions scattered through the gallery mark spaces the artist has briefly occupied or still inhabits, but they do not constitute “home” as a relational site. They carry the memory of physical dwelling, yet, unable to cast anchor, they scatter as fragments of non-place—visualizing how, through repeated migrations imposed both by choice and circumstance, the very meaning of dwelling and belonging dissolves into a placeless place.
Yet Boohri Park’s exhibition does not merely convey the void of non-places. The cushions, dispersed throughout the gallery, may appear uniformly white, but each carries its own texture and tactile quality; hidden upon their surfaces are Braille inscriptions of the artist’s former addresses. Visitors, who might otherwise remain mere “passers-through,” are invited to pause—to sit, to trace with their fingertips—and through this tactile encounter, to inhabit these sites, however briefly. Park also offers another sensory gesture toward relational place: a warm cup of tea prepared in her parents’ home in Jeju. This simple act holds the visitor in place, if only for a moment, opening the possibility of a fleeting connection.
Today, those who drift without anchoring are not only migrants crossing seas and borders. Countless others in contemporary society find themselves adrift in airports, highways, shopping malls, and waiting rooms—non-places where the very sense of belonging and connection dissipates. Boohri Park’s exhibition embodies the anxieties and estrangements of such fluid lives, while also seeking, through sensory encounters, the fragile bonds and fleeting moments of dwelling that emerge within them. Even if the site remains a vessel without anchor and without sail, Park continues to strive to become—both for herself and for others—an anchor and a sail, ensuring that she does not drift entirely alone upon the boundless sea.
1) Michel Foucault, “Of Other Spaces,” Diacritics, 1, 1986, p. 27.
2) Marc Augé’s concept of “non-place” refers to spaces that are not relational, not historical, and not concerned with identity. They are sites of transit and circulation rather than dwelling, exemplified by airports, public transportation, and anonymous hotel rooms.
Text: Yeni Ma
The gallery is located at
Motor Ship HEIMATLAND
Märkisches Ufer 1z
10 179 Berlin-Mitte
+49 1525 7486496
www.hosekcontemporary.com
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Where is it happening?
Hosek Contemporary, Märkisches Ufer 26, 10179 Berlin, Deutschland, Berlin, GermanyEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
