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Jae Ko’s Striated: Recycled Paper Sculpture Exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium
Paper is usually associated with flat surfaces, books, drawings and everyday objects. In the work of Jae Ko, it becomes something far more substantial. Rolled, compressed, bound, folded, soaked, carved and worked with sumi ink, recycled paper is transformed into sculptural forms whose surfaces recall geological strata, eroded terrain and changing landscapes.
22MUSE in Antwerp is presenting Striated, Ko’s first solo exhibition in Belgium, bringing together works from the artist’s atelier with a new site-specific installation created especially for the gallery. The exhibition opens on October 22 and runs through November 28, 2026.
The exhibition focuses on a formative period within Ko’s practice, which has developed over more than four decades around paper as both material and method. Rather than treating paper simply as a surface to work on, Ko builds with it, allowing the physical qualities of the material and the repetitive nature of the process to determine the eventual form.
Her materials include recycled kraft paper and industrial rolls, along with different papers varying in texture, thickness, width and color. Some are tightly wound before being unrolled and rolled again more loosely. Others are twisted, stacked, folded, soaked, cut, buried or exposed to sunlight. These actions gradually change the density, surface and structure of the paper.
The resulting sculptures retain evidence of that physical process. Lines, ridges, folds, compressed sections and openings remain visible across their surfaces, giving the work a distinctly tactile quality. What begins as a familiar, relatively lightweight material takes on a density and scale associated with sculpture.
Ko has long been interested in forms found in the natural and built environment. Geological formations, rock cores, landscapes, architecture and the spatial principles of early 20th-century Constructivism have informed her thinking, but the sculptures do not attempt to reproduce particular landscapes. Instead, their forms suggest processes such as erosion, sedimentation, accumulation and movement.
This becomes particularly apparent in the larger installations. Dense bundles of kraft paper can loosen as they rise, creating folds, pleats and voids. Their surfaces may suggest hills, wind-shaped terrain, tides or glacial formations, while the relationship between line and volume gives the work a strong physical presence.
For Ko, the making is inseparable from the finished sculpture. Repetition plays an important role, with each gesture altering the material slightly. Rolling, compressing and binding create one set of characteristics, while soaking, cutting, burying or exposing the paper to sunlight introduce further changes. The work therefore carries traces of its own construction rather than hiding the labor involved.
That attention to labor is also important to the character of Striated. The surfaces are not smooth or mechanically uniform. Variations remain visible, and the accumulated marks created through repeated handling become part of the visual language of the sculptures.
Ko’s relationship with paper began more than 40 years ago and has continued to develop across different scales and forms. Her practice has moved between smaller sculptural works and substantial installations, but the material has remained constant. Paper provides both the physical substance and the framework through which she considers time, memory, landscape and transformation.
Her background also gives the work a broader geographical context. Ko spent her early years in Seoul and Tokyo before moving to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where she has lived and worked for more than two decades. The movement between different urban and natural environments has informed her understanding of place, although her sculptures remain concerned with material and form rather than straightforward representation.
The site-specific installation at 22MUSE extends this approach into the gallery itself. The work has been developed specifically for the Antwerp space, allowing Ko’s sculptural language to interact with its architectural setting. Scale, volume and the movement of the viewer through the installation become part of the experience.
The title Striated is particularly fitting for a body of work in which surfaces are built through layers, pressure and repeated physical intervention. The word suggests lines and bands formed across a surface, much like the marks found in geological formations. Ko's sculptures achieve a similar effect without attempting to imitate stone or rock. The characteristics emerge through the treatment of paper itself.
There is also a quiet contradiction in the material. Paper is associated with fragility, yet Ko uses it to create works with considerable physical weight and presence. The sculptures appear stable and substantial while retaining the folds, edges and irregularities of the material from which they were made.
Sustainability enters the practice through the use of recycled paper and through Ko’s interest in transformation, accumulation and reuse. But the material is not presented simply as a sustainability statement. It remains central to the construction and appearance of the work. The paper is chosen, manipulated and repeatedly altered until its original everyday function becomes almost unrecognizable.
That transformation is one of the most striking aspects of Ko’s practice. The viewer can still recognize paper in the folds, edges and layers, but the familiar associations quickly disappear. The material begins to occupy the territory of sculpture, architecture and landscape.
Striated brings together this material history with the scale of contemporary installation. At 22MUSE, the works can be considered not only as individual sculptures but also in relation to space, movement and architectural volume. The gallery becomes part of how the work is read, particularly with the new installation made for the site.
For an artist whose practice has remained rooted in one material for more than four decades, the range of forms that Ko has developed from paper is considerable. Her work demonstrates how a material associated with ordinary daily use can be pushed through repetition and physical labor into something monumental, while still retaining the evidence of its original character.
Jae Ko’s Striated will be on view at 22MUSE in Antwerp from October 23 to November 28, 2026, following the opening on October 22. The exhibition brings together work from Ko’s practice with a new site-specific installation, offering an opportunity to see how recycled paper can move from the familiar and functional into sculpture shaped by landscape, architecture, time and material process.
Exhibition: Striated by Jae Ko
Venue: 22MUSE, Oudaan 22, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Opening: October 22, 2026, 6:00–9:00 PM
Exhibition dates: October 23–November 28, 2026
Opening hours: Monday–Saturday, 10:30 AM–6:00 PM
