People have been asking how I learned of Sun K. Kwak. I first noticed Sun’s work well over a year ago through the gallery that represents her. I obtained basic information about Sun and looked at installation shots of her previous projects at the Queens Museum of Art, NY; Gallery Skape, Seoul, Korea; Samsung Life Building, Seoul, Korea; The Drawing Center, NY; Haus Der Kulturen der Welt Museum, Berlin, Germany; etc. A few months later, when Sun was in a group show in a gallery in Chelsea, I went and looked at her work in person. It was a small piece compared to some of her previous works, but it still gave me a good sense of the texture and method of her work.

This past winter, when we were looking to schedule an exhibition on very short notice for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery on the 5th floor (the “Rotunda”), I remembered Sun’s work. I got in touch with her through her gallery, asked her to come to the Museum to walk through the Rotunda with me and to see if she thought she might be able to work with the space. I then asked her for a tentative proposal and did a studio visit with her to talk about her ideas more in-depth.

Then we followed the usual procedures—presenting the idea to the Exhibitions Division, then recommending and presenting the idea to the director—before we added it to our exhibitions calendar. Because we had very little lead-time for this show, everything had to move quickly. Thanks to Sun, her assistants, and staff from all departments of the Museum, we were able to pull together Enfolding 280 Hours in just two months.