Do Ho Suh Welcomes You to His House
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Quirky South Korean artist Do Ho Suh is an unpredictable creative who pulls off unbelievable and inspiring projects. He recently installed a small tilted house on the top of a building on the University of California, San Diego’s campus. The house, titled Fallen Star, symbolizes the displacement college students feel during the four year transition period between leaving home and striking out on their own. For months it has sat closed to the public — until now.
Do Ho Suh welcomes you home, opening the doors to this architectural wonder just in time for summer vacation. Only, home isn’t the way it used to be. This house dangles off of the top of a massive building and tilts in uncomfortable, vertigo-inducing angles. “The home will jut out from the seventh floor at a 10-degree angle,” explained the San Diego City Beat. “And while the floor inside the home will only be at a four-degree tilt, those who walk into the comfortably furnished home will likely experience a few uncomfortable moments.”
On opening day, June 7, the artist will be there to greet his visitors. If you can’t make it to UCSD, Do Ho Suh’s agency, Lehmann Maupin, explains the feeling of being inside the Fallen Star:
“Inside, people report awe – and vertigo. There are some amazing views of the campus, the Torrey Pines mesa all around. But then there’s the fact that, except for the chandelier hanging straight from the ceiling (thanks to gravity), there isn’t a single plumb line to the house… people are perceptually tricked into feeling like they’re falling. Some feel seasick or wobbly. It’s disorienting.”
Experiencing Do Ho Suh’s ambitious project is like returning home after graduating college (as I did recently) and realizing that things aren’t quite the same. It’s as if the place has shifted and is in danger of being lost forever. This literal take on the symbolic loss of home is a brilliant way to physically experience the emotional discomfort of change. It may be disorienting, but it is an encouraging element of life — motivating people to forge their own path, even if it’s a little bit crooked.
