Germaine Koh

Who is Germaine Koh?

Germaine Koh is a Malaysian-born internationally active Canadian artist. At the age of two she emigrated to Canada.

She is a conceptual artist working out of Vancouver, B.C., self-described as having "no fixed address" whose art encompasses the use of everyday objects and familiar concepts into her work. Her work is known around the world and she has been shown at many galleries, including the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in 2005, the Liverpool Biennial and the Art Gallery of Alberta in 2004, Frankfurter Kunstverein in 2003, Bloomberg SPACE in 2003, and in many other galleries across the globe.

Her work can be characterized by public interaction and everyday concepts. For example, one of her latest works, "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.

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: