PRESENTATION: Haegue Yang-Leap Year

One of the most widely shown artists of her generation in the world today, Haegue Yang continues to live and work between the cities of Seoul and Berlin since the mid-nineties. She is known for producing a form of conceptual language and an aesthetic vocabulary τhat is uniquely interwoven. Whichever aspect of Yang’s practice is mentioned, her engagement is decidedly non-binary, tending to unsettle ideas, concepts and forms she previously sought to establish.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Kunsthal Rotterdam Archive

The exhibition “Leap Year” offers an expansive encounter with the hybrid and multisensory universe of Haegue Yang. Tracing three decades of the artist’s practice, the survey presents more than seventy works—installations, anthropomorphic sculptures, video essays, and sound- and text-based pieces—assembled in a structure that defies chronology. Instead, the exhibition unfolds in fluid thematic constellations such as Social, Political, Spiritual Quotidian, Quasi-Performativity, and Singular-Plural, inviting visitors to navigate through shifting perceptions and associations. Yang’s work mobilises light, sound, scent, moisture, and heat to explore how movement, sentiment, and emotion are inscribed within social, cultural, and political contexts. Venetian blinds catch choreographed light, casting languid shadows that creep across walls, while drying racks are transformed into uncanny anthropomorphic figures frozen mid-acrobatics. These gestures resonate with Yang’s own transnational trajectory between Berlin and Seoul, where questions of migration, identity, tradition, and history are deeply woven into her artistic vocabulary. Over time, her practice has embraced folk rituals, artisanal crafts, and spiritual traditions while maintaining a critical dialogue with modern Western art history. The result is a body of work that remains both politically astute and profoundly personal—charged with an undercurrent of longing and intimacy. Her inspiration often draws on sociopolitical histories and ritual practices, from European pagan traditions in “The Intermediates” (since 2015) to shamanic and folk uses of mulberry paper in “Mesmerizing Mesh” (since 2021). In the latter, paper—hanji in Korea and washi in Japan—becomes a carrier of spiritual presence, linking the material to ritual and indigenous knowledge. A pivotal work included in the exhibition is “Storage Piece” (2004), a sculptural installation composed of Yang’s own artworks sealed in boxes and stacked on pallets. Emerging from her precarious nomadic life as a young artist without storage, the piece expands into a wider meditation on the conditions of migrant artists globally. The exhibition includes a newly commissioned narration by Rotterdam-based artist Pris Roos, whose personal reflections echo its enduring resonance. Two decades later, the work continues to confront the economic and existential challenges faced by artists. The exhibition also highlights Yang’s collaborative rattan sculptures, “The Randing Intermediates – Underbelly Alienage Duo” (2020), woven with artisans in the Philippines. Organic and creaturely, they fuse traditional techniques with artificial embellishments, while industrial handles suggest mobility or ritual use. These works are presented against walls painted in “Quasi-Yves Klein Blue”—a hue chosen not by curators but by the Kunsthal’s security staff, who selected it from local paint samples. The “quasi” in its name signals both proximity to, and distance from, Klein’s patented ultramarine, subtly probing questions of authenticity, originality, and legacy. Especially conceived for the exhibition, “Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun” (2024) pays homage to Korean composer and dissident Isang Yun. Ascending formations of venetian blinds pair with Yun’s “Double Concerto” (1977), a work inspired by the folktale of a cowherd and princess condemned to eternal separation save for one annual reunion. The installation mirrors this tale of longing and reunion, echoing broader reflections on the division of Korea. Alongside new commissions, “Leap Year” surveys Yang’s major projects: “Dehors” (2006), “Non-Indépliables – nues” (2010/2020), “Lacquer Paintings” (since 1994), “Dress Vehicles” (since 2011), “Sonic Sculptures” (since 2013), “The Intermediates” (since 2015), and “Mesmerizing Mesh” (since 2021). The exhibition architecture enhances the experience, with diagonally arranged walls carving out both intimate enclosures and open trajectories, giving rhythm and dynamism to the journey. Among the highlights are several newly initiated works, including “Sonic Arch Rope – Gold Hexagon Light” (2024), “Sonic Droplets in Gradation – Water Veil” (2024), and “Mesmerizing Votive Pagoda Lantern – Dusk Marsh Ultramundane Flowers” (2024). Together, these works affirm Yang’s ability to intertwine sensory intensity with conceptual clarity, bridging personal narrative and collective memory. “Leap Year” ultimately reveals an artist who navigates between histories, geographies, and traditions—constantly shifting, layering, and recombining. Through her hybrid practice, Haegue Yang makes palpable the invisible forces that bind emotion, ritual, and politics in our shared human experience.

Photo: Haegue Yang, The Randing Intermediates – Underbelly Alienage Duo, 2020. Photo: Maculangan/Pioneer Studios. © Haegue Yang, Courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art and Design.

Info: Kunsthal Rotterdam, Museumpark, Westzeedijk 341, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Duration: 1/3-31/8/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, www.kunsthal.nl/