Haegue Yang, Incubation and Exhaustion

2018
Digital wallpaper prints, ongoing series by Haegue Yang and Studio Manuel Raeder

Populated by creature-like sculptures, the inhabited landscape of Chronotopic Traverses unfolds across three rooms at La Panacée – MoCo, with a wallpaper, Incubation and Exhaustion (2018, in collaboration with Studio Manuel Raeder) rendering the entire wall surface of the space. This hybrid and panoramic environment is a result of Yang’s initial investigation of Occitan culture and local industries as well as her long-lasting interest in pagan culture and the notion of folk. However, in this exhibition, the selection of motifs reveals an eclectic array of elements, varying from onion, garlic, and chilies to robotic medical devices, as well as graphically-manipulated green to flame and cloud. Arranged and juxtaposed in an unexpected manner filled with a sense of foreboding, all the natural and technological elements refer to time as flux, forsaking order and compartmentalised readings of terms such as folkloric, historic, modern, and contemporary. This very aspect of non-hierarchy and anachronism in Yang’s approach reflects her interest in notions of place and time as a conglomerate, while simultaneously retaining the possibility for one to do a close reading of each element and their distinctive contexts, engaging in Yang’s own process of learning and unlearning.

Installation history:
Chronotopic Traverses, La Panacée – MoCo, 2018
Kukje gallery booth at Taipei Dongdai Art Fair, 2019
The Seventh Continent, 16th Istanbul Biennial, 2019
When the Year 2000 Comes, Kukje Gallery K3, 2019