Every year in early October, fashion makes way for art, with the aesthetes of London and beyond clearing space in their calendars for Frieze Week. With a chock-full schedule, deciding what to see can feel overwhelming, but one presentation to make space in your day for is Haegue Yang: Leap Year at the Hayward Gallery.
The first major retrospective documenting the South Korean artist’s work to land on British shores, the display is immersive, multifaceted and impressive. Consisting of over 100 works, three new commissions are also on view for visitors to enjoy. With such an expansive body of work, selecting which pieces to include was a tall task – one that fell to curator, Yung Ma. “I was conscious about the importance of presenting a comprehensive overview of Yang’s manifold practice, so it was vital to include notable works such as Storage Piece, but equally important to feature lesser known pieces such as Social Condition of the Sitting Table,” Ma says. “I am also trying to offer a slightly different take on her established display methodologies by grouping her works in a more open and fluid manner.”
A key aspect of Yang’s work is this idea of fluidity. “It’s one of traversing between different cultures, histories and traditions,” says Ma. He conveyed this through the exhibition’s curation. “I want (attendees) to have an embodied yet fluid experience that connects and reflects Yang’s approach… By framing and highlighting her practice in the context of transnationality, which I believe, adds an important perspective to the debate around the rigidity of cultural identity in our own society.”
Arranging the exhibition across five zones, each comprised of a mixture of installations, sculpture, collage, video, wallpaper and sound, Leap Year is a shining example of Yang’s vast creative language. “What’s interesting though about her work is that it doesn’t lecture,” Ma says. “Instead, it engages the senses, both visually and beyond, giving audiences hints through its formal and sensorial qualities and thereby letting them fill in the gaps.” He continues, “The act of going into a gallery is physical. The feeling of being in the space, surrounded by art and your body’s relationship to it is very important to me. I wanted the audiences to not only see the art but also feel the art as well.”
This idea of physicality is emphasised by the way you enter into the gallery – through a curtain of stainless-steel bells, no less. “I want visitors to have the physical experience of walking through a threshold, of entering an imaginative world that brings together different cultures and traditions through a novel and hybrid artistic language.”
Sound up your street? Leap Year opens today and runs until January 5. Purchase your tickets here.
Photography courtesy of Hayward Gallery.
@yanghaegue
