Haegue Yang

From dancing blinds to giant drying racks: Kunsthal
Rotterdam takes you on a sensory journey through the
thirty-year-old oeuvre of Korean-born Haegue Yang (b.
1971). Through her play with light, music, smell, warmth
and movement, Yang explores themes of tradition, rituals,
migration, identity and community.

Yang draws our attention to how movement, sentiments, and emotions operate in various social, cultural, and political contexts by mobilising light, sound, moisture, heat, and scent to disclose memories and associations. Choreographed theatrical lights brush over Venetian blinds and cast constant but slow-moving shadows, while drying racks are transformed into anthropomorphic creatures in acrobatic postures. Over the past thirty years, Yang has been commuting primarily between Berlin and Seoul. Themes like migration, identity, history, and tradition are therefore naturally embedded in her practice, closely linked to narratives from music, literature, and politics. Folk rituals and traditional crafts have become another focus over the past decade. On the other hand, Yang also critically reflects on ideas from modern Western art history. Frequently departing from keen observation of social issues, her work always remains subjective, infused with an intense yearning for intimacy.