Sonic Rotating Whatever Openings
2021-
Sonic Rotating Whatever Running on Hemisphere #22
2022
Powder-coated stainless steel frame, powder-coated mesh, ball bearing, PVD-coated stainless steel bells, split rings, faucets
84 x 75 x 46 cm
Courtesy of Kukje Gallery
Photo: Studio Haegue Yang
Sonic Rotating Whatever Running on Hemisphere #21
2022
Powder-coated stainless steel frame, powder-coated mesh, ball bearing, stainless steel bells, split rings, faucets
83 x 76 x 46 cm
Courtesy of Kukje Gallery
Photo: Jaewon Choi
Sonic Rotating Whatever Running on Hemisphere #20
2022
Powder-coated stainless steel frame, powder-coated mesh, ball bearing, powder-coated stainless steel bells, split rings, faucets
83 x 75 x 46 cm
Courtesy of Galerie Barbara Wien, Berlin
Photo: Nick Ash
Sonic Rotating Whatever Openings on Hemisphere #7
2021
Powder-coated aluminum frame, powder-coated mesh, ball bearings, PVD-coated stainless steel bells, split rings, door knobs
81 x 81 x 38 cm
Courtesy of the artist
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Installation view of Sonic Rotating Whatever Openings on Hemisphere #7, Double Soul, SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, 2022
Excerpt from exhibition gallery guide of Double Soul, SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022
Next to venetian blinds, metallic bells are one of the materials that Yang chooses to work with the most. Densely studded with bells in different metallic tones, her Sonic Sculptures are an orchestration of sounds on a metal mesh frame. Often, the Sonic Sculptures are adorned with different ‘foreign’ yet com- mon materials, such as artificial plants, decoration materials and turbine vents on top. The metal bell is an important shamanic tool in Korean folk tradition and also appears in European pagan cultures in various regions, such as Sardinia and the Black Forest region in southwest Germany. The jingling sounds that accompany the shaman’s various rituals mediates between hu- mans and the other, be it ghosts, souls or natural phenomena. The non-melodic rattling sound generated by these sculptures can be understood as a nod to the often rhythmic, monotone sound and repetitive modes of musical elements in shamanistic rituals. Bells and sensorial inputs produced by other ordinary objects thus allow Yang to access shared aspects of different cultures.
Sonic Rotating Whatever Openings demonstrate how Yang’s sculptures often reference each other. In this case, the composition of bells on spheres, combined with door knobs, reflect the circular and tangential motifs that recur in many of Yang’s works. Mediating different dimensions, handles are practical devices that one operates to push/pull or open/close. They also sym- bolise an interface of access and approach. Here, the door handles and knobs are mostly defunctionalised. Rather than reducing themselves to a mere function, they insist on themselves as significant beings and encourage a contemplation on the metaphors that lie beneath.
When Sonic Rotating Whatever Openings is set in motion by hand, all the bells slide around in their respective modules within the mesh. With a rotational movement, the bells bounce clockwise and counterclockwise while their rattling gradually fades.
Exhibition history
Double Soul, SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022
back to alphabetical order |
back to chronological order |