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Assembled Environments: Mazes Of Blinds And Accessorized Light Bulbs

Recent architectural interventions from Haegue Yang.

Berlin-based Korean artist Haegue Yang has exhibited her works all over the world, including the 2009 Venice Biennial. Her transplantation of mundane, everyday objects into unforeseen situations evokes a nuanced familiarity. When immersed in her assembled environments, the complexity of her poetic conceptions interferes with objects we generally deem to be “normal,” provoking the potential of their socialized functions. Covering artistic distances as extensive as her international travels, she receives much deserved recognition for her dynamic architectural interventions. Here we look at two of her installations Cittadella and Warrior Believer Lover that were part of the recent exhibition ARRIVALS at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria.

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Cittadella (2011)

Occupying the entire second floor of the museum, nearly 200 aluminum Venetian blinds hang, glistening in metallic mystery. Silver-painted and stalwart, this mountainous labyrinth features forgiving gaps in various places, triggering the curious thrills of open-ended exploration. Eight movable lights add an ethereal sense of exposure, provoking a feeling of timid apprehension juxtaposed with the vulnerability that blinds are usually meant to hide. Aromatic spritzes of scents like sulfurous volcano and cedar wood take this lofted voyage to another level of stimulation, submerging you in the fluid mists of nature, and at the same time, a manufactured rigidity.

Warrior Believer Lover (2011)

Thirty-three light sculptures gaudily dressed in mixed media stand in groups—almost as if they preferred it that way—each uniquely adorned with everything from glowing light bulbs and artificial plants to eccentric wigs and colorful electric wire. These technological mannequins pose with personality, modeling an unconventional arrangement of seemingly organic and artificial materials. Exuding a very theatric and almost comical energy, the installation seems to personify an array of estranged cliques at a cocktail party. Set to the swanky soundtrack of Igor Stravinksy's “Le Sacre du Printemps,” this party stays lit and lively.