Haegue Yang: Leap Year at Hayward Gallery

A survey exhibition presents one of the most formidable challenges in an artist’s career, compelling them to introspectively examine their body of work through a retrospective lens and subject it to new interpretations. Haegue Yang recognises the daunting nature of this process as Leap Year, her first major survey show in the UK, is unveiled at the Hayward Gallery in the Southbank Centre. Yet this hardly explains why the notion of absence – a stark and recurring influence in her practice – is entirely omitted from the multi-room exhibition that leaves nothing unseen or unsaid.

As visitors enter, they are immediately confronted by the powder-coated metallic balls of Sonic Droplets in Gradation – Water Veil (2024). Despite its references to East Asian traditions and folklore, the blue and silver curtain, emitting sonic reverberations with every arrival, lends a distinctly commercial tone. The sonic reception is reminiscent of a shopkeeper’s bell and unintentionally evoking a branded, commercial experience where interaction is curated for consumption and user experience rather than genuine artistic exploration.

Trained facilitators rotate the sculptures in the second room, using their industrial handles in carefully choreographed movements paying homage to the physicality of the weaving techniques employed to create The Randing Intermediates – Underbelly Alienage Duo (2020). Unfortunately, this is not the case for the other three installations, as the scene resembles a collaborative effort to manoeuvre particularly heavy pieces of furniture. To its right, Stacked Corners – Ventilating Orange and Blue Square (2022) presents a cross-section of colourful Venetian blinds, an interior design feature that looms large throughout the survey without any particularly compelling aesthetic or iconoclastic justification. The expansive space is rendered claustrophobic, as Yang’s visions crowd the floors and walls, leaving little room for navigation, both physically and experientially.

By the third room, many of the clearly hand-crafted installations begin to feel bulk-produced. This impression arises not from Yang’s frequent use of domestic and industrial materials, but rather from the visual saturation of the space that echoes commercial showrooms that are designed to impress by showing everything, everywhere, all at once. However, certain pieces, such as the small yet impactful Hardware Store Collage – Schäfer Mirrors #1 (2015) and Yang’s renowned Storage Piece (2004), serve as pointed critiques on the display’s consumerist leanings.

More impressive on paper than in execution, Haegue Yang: Leap Year falls victim to its own abundance – in both Yang’s extensive oeuvre and the expansive areas of the Hayward Gallery. While one may not depart with a deeper appreciation for Yang’s work, the exhibition prompts critical questions about the distinction between comprehensive and excessive.

Christina Yang
Image: Installation view of Haegue Yang: Leap Year, 2024. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy of the artist and the Hayward Gallery.

Haegue Yang: Leap Year is at from 9^th October 2024 until 5^th January 2025. For further information or to book visit the exhibition’s website here.