Haegue Yang

In 2018, the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst am Museum Ludwig will recognize Haegue Yang for her extraordinary body of work with the Wolfgang Hahn Prize. The Museum Ludwig will showcase the remarkable versatility of her entire oeuvre in the artist’s first-ever survey exhibition with over 120 works ranging from action-based objects from the 1990s to lacquer paintings, photographs, works on paper, video essays, anthropomorphic sculptures, performative pieces, and large-scale installations.

The abbreviation ETA stands for “estimated time of arrival,” among other things. Thus, the exhibition title points to an artistic career in transit and the constant itineracy of an artist who maintains studios in Seoul and Berlin and has exhibited internationally since 1994.

With her diverse oeuvre, Yang adeptly avoids clear attributions. Her works demonstrate elements of Institutional Critique and are conceptual as well as rich in cultural and historical references, while simultaneously sensually complex and emotionally charged. Across over 1500 square meters of exhibition space, this comprehensive retrospective’s spatial scenography will echo the conceptual dynamics of the works, lending the exhibition the quality of a Gesamtkunstwerk—harmonious yet full of dissonances.

Curator: Yilmaz Dziewior
Curatorial Project Management: Leonie Radine

Haegue Yang (*1971 in Seoul) lives and works in Berlin and Seoul. Since 2017, she has been teaching at the Städelschule, where she herself began her studies under Georg Herold in 1994. She was twice represented at the Venice Biennale in 2009 (in the programmatic exhibition fare mondi and in a solo exhibition in the Korean pavilion), and in 2012 she participated in dOCUMENTA (13). Her recent solo exhibitions were held at the following institutions, among others: Kunsthaus Graz (2017/18), KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017/18); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto (2016); Hamburger Kunsthalle (2016); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Bonner Kunstverein (2014); Aubette 1928 and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Strasbourg (2013); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2012); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2011); New Museum, New York (2010); and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2009). In 2018 she is also participating in the 21st Biennale of Sydney and the 10th Liverpool Biennial. Her first retrospective in North America will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2019.

With the Wolfgang Hahn Prize, the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst am Museum Ludwig e.V. honors exceptional contemporary artists on an annual basis. The prize money of up to 100.000 euros goes to the acquisition of a work or group of works by the artist for the collection of the Museum Ludwig. The award winners are also honored with an exhibition in the museum.