Haegue Yang’s Leap Year exhibition set to open at Hayward Gallery

THE HAYWARD Gallery is set to host Leap Year, an exhibit by the acclaimed artist Haegue Yang, from 9 October 2024 to 5 January 2025.

This comprehensive exhibition marks a significant moment in the international art scene, showcasing over 100 works from Yang’s faceted career; including three new striking commissions. Known for her inventive and spellbinding style, Yang will transform the gallery into a captivating sensory realm inviting visitors to experience her art in an intimate and profound way. 

Haegue Yang, Series of Vulnerable Arrangements – Seven Basel Lights, 2007, Installation view at Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 2008. © Haegue Yang. Photo: Kay Riechers. Courtesy of Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

Upon entering, guests will walk through a curtain of stainless-steel bells, part of Yang’s ongoing Sonic Sculptures series, creating an evocative auditory and visual prelude. This entrance sets the stage for a journey through Yang’s 20-year career which spans installation, sculpture, collage, video, and sound. Her work is renowned for reimagining everyday domestic and industrial items—like drying racks and light bulbs—into striking pieces that reflect on folk traditions, political histories, and personal experiences.

The exhibition is organised into five thematic zones and includes several newly commissioned pieces, each designed to engage multiple senses.

Notably, the show features Sonic Droplets in Gradation – Water Veil (2024), an installation where visitors navigate through a curtain of blue and silver bells, setting the tone for an immersive experience that bridges East Asian traditions and contemporary art.

Installation view, Latent Dwelling, Kukje Gallery Hanok, Seoul, 2023. © Haegue Yang. Photo: Chunho An. Courtesy of Kukje Gallery.

The exhibition’s highlight is a large-scale Venetian blind installation, Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun (2024). Inspired by Korean dissident and composer Isang Yun, this work is made from ascending layers of Venetian blinds in various formations and colours, combined with breathing stage lights and a moving musical score. This piece exemplifies Yang’s ability to meld historical and personal influences into a visually and sonically stimulating environment.

Haegue Yang, Red Broken Mountainous Labyrinth, 2008, in In the Cone of Uncertainty, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, 2019. © Haegue Yang. Photo: Zachary Balber. Courtesy The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach.

Leap Year also revisits Sadong 30 (2006) – a seminal project first shown in Yang’s native South Korea. This reimagining reflects on domesticity and intimacy, themes that pervade Yang’s practice, along with her exploration of materials like mulberry paper and the dynamic interplay between spirituality and physicality.

Installation view, The Open World, Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai, 2023. © Haegue Yang. Photo: Wanchai Phutthawarin. Courtesy of Thailand Biennale 2023, Chiang Rai.

Curated by Yung Ma with assistance from Suzanna Petot and Charlotte Dos Santos, Leap Year promises to offer a deeply sensitive and engaging experience, aligning with the Hayward Gallery’s mission to champion transformative artistic voices. Supported by major foundations, including the Samsung Foundation of Culture, this exhibition will also tour other European venues in 2025.

As Yang herself reflects, “Art making is like weaving a complex fabric, while exhibition making tailors it into something wearable. For this show, I sought to reveal the hidden dimensions of my practice, akin to a rare leap year.”

by Alia Campos

Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX