Some 20 years ago, a young artist presented Storage Piece (2004), an installation composed of wrapped artworks stacked on Euro pallets that were neither able to be stored nor transported. At the time, this was a bold artistic statement on the harsh reality many young artists faced — the relentless cycle of constantly creating new works and yet having nowhere to store unsold pieces. Fast forward to March 2025. The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas, renowned for its exceptional collection of modern and contemporary sculptures from the late 19th century to the present, is hosting its first-ever solo exhibition by a Korean artist since it opened in 2003. The artist is none other than Haegue Yang.

International interest in Yang’s work has spanned continents, reaching across the Atlantic to the UK and the Netherlands. Kunsthal Rotterdam, a leading contemporary art institution in the Netherlands, is presenting Haegue Yang: Leap Year, a comprehensive survey of Yang’s three-decade-long career. This retrospective, which features approximately 120 works including installations, sculptures and collages — is a touring exhibition that launched at the Hayward Gallery in London in October 2024 and ran there until early this year. Julian Stallabrass, a former professor of modern and contemporary art at the UK’s Courtauld Institute of Art, hailed Yang as “one of the most original and interesting artists of her generation,” praising her work for being not just beautiful but intellectually stimulating as well.

Haegue Yang is a “must-see” artist, consistently sought-after by art museums and biennales worldwide. Her thought-provoking work has sparked intriguing dialogues and cemented her global influence. Her intricate, philosophically rich works explore the complex interplay between time and space, past and present, past and future, convergence and dispersal, and the material and the spiritual, constantly seeking points of connections with the viewer. Further expanding Yang’s reach is a new commission that is set to be installed in Terminal 6 of New York’s JFK Airport in 2026; this will make her work accessible to the countless people traveling to and from the Big Apple. Morning Calm sat down for an in-depth interview with Haegue Yang, one of the most important artists active today.

You were ranked 48^th on Art Review’s “Power 100” list of the most influential figures in the art world for 2024.

The concepts of aging and maturing have become increasingly important to me of late. I used to be a bit critical of renowned artists whose output slowed down or whose exhibitions became less frequent. But the more artworks I create, the more I realize that starting is the easiest part; maintaining momentum is incredibly challenging, and achieving another significant leap forward after initially gaining recognition is almost impossibly hard. I’m now acutely aware of how difficult this current phase of my career trajectory is. So I want to approach this juncture with a sense of maturity. I don’t believe that art can be objectively ranked. Of course, these trends can be considered part of contemporary discourse. Still, if an artist is consistently included despite the art world’s shifting focus, it suggests something more enduring.

Your exhibition Leap Year at the Hayward Gallery generated significant interest from both critics and the public.

Preparing for the survey exhibition at the Hayward Gallery was an opportunity for me to assess my own maturity. I realized I didn’t try to do everything myself, which is a sign of growth. The curator’s role was crucial to me, and the way their perspective shaped the exhibition speaks volumes about my development as an artist. In the past, I’ve been supported by individuals more established than me. They were my mentors, providing my art with historical nourishment and guiding my path forward. But now there’s been a generational shift in the art world. At the Hayward, for instance, most of the curators, except for the director, are younger than me. This means I now find myself at the receiving end of their selection, and this kind of shift is both significant and exciting for me. It makes me wonder about the relevance of artists such as myself in this new era. I believe that collaborating with them on exhibitions, conceptualizing and planning it together, will help me better understand this evolving landscape. One of the easiest things for an artist to lose, as they gain recognition, is their sense of vitality. With Leap Year, I aimed to create an exhibition that forged connections, ensuring that my status as an artist and my work would continue to hold meaning in the future.

Your exhibition is Nasher Sculpture Center’s first solo show featuring a Korean artist. The exhibition is said to engage with its distinctive space, adding to the anticipation.

While the Nasher isn’t a massive institution, it’s a daring space that encourages artistic experimentation. This allows for adventures that might be difficult to undertake at major institutions in New York, Paris or London. I took a significant risk with this exhibition, incorporating a high proportion of new works and venturing into entirely new territory. Naturally, there were challenges and setbacks along the way. Ironically, many of the new pieces are small-scale sculptures, less than 30cm in size, which presented a unique personal challenge.

Final question. What does time mean to you?

One of my favorite words is anachronic, which combines “chronic,” derived from the Greek term khronikos (which means “of time” or “in order by time”) with the prefix “ana,” meaning against or backward. While it’s sometimes translated negatively in Korean, I use the concept of anachronism in my work in a broader sense, not simply as something that goes against the contemporary zeitgeist but as a way to jumble up the very nature of temporality itself.

Every generation has its own unique zeitgeist. I want to embrace it, to savor it, and even to ride the wild waves of our time. To do that, I need to deepen my understanding of time and the particular era we live in. This requires paying closer attention to the thoughts and actions of others, of different cultures, and of the world at large.