MIGRATORY DMZ BIRDS ON ASYMMETRIC LENS – DUIITT DUIITT VESSEL (GRAY-BACKED THRUSH) | HAEGUE YANG
Haegue Yang (Seoul, 1971) is an artist interested in the holistic use of technologies. Synthetic and natural materials often appear together in her works, aiming for new languages that are capable of narrating the contradictions of our human existence on earth today.
Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens – Duiitt Duiitt Vessel (Gray-Backed Thrush) is primarily composed of two elements: a main large lens-shaped base made of soapstone (also known as steatite) and a small semi-transparent 3D-printed resin statuette of a gray-backed thrush on top.
The base of the soapstone, known to be sensitive to moisture, has an asymmetrical body, on which horizontal grooves are carved, endowing the sculpture with a layered effect. Gray in tone, the lighter grains on the stone highlight the natural variation of the material. On taking a closer look, one notices engraved words like ‘robotic,’ ‘concave,’ ‘gray-backed thrush,’ or ‘resolution,’ which reveal some facts and meanings only on one side of the body, while the side with less volume remains wordless.
Even if the life-sized resin bird sculpture placed on top is tiny, it is essential to the balance of the entire composition. The optical effect of the work relies on different perspectives of this half-transparent body of a migrant bird living in the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) at the border between North and South Korea. The split bird’s body now alludes to the human condition in the Korean Peninsula: the lower part of the body is hollowed out in the resin container, forming a kind of negative shape; conversely, the upper part corresponding to the thrush’s head has been sculpted, and both parts are horizontally sliced off from each other. Upon observing the bird frontally, it appears whole, but if the perspective moves to the side, the split is revealed, and the two distinct composing parts become clear.
The unique division between the positive and negative split of this element was conceived by Yang with the hope of attracting actual birds that could then drink the rainwater collected in the bottom part of the bird sculpture. This imaginary aspiration demonstrates the artist’s desire for a point of contact, an interaction, between reality and its representation.
Yang conceived Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens as a serial production of sculptures. So far, the three that have been realized are differentiated by the varying volume of the lens-shaped base, inscribed wording on their surface, and the different migratory birds native to the DMZ. The initial conception for this project stems from an event that occurred in the DMZ, a historic summit between the leaders of the two Koreas. Despite the presence of thousands of international press, no words spoken between the leaders were captured in this recording, which Yang obtained from the presidential office of South Korea, except the constant and prevailing chirping of birds. A dialogue of crucial political importance, incubating the well-being and stability of two entire nations and the Asia-Pacific region, remains guarded by none other than nature itself.
Haegue Yang
Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens – Duiitt Duiitt Vessel (Gray-Backed Thrush), 2020, detail.
Soapstone, 3D printed resin, 158 x 89 x 147 cm.
Courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crouse, Paris, and kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York.
Installation view of Aranya Plein Air Art Project (APA), Aranya Art Center, Aranya·Jin Shan Ling, China, 2023. Photography by Sun Shi.
Haegue Yang, “Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens – Duiitt Duiitt Vessel (Gray-Backed Thrush)”, 2020.
Soapstone, 3D printed resin, 158 × 89 × 147 cm.
Courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crouse, Paris, and kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York.
Installation view of Aranya Plein Air Art Project (APA), Aranya Art Center, Aranya·Jin Shan Ling, China, 2023. Photography by Sun Shi.
24/01/2024