Haegue Yang: ‘I tried to be an island‘
MANILA, Philippines — Haegue Yang collected a Benesse Prize — the award ceremony first held at Venice Biennale in 1995, since shifted to SAM and Singapore Biennale in 2016 — for this year’s work, “The Hybrid Intermediates – Flourishing Electrophorus Duo,” which is installed at SAM for the duration of SB2022.
The prize created by Benesse Holdings Inc. includes 3 million Japanese yen for the winner, plus a commission to create an artwork for exhibit at Benesse Art Site in Naoshima, Japan.
In her award comments, Yang — who shuttles between Berlin and South Korea — said Singapore has “always been very warm to me.” She also reflected on the “Natasha” theme: “Naming is a very peculiar human activity. We name things from our past, sometimes cars, and products, and even typhoons. Why do we do that? I think it’s about our longing and aspiration for the community. It can be critically regarded as a human-centered activity, but maybe it’s our action towards finding connectivity on this globe. I am someone who left home very early, drifted away for a long time. I have been entrusted by so many people who actually build, who were like an island. You know, I was drifting, and people gave me a lot of chances. And here again, I tried to be an island. I keep trying to remain as an island — among all these voices that also try to give names to things and figures and history and events, but in a unique way, not in conventional ways.”
SAM director Dr. Eugene Tang and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, along with the four women curators, gave comments during the Oct. 15 launch at the SAM lobby; after, we heard from Benesse judges, including Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) curator/director Maria Joselina Cruz, about the final awarding. Cruz said this year was a “very interesting mix of artists, the way they navigated the exhibition tutorially.” By naming it “Natasha,” instead of overlaying a general theme, the judges had to do a little detective work: “It wasn’t thematic, so we were trying to grasp what the exhibition is about first. And then once we got the handle on that, it became apparent what worked well” for the Benesse awarding.
Yang had previously exhibited at Manila’s MCAD (her 2020 lockdown show “The Cone of Concern”), so Cruz was already familiar with her concepts and ideas. I asked Cruz about the lack of Filipino artists in this year’s Biennale, and she pointed out Patrick Flores had recently curated SB2019, which does say a lot. “I mean, we can’t demand representation (every time). That’s not the way it works!”
One of Flores’ stated goals was to “take back” the Biennale from the art world and “move beyond thematization.” Maybe SB2022 pushes in that direction.
“It’s interesting to know how people think about a curatorial theme,” Cruz says. “I mean, it’s a curatorial strategy for engaging with ideas post-pandemic, for an exhibition that was generated during the pandemic, but it comes out post-pandemic.”
So I ask: what happens when the post-pandemic becomes the post-post-pandemic?
“It’s an interesting thing. I do think that the moment you name something, you’re actually already pretty well created it.”
And you’ve also pinned it.
“Precisely. And once you’ve pinned it, I wonder how many ideas work within a pinned idea?”
