Internationally recognized artist Yang Hae-gue on Wednesday was honored with the Republic of Korea Culture and Arts Award at a ceremony at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Seoul branch. The award is annually given by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with a presidential citation.

Yang could not attend the ceremony, so a family member accepted it on her behalf. 

The award was given to five artists across five categories, including culture, literature, fine arts, theater and dance. Yang is the sole winner in the fine arts section.

Born in 1971, Yang is known for her rigorous installation practices, videos and collage and for using everyday objects such as Venetian blinds, light bulbs and bells.

Yang was selected for the 2018 Wolfgang Hahn Prize and recently held a solo exhibition that accompanies the award at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany.

Yang’s retrospective at the Ludwig, “ETA,” comprised some 140 works produced over her 25-year career, carefully selected to show her overall artistic oeuvre. The exhibition ended Aug. 12. It is later to travel to cities in the US before a final show in Canada.

Yang is now holding “Chronotopic Traverses” at La Panacee in Montpellier, Fance, scheduled to run through Jan. 13. The artist also held her first solo show at La Triennale di Milano, titled “Tightrope Walking and Its Wordless Shadow.”

Since her first solo exhibition in Frankfurt in 1994, Yang has been showing at art venues around the globe, including Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in France, Paris-based Centre Pompidou,  Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Norway’s Bergen Kunsthall and New York’s New Museum, among many others.

Yang has also participated in many biennales around the world, including the 2018 Sydney Biennale, 12th Sharjah Biennial in 2015, 13th Kassel Documenta in 2012 and Gwangju Biennale in 2010. Yang also showed her work at the 53rd Venice Biennale’s Korean Pavilion.

Yang has been a professor at the Stadelschule in Frankfurt since 2017.

Meanwhile, the Culture Ministry awarded a total of 31 artists during Wednesday’s ceremony at the MMCA, to recognize their efforts in the contribution to the arts and culture sectors.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)