The Korean-American artist Anicka Yi was chosen as the sixth artist of the Hyundai Commission to hold an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London this year.

Yi is an installation artist whose work explores the links between art and science, addressing questions around migration, class and gender. Born in Seoul in 1971, Yi is now based in in US, according to Hyundai Motor, the co-organizer of Hyundai Commission.

“Anicka Yi has developed a reputation for highly innovative work. Her installations are unforgettable, using scientific ideas and experimental materials in unexpected ways,” Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern said. “The results not only engage the senses, but also tackle some of the big questions we face today about humanity’s relationship to nature and technology.”

Hyundai Motor launched the Hyundai Commission in 2014, an 11-year project in partnership with the Tate Modern in London -- one of the world’s most renowned modern and contemporary art museums -- in an effort to popularize modern and contemporary art. The artists selected for the Hyundai Commission project are given an opportunity to hold an exhibition at the Tate Modern’s famous Turbine Hall.

Yi has held solo exhibitions at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland and Fridericianum in Germany. She has also participated in the 2019 Venice Biennale, the 2017 Whitney Biennial and the 2016 Gwangju Biennale.

At the Venice Biennale in 2019, Yi showcased new work titled “Biologizing the Machine (terra incognita),” in which giant pods made of kelp were filled with animatronic insects. The artist aimed to show the concept of sensorium of the machine and how new channels of communication can be established between artificial intelligence (AI) entities and organic life forms, according to the Venice Biennale.

The exhibition, curated by senior curator Mark Godfrey, production manager Petra Schmidt and assistant curator Carly Whitefield, will be held Oct. 6 to Jan. 10.

Artists who have participated in the Hyundai Commission project are painter Kara Walker in 2019, installation artist Tania Bruguera in 2018, Danish artists’ collective Superflex in 2017, installation artist Philippe Parreno in 2016 and sculptor Abraham Cruzvillegas in 2015.

Hyundai Motor also organizes the MMCA Hyundai Motor Series at the Seoul venue of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, selecting a promising contemporary artist every year. 

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)