Haegue Yang: Leap Year

Leap Year is the first comprehensive solo exhibition in Switzerland of Berlin-and-Seoul-based artist Haegue Yang. Spanning over three decades of practice, the exhibition highlights Yang’s unique visual language, which blends abstraction and figuration across sculpture, installation, video, and collage. Structured around the themes of movement, spirituality, community, and domesticity, the exhibition explores the complexities of identity, migration, and cultural hybridity. Her work navigates personal and collective memory, emphasizing constant transformation, emotional resonance, and the tension between familiarity and foreignness.

Rich in cultural references, Yang’s practice draws from Korean and global folk traditions, modernist legacies, creating immersive environments that are both sensorial and conceptual. Leap Year invites visitors into a layered, contemplative experience that reflects the shifting nature of contemporary life and the quiet power of materials, rituals, and spaces.

The exhibition is organised by the Hayward Gallery, London in association with Kunsthal Rotterdam, and Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich.

Curated by Dr. Michael Birchall (Kurator) with Paula Thomaka (assistant curator)
Curatorial assistant: Linda Addae and Mirta Gianocca (trainees)