Anicka Yi
Working across installation, sculpture, painting, and immersive environments, Yi invites viewers to consider the porous boundaries between art and biology, human and non-human intelligence, and natural and constructed worlds. Yi addresses human anxieties surrounding impermanence, the passage of time, and cultural mythologies through a wide range of disciplines including microbiology, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence research. Yi’s studio functions as a laboratory where she conducts trials and tests hypotheses, often collaborating with specialists such as software engineers, forensic chemists, and perfumers to refine and develop her ideas. Through these interdisciplinary exchanges, she reimagines future possibilities in expansive and imaginative terms. Yi incorporates unorthodox, volatile, and intangible materials in her practice—yeast, fungi, bacteria, tempura batter, glycerin soap, and living organisms—foregrounding the agency of the matter itself. Environmental, bacterial, and entropic forces shape her works, challenging traditional notions of permanence and authorship. Among her early bodies of work, the Tempura Fried Flowers series (2010–present) features plants and flowers in a coarse tempura batter, producing organic forms that become greasy, unstable, and pungent. In subsequent projects such as You Can Call Me F (2015), Kombucha Sculptures (2015), and Kelp Sculptures (2019–present), Yi expanded her use of organic and microbial materials. She has also described air as sculptural—an invisible medium that can be shaped and activated. In her Dryer Door series (2014–15) and Immigrant Caucus (2017), she uses fragrance as a sculptural component, enabling visitors to trace the contours and movements of air through scent. More recent bodies of work—including Aerobes (2021), Quantum Foam Paintings (2022–24), Alien Ocean Paintings (2022–25), Radiolaria Series (2023–present), and Saturn Paintings (2025–present)—extend her inquiry into cosmology, biological systems, and the unseen forces structuring contemporary life.