Anicka Yi in "Bodies of Knowledge"

In Anicka Yi’s Brooklyn studio, the rhythmic bubbling of a deep fryer is interrupted by the crackling sound of batter-dipped flowers crispening in the hot oil. Drawn to their visual qualities and the distinct scent of fried foods, Yi began deep frying flowers in 2010, fixing them in a perpetual state of blooming and decay. Unorthodox, volatile, aromatic materials are a staple of Yi’s practice, using living matter like bacteria or worms, medical tools like ultrasound gel, and everyday substances like glycerin soap. Through her use of these materials, Yi embraces deterioration and impermanence, exploring how her works change and evolve. Speaking with Guggenheim conservator Esther Chao, the artist discusses her sculpture S.S.S. (2015), anticipating how the organic material will shrink over time, noting its sensitivity to dents and scores, and assuring Chao that these transformations are exactly what Yi intends.  

Yi’s studio operates much like a laboratory, developing hypotheses, testing them in small trials, and bringing in experts to help refine her ideas and bring them to life. To create the ‘aerobes’ that she released in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London for In Love With The World (2022), Yi consulted software engineers and biologists, referencing ocean life and fungi in her designs, and programming each “aerobe” with a specialized artificial intelligence. “We have a very limited imagination when it comes to machines. We have a lot of anxiety that they will replace us,” says Yi, “but what if we could relate to them in a more optimistic way?” The artist’s floating machines create a sense of calm and awe, allowing visitors and the artist herself the opportunity to rethink our relationship with machines, and with the unknown.

Growing up in what she calls a “very pungent home,” Yi became aware at a young age of how certain smells are connected to identity. The associations that Western cultures hold towards smell are often negative, linking odor to being unhygienic or uncivilized. Yi problematizes this notion by engaging scent directly in her work. At a 2015 exhibition at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, IT, she installed the work New York’s a Bitch, But God Forbid the Bitch Divorce You (2014), for which she worked with French artist and perfumer Christophe Laudamiel to create two unique scents held behind two dryer doors installed in the walls of the exhibition hall. Both scents, Bullfrog and Divorce, remind viewers of the passage of time, forgetting, and letting go. Across her works, Yi balances perishability and permanence, recognizing the ways in which change and destruction are necessary components of monumentality and memory, and essential to human life.