Anicka Yi. Jungle Stripe

The origin of the word “hybrid” can be traced etymologically to two sources: Latin “hybrida” (mongrel, bastard) and Greek “hybris” (pride, arrogance). Unions between plants, human beings, animals and technologies give rise to flexible hybrids; organic and synthetic materials mutate into amorphous, indefinite beings. Neuroscience, bioengineering and science fiction enter into tacit relationships of complicity, blurring the once clearly delineated boundary between the natural and the artificial.

In her work, Anicka Yi explores life forms, organisms and microbiological processes. Her approach is oriented towards the cosmologies of indigenous peoples from the Amazon region and follows a non-anthropocentric and non-hierarchical thinking—described by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro as a multinatural perspectivism. In her film The Flavor Genome (2016), for example, nature is not conceived in absolute terms, but assembled from a multitude of perspectives and perceptions. In scenic episodes, Anicka Yi depicts a fluid mutation of species, at the same time showing how biology can no longer be separated from its narrative, its biography. Anicka Yi’s sculptures are similarly indefinable in their fluid transitions—fur grows on cages, artificial honeycombs and intermediary beings populate the spaces of the Fridericianum. The atmosphere of these spaces and amorphous sculptures generates a subtle sense of anxiety.

For her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, Anicka Yi compacts the ground floor of the Fridericianum into an expansive installation. With sculptural and video works all produced specifically for the exhibition, she creates a complex structure of hybrid forms. Anicka Yi interweaves sensual impressions, new developments in genetics and biotechnology with the speculative moment of possible visions of the future in a biofiction where bio diverse intelligence sharing is at the core. Here, sensory deception, manipulations of the environment, and the insoluble unity of the artificial and the natural create a new reality. 

Curated by Susanne Pfeffer