Anicka Yi Turning Poison into Medicine, 2022
High density foam, polyurethane paint, stainless steel, resin, glass
142,2 x 137,2 x 31,8 cm
The work is from Anicka Yi's series entitled Fruiting Bodies. Named after the spore-producing structures of fungi, the Fruiting Bodies sculptures appear as intricate mutant mushrooms sprouting off of the wall. Loosely inspired by Alexander Calder’s mobile sculptures, these works feature tentacles that branch from the central biomorphic body, creating a balanced, kinetic network of suspended wing-like shingles cast from resin. Small openings are filled with small spikes.
A number of delicate protusions spring from the central structure. The shingles cascade along the limbs alongside glistening resin sacs of glass spheres clustered like frog eggs. The branches terminate in 3D printed nodules fashioned after fungal forms such as spores and sporangia.
Anicka Yi has produced a unique body of work that operates at the intersection of politics and macrobiotics. Her practice questions traditional distinctions between what is human, animal, plant, and machine, and is the result of an alchemical process of experimentation that explores often incompatible materials. Yi collaborates with researchers to create materials and media that are often inherently political, delving into the cultural conditioning of sensation and perception in a way she describes as a "biopolitics of the senses."