In Love With The World

• Where? Tate Modern, Southbank
• When? Until 12/01/2022
• How Much? Free Entry

Tate Modern’s infamous Turbine Hall has been privy to the likes of Anish Kapoor, Ai Wei Wei, Kara Walker and many more – it is a cavernous canvas, an aspirational trench for showcasing innovative design, technology and art. Doris Salcedo’s 2007 Shibboleth I, an astounding crack which rippled across the extensive hall, has been imprinted in my memory ever since. With each exhibition, artistic boundaries are pushed, preconceptions are distorted and the confines of the imagination fractured – it is truly an exceptional space for exceptional work, and Anicka Yi has failed to disappoint Tate’s prodigious legacy.

As the war between environment, technology and civilisation persists, it seems highly topical to ascend a platoon of mechanical jellyfish into the oxygen sea. Inspired by ocean inhabitants and terrestrial fungi, Yi’s peculiar creatures occupy an ecology of their own – a fascinating amalgamation of the natural and artificial world.

Upon crossing Tate’s industrial threshold, the presence of the mechanical jellies is surprisingly understated – passively floating above a pool of enchanted onlookers, Yi’s delicate machines co-exist with the human world, unobtrusive and unthreatening. But these friendly machines may not be as harmless as they initially appear, especially when perceived in light of their aquatic counterparts – for jellyfish are as equally unassuming when observed from a distance, but may shock, stun or be potentially fatal to those who swim too close. Yi invites her audience to speculate the beautiful possibilities of a world dominated by technology, but to also consider the potentially sinister future that may entail.

Operating autonomously, Yi’s robotic organisms can respond to their environment, communicate collectively and pilot themselves using sensory technology – imitating patterns familiar to natural life forms, we must question the harrowing possibility of whether technology may one day evolve to threaten us all. One thing’s for certain, whether you are optimistic or hesitant about the future of tech, In Love with the World is a thought-provoking marvel not to be missed.

What you should know about Anicka Yi

Consolidating her name in artistic history in 2015, Yi’s profound exhibition You Can Call Me F, at The Kitchen in New York City, showcased the biological matter of 100 female subjects. Yi challenges the notions of patriarchy, feminism and politics, adopting the role of agent provocateur, seducing her audience through an array of synaesthetic stimuli, intent on evoking empathy. Positioned within a chasm of female scent, Yi’s audience was forced to face the inescapable truths of distorted femininity, injustice and accountability – overwhelming both sense and perception, Yi immersed her audience within a grotesque socio-cultural reality, one which too often winces behind a sheath of aestheticism.

Since 2010, Yi has shocked her audiences with experimental materials, scientific processes and uncompromising depictions of the socio-political. Showcasing her work worldwide, with notable works including Biologizing the Machine (tentacular trouble) (2019), “Life is Cheap” (2017), The Flavor Genome (2017) and Maybe She’s Born with It (2015), Yi is deservedly accredited within the same artistic calibre as her modernist avant-garde predecessors. Combing wit, culture and science, I can only imagine the artistic anarchy which may pave the future for Anicka Yi.