“Metaspore” is the first exhibition in an Italian institution by Anicka Yi (Seoul, 1971; lives and works in New York), one of the most innovative and engaging figures on the contemporary art scene. In her artistic practice, Yi combines languages and themes from many fields, ranging from philosophy to biology, from politics to science fiction. Collaboration is fundamental in Yi’s practice: over the years she has worked with professionals from a number of fields of knowledge, in a dialogue that also involves different figures in her studio.

Featuring more than twenty installations from 2010 until today, the show at Pirelli HangarBicocca, conceived as a sensory and synesthetic experience, questions the boundaries between natural and synthetic, human and non-human, materiality and immateriality. The show explores Anicka Yi’s work over the last decade, exhibiting both the artist’s first projects, focused on the research into tactile and olfactory materials, and works characterized by the use of perishable and industrial materials in assemblages that defy the immutable nature of sculpture and installation. The exhibition reveals essential themes in Yi’s practice, such as the co-existence of different organisms, nonhuman forms of intelligence, identity and social injustice.