yang02: Installation in Progress

Gallery Baton is pleased to present Installation in Progress by yang02 (b. 1984 in Japan) from 2 September to 27 September, 2023. Yang02, who graduated with a Master’s degree in Media Art from Tama Art University, creates installations in which machines serve as substitutes for human actions, as well as autonomous works with machine learning functions.

In doing so, he questions the relationship between machines and technology and humans, and the subjectivity of artistic expression. His works are infused with a sense of humor and irony, at times employing technology in irrational and redundant ways to execute useless and meaningless things. Another characteristics of the artist’s style is to intentionally present a sense of materiality and weight in his works, while remaining conscious of the lightweight solutions and dematerialization that have been brought about through technological innovation.

Taking its idea from logistics warehouses, Installation in Progress (2022) is an installation in which an autonomous transportation robot repeats the process of selecting one from amongst a variety of objects, which it then transports, displays, and removes before it is again replaced with the next object of choice. The meaningless repetition of installing works of art - an analog procedure that remains inefficient while bearing ties to capitalism-appears somewhat ironic.

The objects in this work consist of a mixture of sculptures, a stone, cardboard boxes, and so on, yet the machine selects and installs without distinguishing between “artworks” that should be considered more valuable, and those that are not. This seems to articulate both the possibility and hope of breaking away from the ultimate anthropocentric system of art, which is essentially based on arbitrary value judgements made by humans, and the cruelty of treating artwork as if it were a mere object.