While CAPTCHA tests ask us to prove we are not robots, HaYoung subverts the logic of these virtual infrastructures that regulate our communication modes and shape our identities. Confronted with the binary nature of digital language, the artist examines its non-conformity by designing a dysfunctional encoding/decoding system, Tongue Test, inspired by Alan Turing. This circular diagram traces the consequences of their uprooting and their migratory, cultural, and linguistic transition.
As part of their project DATA PERFUME®, which aims to translate techno-traces into olfactory substances, the installation Mother, Erreur - 522 emits an erroneous fragrance, derived from the cookies of HaYoung’s mother. The algorithm, trained in both French and English, failed to understand her data, producing a mistranslation. It is released each day when their time zones align, questioning the very possibility of connection.
After wandering kilometer after kilometer, I finally discover a small, spilled bottle, half-buried on a dune.
TONGUE TEST & Mother, Erreur – 522, 2024
WALL DRAWING, OLFACTIVE INSTALLATION
CRAYON, GLASS, PERFUME, 800 liters OF PACKING CHIPS, AUTOMATIC DIFFUSER, 400 X 200 CM, 200 X 60 X 150 CM
For ALL THE MESSAGES ARE EMOTIONAL*
At 25th PRIX FONDATION PERNOD RICARD, PARIS, FR, 2024
CUR. ARLÈNE BERCELIOT COURTIN
*CO-LAUREATE WITH CLÉMENTINE ADOU, MADS BYCROFT, CHARLOTTE HOUETTE, LENIO KAKLEA, PAUL MAHEKE AND MONA VARICHON
PHOTOS: © SILINA SYAN, AURÉLIEN MOLE
VIDEO: © JAN VAN EYCK ACADEMIE, YMEJA KLOPMAN
SPECIAL THANKS: THÉO CASCIANI, BRUNO ALVES ALMEIDA, CHARLES ESCHE
ABOUT DATA PERFUME®
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
PRESENTATION AT JAN VAN EYCK
TEXT BY THÉO CASCIANI