Sunspool

2023
Kelp, aquazol, glycerin, crepeline, acrylic, LED, and animatronic insect
139.7 x 69.9 x 69.9 cm
Winsing Arts Collection

Courtesy of the Artist and Gladstone © Anicka Yi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields Photo © David Regen

Sunspool

2023
Kelp, aquazol, glycerin, crepeline, acrylic, LED, and animatronic insect
139.7 x 69.9 x 69.9 cm
Winsing Arts Collection

Anicka Yi’s “kelp pod” sculptures evoke natural forms, from insect cocoons and beehives, to human internal organs. These shapes pulse with light and life, transcending their material origins. Crafted from kelp, a type of seaweed that forms underwater forests in the oceans, the sculptures explore the powerful, shape-shifting nature of algae, which is the largest biomass on the planet. The rough, textured kelp, illuminated by soft yellow light, at once encapsulates the ocean’s beauty and its harsh history.

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Artist Biography

Anicka Yi

Anicka Yi was born in 1971 in Seoul, Korea, and currently lives and works in New York. She has held solo exhibitions at major arts institutions, including her first large-scale outdoor site-specific installation at Storm King Art Center in New York (2026), UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing (2025), Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Korea (2024), a commission for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London (2021), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2017), the Whitney Biennial (2017), and The Kitchen in New York (2015). Yi is the recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award (2011) and the Hugo Boss Prize (2016). Anicka Yi's works is held in the collections of numerous major international art institutions, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Tate Modern in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Pinault Collection in Paris.

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