Artist, Haegue Yang: My name is Haegue Yang. Sallim is a Korean word. Could be translated in English approximately like “housekeeping."
When the piece Sallim was conceived, my studio was still my apartment. It was the same space where I lived as well as worked. I realize I spent lot of time in the kitchen, to think, to take distance from the desk where I made things and those time away from the work: just when you're thinking about the work – it was important.
Sallim actually only describe the scale and size and shape of this kitchen but not really the surface of the kitchen. It is a skeleton of kitchen. There are fans and there are small framed box that represent a water boiler. There are also radiator, the kitchen board, and the shelves, and the sink. And some of them are very representative. But some of them are blunt and rather puzzling.
Glenn Lowry: There are also some parts of Yang’s work that you cannot see—you can only feel or smell them.
Haegue Yang: One type of smell describe rather the food, like coffee and baking smell. I realized something that really touches my heart: the association of sensorial experiences, the smells and the humidity and the heat. And we all know those affect us, physically. But also, there is a dimension of sentiment. Let's take one smell, which is burning smell. Someone might associate something very tragic. Someone else might associate the burning smell with something cozy, such as a camp fire. So in the same space, lot of people shares the smells. But then what's going on in their heart and mind was different associations and memories.