Yein Lee’s ‘Komplic’ explores unstable matter at Cukrarna in Ljubljana

South Korean artist Yein Lee’s exhibition ‘Komplic’ is on view through Sunday 30 August at Galerija Parter, part of Cukrarna in Ljubljana. The artist’s first solo presentation in Slovenia brings together a new series of sculptures and a pool-like floor installation made specifically for the gallery. Across the works, Lee examines material instability, spatial uncertainty and processes of continual transformation.

Cukrarna is part of the public institution Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana (MGML), whose founder is the City of Ljubljana. ‘Komplic’ is curated by Ema Ograjenšek and runs from 21 May to 30 August 2026, with an opening performance, POURSUIVANT / PURSUERS, on 21 May at 8pm. Admission is free. The exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 7pm, and is closed on Mondays. It is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Art, Culture, Media and Sport and by the Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana.

The installation comprises five sculptures of different sizes, distributed through the gallery without a centralised arrangement. Some stand alone, while others form loose groupings that spread attention unevenly across the room. A larger sculptural element hangs from the ceiling above the pool installation, where its form is reflected in the water’s smooth surface. The reflection establishes a vertical axis between the suspended work and the surrounding geometries of the gallery.

Lee’s sculptures combine biomorphic references with forms associated with industrial infrastructure. Their shapes recall the veins and vascular systems of leaves and branches, while also evoking cables, wires and steel pipes through which energy, information and fluids move in technological networks. The exhibition draws attention to structural similarities between natural systems and human-made ones, presenting both as active, interconnected fields rather than fixed or inert forms.

The artist works with polymer plaster, epoxy and scrap steel, producing casts of materials and surfaces in precarious or transitional states. Marks of pressure, erosion and displacement remain visible in the finished objects, making the works records of their own formation. Their cracked surfaces and unstable connections suggest temporary balances: elements lean, hang or cluster as if held in unresolved tension. Lee has described the works as leaving her own form to enter their own, emphasising an ambivalence between fragility and rigidity, yielding and resistance.

The sculptures carry Korean titles, glossed in the exhibition as ‘Komplic’ (accomplice), ‘Izvajalec’ (performer), ‘Odpravnik’ (dispatcher), ‘Vodilni’ (leader) and ‘Opazovalec’ (observer) — all roles involving active participation. In the exhibition’s account, these titles suggest a form of confidential collaboration between the artist and her materials, in which object, space and body are inseparable. The visitor becomes part of that arrangement by moving among the works: changing position and viewpoint continually alters the spatial relationship between the sculptures, the architecture and the reflected installation.

Lee currently lives and works in Vienna, where she teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. After studying traditional Asian painting at Hongik University, she completed a master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her practice includes installations, sculptures and performances concerned with transformation, temporality and the ongoing interaction of form, structure and self. Her work has recently been shown in international group exhibitions including the 15th Gwangju Biennale, Belvedere 21 and Kunstraum Niederösterreich in Vienna. ‘Komplic’ remains on view at Galerija Parter until Sunday 30 August 2026, its closing day.