The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is presenting《Haegue Yang: Star-Crossed Rendezvous》from February 24 through August 2, 2026. More than a conventional museum exhibition, the project was developed in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, creating a unique dialogue between the installation practice of Korean artist Haegue Yang and the music of Korean-born composer Isang Yun (1917–1995).

The project unfolds along two parallel axes. One is the U.S. premiere of Yang’s large-scale installation Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun (2024) at MOCA. The other is a special performance of Isang Yun’s Double Concerto (1977), presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 10, 2026. Together, the exhibition and performance create a framework in which contemporary visual art and modern music intersect within a single curatorial vision.

For more than two decades, Yang has employed venetian blinds as one of her signature sculptural materials. These industrial elements function as devices that filter light, divide space, and connect architecture, sculpture, movement, and perception. In《Star-Crossed Rendezvous》, the blinds once again serve as a central formal element. Combined with shifting illumination and Yun’s musical legacy, they generate a layered environment through which visitors move physically and sensorially.

At the heart of the exhibition is Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun, a work conceived as a tribute to the life and music of Isang Yun. The installation’s choreographed lighting responds to the structure and rhythms of Double Concerto, transforming music from a background element into a spatial force. Rather than standing before a sculpture as a passive observer, visitors experience the work by moving through an environment shaped by light, sound, and architectural presence.

What makes this exhibition particularly compelling is the way it introduces Korean modern and contemporary art to an international audience. In the past, Korean art presented abroad was often framed through recognizable cultural imagery or references to traditional heritage. Yang’s project operates differently. There are no overt national symbols, traditional motifs, or direct references to K-culture. Instead, the exhibition brings together Korean composer Isang Yun, Korean artist Haegue Yang, MOCA as one of America’s leading contemporary art institutions, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic as one of the world’s foremost orchestras.
 
In this sense,《Star-Crossed Rendezvous》offers a revealing example of how Korean modern and contemporary art functions on the global stage today. Rather than emphasizing national identity, it generates new meanings through connections between histories, institutions, and artistic disciplines. By reintroducing the historical figure of Isang Yun through the language of contemporary art, and by dissolving the boundaries between music, sculpture, performance, and exhibition-making, the project demonstrates that the international expansion of Korean contemporary art is no longer simply a matter of geographic reach.
 
Ultimately,《Star-Crossed Rendezvous》is both a solo exhibition by Haegue Yang and a contemporary platform for reinterpreting the legacy of Isang Yun. Their encounter suggests another way in which Korean contemporary art engages the world today—through intersections of disciplines, institutions, histories, and contemporary experience.

Haegue Yang
 
Born in Seoul in 1971, Haegue Yang is one of the leading figures in contemporary Korean art and currently lives and works in Berlin and Seoul.
 
Her multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, installation, video, performance, and sound, exploring themes of memory, migration, diaspora, political history, and cultural translation.
 
Yang has gained international recognition for transforming everyday objects such as venetian blinds, drying racks, light bulbs, scents, and sounds into sophisticated sculptural systems. She represented Korea at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, received the Wolfgang Hahn Prize in Germany in 2018, and has continued to exhibit internationally through major presentations at institutions including Arnolfini and Hayward Gallery in the United Kingdom.
 
Her recent work focuses on relational structures and sensory experiences that connect different cultures, histories, and artistic disciplines.

Isang Yun
 
Isang Yun (1917–1995) was one of Korea’s most influential modern composers and a major figure in postwar European contemporary music.
 
Born in Tongyeong, South Korea, he studied music in Japan and Germany, developing a distinctive compositional language that combined East Asian philosophical concepts with Western avant-garde techniques. In 1967, he was arrested by the South Korean government in connection with the East Berlin Spy Incident but later returned to Germany following an international campaign led by prominent musicians and intellectuals.
 
Throughout his career, Yun composed operas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and vocal works, establishing himself as a key figure bridging Eastern and Western musical traditions. His Double Concerto (1977) remains one of his best-known orchestral compositions.

MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles)
 
Founded in 1979, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is one of the first museums in the United States dedicated exclusively to contemporary art.
 
Operating primarily through its Grand Avenue and Geffen Contemporary locations, MOCA focuses on art produced from the 1940s onward. The museum holds a collection of more than 8,000 works, including significant pieces by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
 
Renowned for its support of experimental practices and emerging artists, MOCA has become one of the most influential contemporary art institutions on the American West Coast. In recent years, it has increasingly pursued interdisciplinary initiatives that connect visual art with music, performance, film, and other cultural fields.

 
Exhibition Information
 
Title:《Haegue Yang: Star-Crossed Rendezvous》
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Dates: February 24 – August 2, 2026
Organized by: MOCA + Los Angeles Philharmonic
Featured Work: Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun (2024)


 
Related Lecture Program
 
Title: “Tom McDonough on Haegue Yang”
Speaker: Tom McDonough (Professor of Art History at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Art historian, critic, and curator.)
Date & Time: Saturday, June 27, 2026, 3:00 PM
Venue: MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
Admission: Free with RSVP

References

• MOCA – Haegue Yang: Star-Crossed Rendezvous
  Kurimanzutto – Exhibition Information
  Ocula – Exhibition Overview
  LA Philharmonic – Star-Crossed Rendezvous Program