The contemporary artist Haegue Yang is the subject of the solo exhibition Haegue Yang: Several Reenactments at the Museum of Contemporary Art S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium. Running from April 22 through September 10, 2023, Several Reenactments marks Yang's first institutional exhibition in Belgium. Pivoting on notions of recurrence and Yang's preoccupation with doubling, mirroring, and dividing, the exhibition utilizes the architectural symmetry of the museum to highlight the obscure, mysterious, and yet inherently logical nature of repetition, establishing a strong interconnectedness between the exhibited works.

Installed in the main hall is Warrior Believer Lover – Version Sonic (2023), the centerpiece of the exhibition. The sculptural group is a new, partial reenactment of Warrior Believer Lover, an installation of 33 Light Sculptures that originally premiered at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in 2011. Forming an expansive panoramic sculptural field across the hall, the Ghent reenactment comprises seventeen Sonic Sculptures that portray non-conformist archetypes. Each work in the sculptural ensemble is delicately adorned with a diverse array of artisanal and industrially manufactured objects, including artificial plants, wigs, and solar lamps, boasting its distinct personality and history. Together, they explore the boundaries between nature and artifice, as well as totemic and ritualistic movements.

The left and right Cabinet Galleries house two different editions of Jahnstraße 5 (2017), presented as a mirrored installation. An extension of Yang’s Appliance Sculptures series, Jahnstraße 5 features groupings of box-like metal structures filled with tangled cables and light bulbs, concealed behind Venetian blinds that display color gradations. By replicating the dimensions, shapes, and placement of heat-generating devices in the artist’s former home in Berlin, such as a water boiler and radiators, Jahnstraße 5 evokes the essential nature of domestic heat while reflecting the artist’s personal abstract experiences of daily life and ideas of home, care, and belonging.

The exhibition also includes a comprehensive selection of other significant works by Yang. Among them is The Source of Spring is in the Trace of Movement (2021), a silkscreen print referencing the historical marquetry floor designed by artist and socialist activist Walter Crane (1845–1915). Also on view are Trustworthies (2010–2020) and Mesmerizing Mesh (2021–), which showcase Yang’s fascination with paper collage techniques and her exploration of symmetry and geometric patterns, and Video Trilogy (2004–2006), which feature three films that depict anonymous cityscapes and self-confessional narratives.