Yein Lee - Dispel

Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

Anecdotal Orbital, 2025, Cement, rebar, paper, poultry netting, found twigs, branches, tea leaves, teabags, dried grape vine, abalone, plaster, acrylic paint, spray, artist’s hair, eggshell, resin diamonds, electrical cable, paper, epoxy putty, wire, twigs, plastic foil, silicon, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

Anecdotal Orbital 2, 2025, Cement, rebar, paper, poultry netting, found twigs, branches, tea leaves, teabags, dried grape vine, abalone, plaster, acrylic paint, spray, artist’s hair, eggshell, resin diamonds, electrical cable, paper, epoxy putty, wire, twigs, plastic foil, silicon, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

implicit antipathy on the walls, 2025, Paper, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, galvanised steel, tape, photos taken by artist's sisters and the artist, 30 x 2 x 70 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

soggy memories that I have not lived, 2025, Paper, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, galvanised steel, tape, photos taken by artist's sisters and the artist, 30 x 2 x 70 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

contemptuous antidote, 2025, Paper, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, galvanised steel, tape, photos taken by artist's sisters and the artist, 30 x 2 x 70 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

Scavengers, you are crying for you. How sweet. 2024, Electrical cables, epoxy putty, dried moss, polymer gypsum, fiberglass, repurposed plastic waste, steel spray, 180 x 80 x 110 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

curtailed voices and a watcher, 2025, Polymer gypsum, glass fiber, acrylic color, twigs, wire, cables, epoxy putty, spray, 60 x 20 x 40 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

Dreamy Denial, 2025, Paper, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, galvanised steel, tape, photos taken by artist's sisters and the artist, 50 x 2 x 80 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

Nuanced recollection, 2025, Paper, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, galvanised steel, tape, photos taken by artist's sisters and the artist, 50 x 2 x 80 cm, Installation view of Dispel at Cadet Capela, 2025, Paris, France, Photo by Thomas Marroni

Dispel

Cadet Capela

March 22 — April 19, 2025

54 rue Chapon, 75003 Paris, France

Yein Lee explores the interconnections between the human body and urban infrastructures, examining how they intertwine, merge, and transform each other.

Through the accumulation and assemblage of materials, she revives the memory of abandoned objects, questioning the imprints of time and the ambivalence of urban structures. Often relegated to the background, urban infrastructure here becomes a central motif. Her sculptures—entanglements of wires and mechanical structures— evoke the underground networks that support our cities while taking on the appearance of a hybrid, almost cyborg-like organism. The human form emerges in the modeling of her shapes: a fragment of a face, a sketched hand, infusing an organic presence into these assemblages. Drawing from sci-fi and cybernetic imagery, Lee explores the fusion of flesh and technology, thereby questioning the boundaries between the living and the artificial.

“For this exhibition, dispel, I attempt to elaborate on the conceptual framework, delving into the intricately linked two elements—infrastructure as body and body as infrastructure. To me, it is rather important that one is not just another. Together with it, a poetic approach to the form of assemblage was also something important to me.”

Lee’s works are born from her observation of space and the accumulation of objects marked by wear and tear: used teabags, electrical cables, broken electronic fragments, strands of hair… These materials—sometimes mechanical, sometimes human—are salvaged and layered into organic compositions, becoming witnesses to fragmented narratives directly drawn from the urban landscape. Dust, discoloration, and tears— traces of the passage of time—transform these objects into poetic remnants of both collective and individual memory.

Performance plays a key role in the artist’s practice. The performer, clad in cables and metallic wires, moves slowly through space, revealing the hidden infrastructures of our daily lives. Their body itself becomes an extension of these invisible networks, making tangible the interconnection between the physical and the technological. Through these ritualized gestures, the exhibition space is transformed into a shifting territory, where the boundaries between spectator and artwork blur.

Between fascination and unease, attraction and repulsion, humor and cynicism, Yein Lee reinvents our everyday environment, questioning our relationship to it and the traces we leave behind. The artist invites us to perceive urban infrastructures not only as a physical framework but, above all, as an extension of our body and memory—fluid and in constant transformation. (text by Cadet Capela)

Notes;

The paintings on the galvanized plates are composed of an assemblage of elements, including words, images, prints, and airbrush strokes drawn from the artist's recent personal experiences. These elements are imbued with connotations and reflections of previous challenges encountered with bureaucracy and social structure.

The fragmented images evoke the reestablishing nature of infrastructure, particularly the presence of cables in the sky, utility poles, and street advertisements that carry personal memories. These elements, in conjunction, evince a profound and ingrained connection to one's immediate environment and the social fabric that intertwines with it. The incorporation of photographs captured by the artist's sisters in Seoul serves to further illustrate the surroundings of the artist's parents' residence. The artistic process entailed a range of techniques, including the use of airbrush elements, the scratching of steel plates, the application of drawing, the inscription of German, English, and Korean words, and the utilization of photo transfer techniques.

The visual elements depicted in the paintings encompass street landscapes of both Vienna and Seoul, along with depictions of the urban underbelly, encapsulating the experiences of traversing these cities. The incorporation of scratched words, such as "untersagt" (prohibited) in the painting "Implicit antipathy on the walls", serves to underscore the personal experiences from the artist. The numerical elements in "Contemptuous antidote", such as 19평, are derived from advertisements for rooms or tenants in Korean. This word brought back memories for the artist of her previous residence, a one-room apartment situated partially underground, where she experienced difficulty sleeping due to feelings of insecurity.

The "Anecdotal Orbital" is an assemblage of found objects, cast concrete and rebar, and sculpted birds. These objects are scattered on the floor and coated with a transparent silicone. These objects were found in the artist's handbag, in her studio in Vienna, in a park near her home, and in Paris while she was working on the installation.
These scattered objects, which include tea bags, used tea bags, fake diamonds, eggshells, tampons, and painkillers, are often full of ephemeral and seemingly insignificant items. The artist often finds them misplaced, such as a tampon between metal screws, evoking bodily connotations and narratives.