Commissioned by M+ in 2021–2022 and consisting of gleaming cords of bells, Haegue Yang’s Sonic Rescue Ropes stretch from ceilings of different heights all the way down to the floor. Their shiny visual effect and sublime, resonating sounds conjure shamanistic and pagan associations. Yang took inspiration from the traditional Korean folk tale Sister Sun and Brother Moon, which describes how two siblings became celestial bodies by climbing ropes from the heavens to escape danger on the ground. Yang’s multisensory abstract sculptures transform the soaring architecture of the museum into a mystical yet common civilisational space of aural storytelling and cosmic orientation.

M+ facilitators will occasionally activate the work.