Aki Sasamoto's Yield Point at The Kitchen explores material limits through video and performance

Aki Sasamoto's exhibition Yield Point at The Kitchen in New York from April 6 to May 13, 2017, featured two large-scale video works and an interactive installation activated by eight performances. The videos Trash Bag Tensile Test (2017) and Flex Test – Steel, Tensile Test – Steel/Brass (2017) documented materials undergoing tensile testing, showing plastic strips and metallic sticks stretched until breaking with loud snapping sounds. These works used the engineering concept of 'yield point' as a metaphor for human existence's elasticity, exploring both individual daily life and environmental pressures. An adjacent gallery contained an installation of found objects including trashcans, dumpsters on tracks, and flattened trash bags covering walls. During performances, Sasamoto in a jumpsuit interacted with these elements, revealing hidden details like LED lights and inflating bags while recounting a janitor's story. She drew diagrams speculating on resilience, suggesting that less elasticity leads to boredom while more causes wandering. The exhibition connected waste materials and degradation to broader issues of climate change and urban resilience planning since the 1970s. Sasamoto's work questioned where environmental breaking points might lie as human activities stress planetary systems. The exhibition was reviewed in the Summer 2017 issue of ArtReview Asia.