Anicka Yi's 'You Can Call Me F' at The Kitchen Uses Biological Samples to Critique Patriarchy

Anicka Yi's exhibition 'You Can Call Me F' at The Kitchen in New York ran from March 5 through April 11, 2015. The show compared public fear of viral pathogens with anxiety about female networks as threats to patriarchal systems. Yi collected biological swabs from 100 women in her professional network, including artists, curators, and friends, with some remaining anonymous. These living samples were displayed and growing in the gallery. The central work, 'Grabbing At Newer Vegetables' (2015), featured text painted with biological samples and agar in a backlit Plexiglas box, with the message becoming obscured by growing organisms. Yi collaborated with MIT's biology department, where she was in residency, suggesting potential future use of the bacteria. The second gallery area contained five tent-like structures mimicking quarantine units, constructed from steel pipe and suspended vinyl, which were open and non-protective. These tents housed artifacts including DVDs, seaweed, dried shrimp, and kombucha jars. Three tents featured motorcycle helmets rotating on black rods, diffusing a custom scent developed with Air Variable. The fragrance combined odors from female samples and air readings from Gagosian Gallery. The subtle scent served as a critique of institutional inequities and the sterile white cube gallery model. The exhibition's olfactory experience, while subtle, represented its most potent aspect, though some conceptual elements remained disconnected.