Lygia Clark participates in the 16th Gwangju Biennale, "You Must Change Your Life," curated by Artistic Director Ho Tzu Nyen together with curators Che Kyongfa, Park Gahee, and Brian Kuan Wood at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall. Running from September 5 to November 15, 2026, this landmark international exhibition brings together 43 artists and groups from across generations and geographies, positioning Clark alongside historical figures such as Tehching Hsieh and Július Koller.
The presentation includes a series of touchable replicas from Clark's iconic Bichos ("Critters"), the hinged aluminum sculptures she began developing in 1960. Conceived to be physically manipulated by the viewer, the Bichos dissolve the boundary between artwork and participant, inviting the public to fold, unfold, and reshape the pieces by hand, activating, rather than merely observing, the work. Inspired by the closing line of Rainer Maria Rilke's poem Archaic Torso of Apollo, the biennale considers how art, through disciplined and repeated practice, cultivates the capacity for transformation across bodies and systems, a proposition deeply resonant with Clark's own lifelong investigation into the relationship between object, body, and participant.
