Chaerin Im: Quaker, the xxxduck and her egg

<Quaker> Korea [|kweɪkə(r)]

A yellow chick that can't fly. Armless, and shaped rather like a mochi rice cake. Its nickname is "Kkwaegi."

According to one psychological theory, the more fragile a thing appears, the stronger our urge to break it — much like the impulse to nibble a chubby baby's cheek. One element doesn't erase its opposite so much as intensify it. This isn't confined to instinct; it plays out in everyday life too, which is exactly why the world is so hard to predict and keeps producing unexpected results — results that make it all the more interesting. That unexpected freshness born from the collision of mismatched, opposing elements is the essence of Quaker.

This cheerful, lovable duck untangles the desires we've long carried within us, the strangeness of daily life, and its contradictions into a singular story. These elements merge into one narrative without losing their individual character — if anything, the bizarre and the cruel grow more vivid and more compelling once filtered through Quaker.

This exhibition pairs Quaker's bright, buoyant energy with popular forms of expression — video, illustration, figures — in an attempt to render humanity's raw, momentary instincts and everyday life both playful and sharp.

- **Exhibiting artist** — Chaerin Im