Trevor Yeung

Underwater Haze

With Underwater Haze, Trevor Yeung presents his most comprehensive exhibition in Europe to date. The solo show creates an artificially regulated system in which water, light, palm trees, cacti, aquatic plants, and plant cultivation equipment are interwoven into a multilayered spatial structure. A circulating water cycle runs through the installation, organizing its elements into a choreography that makes the balance between control and instability tangible.

Drawing on his knowledge of botany and aquatic ecosystems, Yeung develops complex arrangements in which processes of plant growth are brought into relation with social dynamics. His artistic practice revolves around the logic of enclosed ecological habitats and their social implications. Yeung views plant cultivation equipment, such as lighting systems, water basins, and scaffolding as models of regulated care in which attention, control, and social rules are intertwined. Underwater Haze began with a period of research in Hanover, during which he visited the Goseriedebad, the Berggarten (botanical garden) of the Herrenhäuser Gärten, aquarium shops, and queer spaces of social encounter across Lower Saxony.

The relationship between artificial habitats and social interaction, and how architecture enables, regulates or constrains intimacy, stands at the center of his practice. In the spatial constellation created for the Kestner Gesellschaft which comprises photographs, sculptures, installations, and everyday objects, Yeung explores the interplay between human, botanical, and aquatic environments.

Yeung’s works address themes of physical and emotional alienation, care, and the question of the potential of overgrowth as a response to or a strategy within controlled systems. By observing how living forms grow and adapt in controlled ecosystems, a quiet narrative emerges: one of resilience, endurance, and inner persistence within a regulated environment.

Curated by: Alexander Wilmschen
Curatorial Assistance: Emilia Radmacher

We sincerely thank the artist and Galerie Allen, Paris.

Trevor Yeung (born 1988 in Guangdong, China) is a Chinese artist who works with installations combining sculptures, photographs, and living materials such as plants and water. He graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2010. Trevor Yeung lives and works in Hong Kong.

In 2024, Yeung represented Hong Kong at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with the exhibition Courtyard of Attachments, organized by M+ Museum, Hong Kong. He was a finalist for the Sigg Prize 2023 and the Future Generation Art Prize 2021, and has exhibited internationally in numerous solo exhibitions, including Underwater Haze (Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, 2025), Courtyard of Detachments (M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2025), and Soft Ground (Gasworks, London, 2023). His group exhibitions include Sigg Prize (M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2023), Planetary Gestures (NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 2023), the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2024), the Biennale of Sydney (2024), and the Singapore Biennale (2022).