Supported by Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Burger Collection, Die Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Germany), Stiftung Kunstfonds, NEUSTARTplus-Stipendium, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Republic of Korea), Korea Arts Management Service, and Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange

Challenging the norm of binary gender representations, Love Your Clean Feet on Thursday shows a public ritual and choreography of male bodies and movement. It juxtaposes the hypermasculinity staged by Spanish Legion soldiers’ spectacular Maundy Thursday procession transferring the crucifix in Malaga during the Holy Week that leads to the Easter Sunday, with the hyperfemininity worshiped by numerous male dancers constantly lifting up and carrying the eponymous female protagonist in Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet Manon (1974). Throughout the film, while alternating with the Catholic ritual, six gay male dancers’ choreography in Berlin’s popular gay cruising forest Grunewald fills the gap between the polarized gender presentations by questioning apparent differences and revealing bizarre similarities.

As presented in his works, Young-jun Tak’s practice examines sociocultural and psychological mechanisms that shape belief systems, and often exposes human bodies in the context of polarizing norms and conventions with the attempt to critique social institutions.

Tak had solo exhibitions at PHILIPPZOLLINGER (Zurich, 2024), COMA (Sydney, 2024), Atelier Hermès (Seoul, 2023), Julia Stoschek Foundation (Berlin, Dusseldorf, 2023), and participated in international exhibitions at Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023), the High Line (New York, 2023), Lyon Biennale (2022), Berlin Biennale (2020), Seoul Museum of Art, SeMA Bunker (2019), Istanbul Biennial (2017), among others. He holds BAs in English Literature and Language and Cross-Cultural Studies at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.