“Cremeschnitte” / Yan Jin Exhibition – July 24
On Thursday 24 July from 6pm to 9pm, we open Cremeschnitte, the solo exhibition of the artist Yan Jin, after a two-month residency at Homesession.
Cremeschnitte is an installation composed of multiple sculptures made from readymade objects and pastry ingredients.
Found all over Eastern Europe, with slight variations known as krémes, kremówka, cremșnit, crempita, krempita, and kremšnita – cremeschnitte is a popular dessert since its debut in the late 19th century. The obsession with it transcends borders as well as the constraints of ethnic or social groups.
In contrast to its many names, cremeschnitte is made from the most common ingredients – flour, sugar, egg, butter – and has the most recognizable appearance. By naming it their own languages, people across different countries baptised it and integrated it into their local cultures.
This exhibition discusses the idea that language, often unwittingly, being a way to distinguish one particular group of people from another and how the naming of cremeschnitte being a shibboleth for identification, and how artist, being a Chinese working abroad, struggles with languages, cultures and identity.
By deconstructing cremeschnitte and withholding its name, the installation reassembles its meanings – no longer a singular dessert, but a cultural structure layered with collective and personal history – inviting viewers to reflect on how shared traditions are continually remade through the personal, the political, and the material.
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Yan Jin is an artist born in Shanghai, China. Currently based in New York, she earned her Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, Photography, Video and Related Media department. Her interdisciplinary practice often alienates objects of our familiarity and recontextualizes found materials to challenge social standards and authority and reveal overlooked facts and nuances. Her multilingual background informs her interest in language across different forms and dimensions, as well as the dialectical relationship between language and culture.
Her work has been widely exhibited and screened in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Solo and Two-Person shows include “I Don’t Want to Make Photograph Anymore” at Three Shadows Photography Art Center (2023, Xiamen, China), “Little Lies and Counterweights, Little Lies and Counterweights” (2023, New York, US) and “I Should Use A Language Not to be Betrayed” (2023, Seoul, South Korea).
