Villa Magdalena is pleased to present “Sila Candansayar & Mie Yim” for the 2026 edition of Paris International. At the crossroads of mythology, science fiction, and social critique, both artists’ share a formal affinity towards the biomorphic, where at first glance sugar coated realities appear to be whimsical and playful but under closer scrutiny an ominous symbolism unveils.

Yim will set the stage for Candansayar’s sculptures with a site-specific mural that reveals the full range of her pictorial imagination, dealing with the celestial and the terrestrial at once. Candansayar’s post-human tree like structures will also engage in conversation with Yim’s new series of oil paintings depicting dystopian gardens and forest scenes, where traces of naïve figuration inspired by mahnwa blend with a French 19th century post impressionist sensibility.

Sila Candansayar, shows us a unique perspective on “bodiness”, one in which mutant and artificial elements form part of organic corporeality. Working with wood, clay, porcelain, cardboard, blown glass and 3D printing, the artist’s notion of ‘category mistakes’ is the underlying principle that guides her multimedia installations, formal syntax, and representational ambiguity. In Candansayar’s oeuvre we see a vocabulary of shapes informed by her visual interests in physics, geometry, and human anatomy. The works’ dynamic methods of display and presentation also highlight the importance of the viewer’s experiential role.

SILA CANDANSAYAR (b. Ankara, 1997), Paris-based Turkish artist, graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2025. She is the recipient of the Diptyque Grant (2025) and the Mennour Emergence Prize (2026).

Working across sculpture, installation, and drawing, Sila Candansayar explores the complex relationships between the body, matter, and geometric structures. Drawing on references to anatomy, mathematics, she develops a distinctive formal language in which wood, blown glass, ceramics, and 3D-printing technologies interact within hybrid configurations. Her works examine the ways we perceive our bodies and propose a sensory experience of space situated at the intersection of the organic and the artificial.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Liber Pulveris, with Charlotte Simonnet (Galerie du Crous de Paris, 2025); Tenders (Cabinet Studiolo, Milan, 2023). Recent group shows include: Memoria di Forma (Romero Paprocki, Milan, 2026); Arcadie: Sila Candansayar, Mariama Conteh, Cléopatra Gones, Anna Kereszty, Papiyon, Apolline Regent (Mennour Emergence #3, Mennour, Paris, 2026); My Way: Sturtevant, Chris Burden, Sila Candansayar, Jimmie Durham, Latifa Echakhch, Michel Journiac, Jannis Kounellis, Philippe Meste, Gianni Motti, Cléo Perrin, Raymond Pettibon, Julien Previeux, Charlotte Simonnet, Internationale Situationniste, Lawrence Weiner (Galerie Michel Rein, Paris, 2026); Coller l’oreille aux colimacons (Les Réserves, Frac Ile-de-France, París, 2024); Sur le feu (Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 2023).

Installation views: “Sila Candansayar: Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously”, Villa Magdalena, ARCO Madrid, 2026.

Installation views: “Sila Candansayar”, Villa Magdalena and Galerie Michel Rein, Contemporary Istanbul, 2026.

MIE YIM (b. 1963, Seoul) is a New York-based Korean artist working primarily in painting, drawing, site-specific murals and occasionally other media. Known for her mutant imagery, the juxtaposition of brilliant colors and dramatic content is a fundamental feature of the artist’s notion of beauty — which is almost always accompanied by an underlying sense of horror. Yim’s mode of expression bridges compelling dichotomies: luminosity and darkness, artificiality and organic matter, order and chaos, harmony and violence.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Terra Incognita (Villa Magdalena, Madrid, Spain, 2025); Spiked Garden (Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2025); Drink Me (Broadway Gallery, New York, NY USA, 2025); Nightshade (Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2023); Belladonna (Olympia Gallery, New York, NY, 2023); Mie Yim: Saints, Shamans, and Batshit Crazies (Inna Art Space, Hangzhou, China, 2023); Fluid Boundaries (Brattleboro Art Museum, Brattleboro, VT, USA, 2022); Mie Yim: New Works on Paper (curated by Cy Schnabel, Galeria Mascota, CDMX, Mexico, 2022); Mie Yim: Mutants (Villa Magdalena, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain, 2021). Recent group shows include: Wonderland (Lehmann Maupin, Seoul, South Korea, 2024); Fremdkörper (Am Schwarzenberglatz, Vienna, Austria, 2024); Cathartic Creatures (Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2023); Notions (Canada, New York, NY, USA, 2023).

Installation views: “Mie Yim: Terra Incognita”, Villa Magdalena, Madrid, 2025.

Installation views: “Mie Yim: Mutants”, Villa Magdalena, San Sebastian, 2021.