 - Copy 1.jpg)
Lee Bul
Maquette for Mon grand récit (detail), 2005
plaster, steel mesh, wood, silicone, paint, crystal and synthetic beads, aluminium rods, stainless steel wire, Foamex
Private collection
© Lee Bul
Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol
Courtesy of the artist
M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, is proud to present Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, a comprehensive survey of work by pioneering artist Lee Bul (South Korean, born 1964), one of the most prominent Asian contemporary artists in recent decades. Generously supported by M+ Lead Partner and exhibition Lead Sponsor HSBC, M+ Lee Bul Friends Circle, and the Korea Foundation, the Special Exhibition will be on view at the M+ West Gallery from Saturday, 14 March to Sunday, 9 August 2026.
Co-organised by M+ and Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea, the exhibition welcomed approximately 105,000 visitors during the four-month exhibition period and received enthusiastic public and critical acclaim during its premier presentation in Seoul from September 2025 to January 2026. The Special Exhibition at M+ will feature more than 200 works from the artist’s studio as well as institutional and private collections across Asia and beyond. The M+ presentation includes additionally forty-nine early works from the late 1990s to early 2000s in the artist’s practice, as well as pieces created in 2024. Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now is co-curated by Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+ and June Young Kwak, Head of Exhibitions, Leeum Museum of Art; supported by Sunny Cheung, Curator of Design and Architecture, M+ and Heyeon Kim, Curator, Leeum Museum of Art. The exhibition gives audiences a rare opportunity to trace the pivotal developments in Lee’s groundbreaking practice from the late 1990s to the present, situating her work within both regional and global contexts. In addition, M+ Cinema will screen a selection of her early performance works from the late 1980s and early 1990s on a continuous loop at House 3 throughout the exhibition period.
Recognised as a leading figure in contemporary art, Lee has made profound contributions to the Korean, Asian, and global art scenes over the past four decades. Emerging in the late 1980s with works critically engaging with Korea’s shifting sociopolitical landscape, she has forged in the following decades a multidisciplinary and multi-faceted practice spanning sculpture, installation, and two-dimensional art. Her oeuvre interrogates the evolving relationships between the body and society, humanity and technology, and nature and civilisation, as well as the underlying forces that influence these dynamics. Continuously expanding her artistic language throughout her career, Lee’s consistently ambitious work offers incisive insights into the past and present of humanity while envisioning new possibilities for the future. Her practice reflects a distinctive ability to translate abstract concepts into mesmerising artworks that have earned her worldwide recognition.
Lee Bul
Mon grand récit: Weep into stones..., 2005
Installation view of Lee Bul: From Me, Belongs to You Only, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2012
polyurethane, Foamex, synthetic clay, stainless steel and aluminium rods, acrylic panels, wood, acrylic paint, varnish, lighting, and electrical wiring
Collection of HITEJINRO Co., Ltd.
© Lee Bul
Photo: Osamu WATANABE
Courtesy of the artist and Mori Art Museum
The exhibition unfolds in three sections that provide both an overview and detailed insights into the visionary scope and multidisciplinary nature of Lee’s practice. It highlights her reflections on the fundamental realities of human existence, her response to ideals of technological advancement, and her exploration of the endless cycle of hopes and inevitable failures that have played a role in human progress.
- Landscape of Utopian Dreams: Mon grand récit and Perdu
The first section presents an immersive open landscape, anchored by architecturally scaled sculptural installations from Lee’s Mon grand récit series (2005–ongoing). These complex works invite reflection on the grand narratives of modernity and the aesthetics of failed utopias. Complementing these installations are two-dimensional artworks, including selections from the Perdu series (2016–ongoing) and Willing to Be Vulnerable – Velvet series (2016–ongoing), that extend the artist’s inquiry into materiality and form. Together, these works articulate a dynamic interplay between organic and industrial materials, exploring utopian and dystopian ideals as the artist reflects on history, politics, personal memory, and the complexities of modern society. - The Body and Technology: Cyborgs and Anagrams
The second section showcases Lee’s earlier works, the seminal Cyborg and Anagram series from the late 1990s and early 2000s, which first established her international reputation. In the Cyborg series, Lee reconfigures what at first glance appears to be classical statues with futuristic enhancements, symbolising humanity’s enduring desire to transcend our physical limitations through technology. Meanwhile, the Anagram series merges natural and biomechanical elements into hybrid forms, questioning conventional notions of perfection. Drawing upon wide-ranging references from critical theory, art history, and science fiction, Lee explores entwined ideas of figuration, gender, and beauty within an increasingly technologised world. - Inside the Artist’s Mind
The final section explores Lee’s creative process, showcasing approximately one hundred drawings and dozens of precisely scaled maquettes that serve both as independent artworks and as studies for her sculptures, installations, and wall-based pieces. This section offers visitors a rare glimpse into the artist’s mind and studio, where her philosophical reflections and imaginative concepts are transformed into art.
Lee Bul
After Bruno Taut (Beware the sweetness of things), 2007
Installation view of Lee Bul: From Me, Belongs to You Only, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2012
crystal (glass), glass and acrylic beads on stainless steel armature, aluminium and copper mesh, PVC, steel and aluminium chains, mirrored film, synthetic hair, acrylic, and stainless steel and aluminium pipes
Collection of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
© Lee Bul
Photo: Osamu WATANABE
Courtesy of the artist and Mori Art Museum
Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, says, ‘We are proud to partner with Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul and present the most comprehensive survey of Lee Bul’s practice in Asia to date. Her work spans many different art forms, consistently challenging the norms of sculptural practice while reflecting on the rapid transformations in Korea’s sociopolitical trajectory. This exhibition highlights Lee’s boundarydefying contributions and illuminates the complex interconnections between artistic practice, humanity, technology, and the shifting conditions of our times. Hong Kong’s futuristic skyline and rapid pace of development provide an ideal backdrop for new encounters with Lee’s work. With this exhibition, M+ reaffirms its role as a leading platform for engagements with the diverse art forms, practices, and narratives that define Asian contemporary visual art and culture today.’
Lee Seo-Hyun, Director, Leeum Museum of Art, says, ‘We are delighted to co-organise this important exhibition with M+ and look forward to its opening in Hong Kong in March 2026, following its strong reception at the Leeum Museum of Art. Conceived as an immersive and psychologically charged journey, the exhibition unfolds to reveal a multi-layered world built from fragments of the past, sparking the imagination and inviting reflection on speculative futures. Showcasing Lee Bul’s bold interdisciplinary approach and deep engagement with ideas of modernity, identity, and technology rooted in a Korean historical context, this collaboration amplifies both her legacy in Asia and her voice as a central figure in global contemporary art capable of resonating with global audiences.’
Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+ and exhibition co-curator, says, ‘Lee Bul’s singular oeuvre boasts an extraordinary breadth and depth. Her long-established practice is arguably one of the most complex and multifaceted, as well as the most consistently ambitious artistic practices to have taken shape at the turn of the millennium. Lee exemplifies the innovative spirit and critical engagement that have positioned Asian contemporary artists within global discourse. Through the curatorial collaboration between Leeum Museum of Art and M+, this exhibition provides dazzling visual and spatial experiences alongside an opportunity for audiences to reflect upon and reconsider the assumptions that shape our understanding of the past, present, and future. In her practice, Lee reminds us that hope and failure remain inseparable features of human progress, a theme that resonates with a particular urgency in our time.’
.jpg)
Lee Bul
Untitled Sculpture (W6-2), 2010
stainless steel, aluminium, wood, mirror, and acrylic mirror
M+, Hong Kong. Gift of William and Lavina Lim, 2020
© Lee Bul
Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong and New York
Following its presentation in Hong Kong, Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now will embark on a global tour to the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) in Antwerp, Belgium and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada ending in late 2027. The first comprehensive monograph on Lee’s expansive and multifaceted practice, co-published by M+, Leeum Museum of Art, and publisher Thames & Hudson and featuring new texts by international writers and scholars, will be launched in conjunction with the exhibition.
Opening talk
On opening day, Saturday, 14 March 2026, M+ will host an opening talk at the Grand Stair. Hear directly from Lee Bul as she reflects on her practice and artistic thinking in conversation with Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+ and Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now exhibition co-curator. Together, they will share with the audience the process of bringing the vision for this exhibition to life. The conversation will explore the artist’s creative landscape, examining her responses to an ever-changing world and envisioning of humanity’s future. The talk will be conducted in English. Simultaneous interpretation in Cantonese will be available. Please stay tuned for more updates to the programme on M+ website.
Portrait of Lee Bul
Featured artwork: © Lee Bul
Photo: Yoon Hyung-moon
Courtesy of the artist and Leeum Museum of Art
About Lee Bul
Lee Bul (South Korea, born 1964) is widely recognised as the foremost Korean artist of her generation. Educated in Seoul, she broke with her academic training (BFA in sculpture from Hongik University, Seoul) to establish her early reputation with provocative genre- and discipline-crossing works exploring themes of the female body, beauty, and decay. Since the early 2000s, her work has engaged with themes of utopian modernity, the historical avant-garde in art and architecture, and the rise and fall of ideas aimed at reinventing the world. Her entire oeuvre has been deeply informed by her experience growing up as the daughter of political dissidents during a period of turbulent political and social transformation in Korea. Now in the fourth decade of her career, she is a pioneering figure to a younger generation of artists influenced by the sensibilities and methods of her practice, from her early iconoclastic performances to her multi-sensory installations and material explorations that have pushed the formal and conceptual boundaries of visual art.
Lee’s works have been showcased in major institutions throughout the world, including the Seoul Museum of Art; Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin; the Hayward Gallery, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris; the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Rodin Gallery, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; and Art Sonje Center, Seoul. In 2024, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, invited Lee to create sculptures for the niches of the museum’s iconic Fifth Avenue facade; a Genesis Facade Commission, the project was titled Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo.
Lee Bul
Perdu XXV, 2019
mother-of-pearl, acrylic paint, wood base panel, and steel frame
Collection of Jane ZG Collection Hong Kong
© Lee Bul
Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol
Courtesy of the artist
About M+
M+ is Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture. Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK), it is dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The landmark M+ building on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbourfront was designed by the world-renowned architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron in partnership with TFP Farrells and Arup. It spans a total floor area of 65,000 square metres, featuring thirty-three galleries alongside a Learning Hub, Moving Image Centre, Research Centre, and Roof Garden, among other event and programming spaces. The M+ Facade is one of the largest LED screens in the world, showcasing commissioned artworks on the Hong Kong skyline every evening. The museum stewards a multidisciplinary permanent collection that includes objects from regions across Asia and beyond. A highlight is the M+ Sigg Collection, one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Chinese contemporary art. Today, M+ is a nexus for researching and presenting contemporary visual culture, inspiring thought and curiosity.
About the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK)
WestK is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural hubs in the world and Hong Kong’s new cultural tourism landmark, spanning forty hectares alongside Victoria Harbour. WestK comprises a mix of landmark arts and cultural facilities, including world-class museums M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, intricately designed performing arts venues the Xiqu Centre and Freespace, the elevenhectare Art Park with a waterfront promenade, and the upcoming WestK Performing Arts Centre.
Hosting over 1,000 exhibitions, performances, programmes, and events each year, WestK provides a vital platform for both emerging and established artists. WestK welcomes more than ten million visitors each year, evolving as the international cultural brand of Hong Kong and strengthening the city’s strategic role as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
About Leeum Museum of Art
Renowned for its visionary collection and dynamic exhibitions spanning centuries and genres, Leeum Museum of Art provides a setting in which the timeless beauty of traditional Korean art, the vibrancy of contemporary practice, and the fluid dialogue of global artistic discourse come together.
Since opening its doors in Hannam-dong, Seoul, in 2004, Leeum has served as a cultural anchor, fostering dialogue between past and present to forge new pathways toward the future. The museum functions as a platform for exchange, bridging East and West as well as local and global perspectives, and inspiring fresh interpretations of art across time and place.
Its iconic architectural complex—designed by Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel, and Rem Koolhaas— epitomizes this mission, harmonizing tradition with innovation in its spatial and architectural design. Through its robust programming of exhibitions, educational initiatives, and international collaborations, Leeum continues to advance Korea’s presence and influence within the global cultural landscape.
Lee Bul
Amaryllis, 1999
hand-cut EVA (thermoplastic) panels on aluminium armature and enamel coating
Collection of ARARIO Collection
© Lee Bul
Image courtesy of Arario Gallery