Hauser & Wirth has announced representation of acclaimed Korean artist Lee Bul, in collaboration with Seoul-based gallery BB&M.

Known for a pioneering interdisciplinary approach honed over the course of four decades, Lee has created a body of work spanning sculpture, installation, performance and painting. She first gained international recognition in the 1990s for a provocative, genre-defying art that interrogates themes of utopian ideals, technological transformation and the fragility of human ambition. For early performances and soft sculptures that challenged societal norms, she often incorporated cyborg imagery to explore posthumanism and gender politics.

Over time, Lee’s practice has expanded to encompass large-scale immersive installations utilizing mirrored surfaces, organic-mechanical hybrids and architectural structures to engage viewers in a multi-sensory experience of space and perception. Deeply influenced by philosophy, literature and experimental architecture, her oeuvre examines the intersections of technology, history and speculative futures. Concepts of freedom and liberation are deeply embedded in Lee’s work, both thematically and formally.

In 2024, Lee was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to create sculptures for the niches of its landmark Fifth Avenue facade. ‘The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo’ opened on 12 September 2024 and remains on view until 10 June 2025.

The artist’s first exhibition with Hauser & Wirth will take place in New York in 2026.

photo: Yoon Hyung-moon