For artists who have been working for many years, survey exhibitions are a valuable opportunity for us to understand their work as a single oeuvre. What throughlines are there? Are there recurring motifs visible from project to project? Artist Lee Bul is an influential figure in Korean contemporary art, and a major survey exhibition of her work at the Leeum Museum of Art is a journey into her artistic mind. The show, titled Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, spans nearly three decades of her creative output.
Lee’s debut came in the late 1980s, when she made a splash with her experimental works responding to Korea’s contentious sociopolitical state. From there, her artistic voice has spanned performance, sculpture, installation, and two-dimensional work. Within the disparate media, she investigates duality and often the paradoxes within it. This encompasses humans and technology, and nature and civilization. To examine them fully, she looks to the larger mechanisms of power that give these ideas form and shape.
The exhibition begins with works produced in the late 1990s and spans to the present time, comprising about 150 pieces in total. But the show doesn’t take a chronological route; rather, it unfolds as an “unpredictable landscape” where visitors embark on an open-ended, multilayered journey. Along the way are metropolitan ruins, bunkers, towers, metallic airships, and mirrored labyrinths. The experience is richly layered and non-linear, allowing for exploration across time and space.
The Mon grand récit is considered the core of the exhibition, having been part of Lee’s practice since 2005. This body of work examines the paradox of wanting things to be perfect (a utopia) versus how they actually are (a disillusionment). The title of the work is a reference to François Lyotard’s notion of the collapse of the “grand récit,” or metanarrative. Metanarrative is a social theory positing that an overarching account or interpretation of smaller events legitimizes a master idea. Essentially, these little stories are assembled into a whole tale and provide structure for belief. Lee reconfigures the “grand récit” using irony and complexity. Her references for these topographical installations span the likes of utopian literature, Romantic landscape paintings, and the historical context of modern and contemporary Korea.
Other stand-out pieces include a karaoke installation as well as Lee’s Civitas Solis II, a large-scale mirrored installation that projects infinite reflections to create a disorienting and distorted view of all within it.
Eugene Kim, My Modern Met's co-founder and editor-in-chief, had the opportunity to experience the exhibition while visiting Seoul. “The immersive environments of glass and mirrored surfaces transform spectators into participants,” he shares. “The scale, precision, and play of reflection create a powerful sense of wonder. The exhibition sits naturally within Leeum’s site-specific landscape, alongside installations such as Olafur Eliasson’s Gravity Stairs and Kimsooja’s To Breathe–Leeum.”
Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now is on view at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, until January 4, 2026.
Artist Lee Bul is an influential figure in Korean contemporary art, and a major survey exhibition of her work at the Leeum Museum of Art is a journey into her artistic mind.
Photo: Yoon Hyung Moon. Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art
The show is titled Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, and it spans nearly three decades of her creative output.
Installation view of Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now. Leeum Museum of Art, 2025. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol. Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art)
“Civitas Solis II,” 2014.
Polycarbonate sheet, acrylic mirror, LED lights, electrical wiring. Dimensions variable. Installation view of MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2014: Lee Bul, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea, 2014. Commissioned by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea Sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company. Courtesy of the artist and BB&M. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol, Courtesy of the artist and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea)
“After Bruno Taut (Beware the sweetness of things),” 2007.
Crystal, glass and acrylic beads on stainless-steel armature, aluminum and copper mesh, PVC, steel and aluminum chains, mirrored film, artificial hair, stainless-steel, aluminum and acrylic pipe. 258 x 200 x 250 cm. Installation view of On Every New Shadow, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2007–2008. Courtesy of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London • Paris • Salzburg • Milan• Seoul. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Patrick Gries Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain)
The exhibition begins with works produced in the late 1990s and spans to the present time, comprising about 150 pieces in total.
“Bunker (M. Bakhtin),” 2007/2012.
Fiberglass on stainless steel frame, plywood, fabric-covered urethane foam, acrylic mirror, electronics, interactive sound work. 300 x 400 x 280 cm. Installation view of On Every New Shadow, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2007–2008. Courtesy of the artist and BB&M © Lee Bul. (Photo: Patrick Gries Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain)
“Via Negativa,” 2022 (reconstruction of 2012 work).
Wood, acrylic mirror, two-way mirror, LED lighting, wood stain, English and Korean editions of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Approx. 290 x 600 x 600 cm. Installation view of Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and BB&M. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol, Courtesy of the artist and Leeum Museum of Art)
“Via Negativa,” 2022 (reconstruction of 2012 work).
Wood, acrylic mirror, two-way mirror, LED lighting, wood stain, English and Korean editions of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Approx. 290 x 600 x 600 cm. Installation view of Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and BB&M. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol, Courtesy of the artist and Leeum Museum of Art)
“Via Negativa,” 2022 (reconstruction of 2012 work).
Wood, acrylic mirror, two-way mirror, LED lighting, wood stain, English and Korean editions of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Approx. 290 x 600 x 600 cm. Installation view of Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and BB&M. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol, Courtesy of the artist and Leeum Museum of Art)
The show doesn’t take a chronological route; rather, it unfolds as an “unpredictable landscape” where visitors embark on an open-ended, multilayered journey.
“Willing To Be Vulnerable – Metalized Balloon,” 2015-2016/2020.
Fabric, PET film, air blower, electrical wiring. 300 x 1700 x 300 cm. Installation view of Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, 2025. Courtesy of the artist, BB&M, and Hauser & Wirth © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol, Courtesy of the artist and Leeum Museum of Art)
“Aubade V,” 2019.
Cast steel (collected from a demolished checkpoint at the DMZ), Optium museum acrylic, electronic display board, LED light, CPU, DC-SMPS, dimmer, electrical wiring. 400 x 300(⌀) cm. Courtesy of the artist and BB&M. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol, Courtesy of the artist and Leeum Museum of Art)
“Mon grand récit: Weep into stones…” 2005.
Polyurethane, Foamex, synthetic clay, stainless-steel and aluminum rods, acrylic panels, wood sheets, acrylic paint, varnish, electrical wiring, lighting. 280 x 440 x 300 cm. Installation view of Lee Bul: From Me, Belongs to You Only, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2012. Collection of HITEJINRO Co., Ltd © Lee Bul. (Photo: Watanabe Osamu, Courtesy of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo)
Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now is on view at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, until January 4, 2026.
“Gravity Greater Than Velocity I (reconstructed),” 2000 (reconstruction of 1999 work).
Polycarbonate panels on stainless steel frame, electronic equipment. 214 x 124 x 184 cm. Collection of Leeum Museum of Art. © Lee Bul. (Photo: Jeon Byung-cheol. Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art)
Get a peek into the beauty of the Leeum Museum of Art:
View this post on Instagram
