On display at the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery from 30th May to 19th August, Lee Bul: Crashing features over 100 works created over the course of Bul’s wide-ranging career. The exhibition, which has taken over the entire gallery, includes paintings, architectural models, documentation of the artist’s early performances, and large-scale sculptures. Bul has also created a site-specific commission for the exhibition – Weep into stones (2017-18) – which drapes the Brutalist gallery building in a hanging curtain of glass beads and crystals.
Intending to “mix things together, conceptually and also materially”, Lee Bul makes use of materials as diverse as silk, mother of pearl, fibreglass and silicone. Her pieces draw on a range of cultural and literary references, including science fiction, twentieth century history, philosophy and personal experience.
Curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Director, Gropius Bau, Berlin with Eimear Martin, Associate Curator and Bindi Vora, Curatorial Assistant, the exhibition coincides with the Hayward Gallery’s fiftieth anniversary.