Fired clays, jute ropes
33 x 140 x 30 cm
Image courtesy of the artist, Antenna Space, Shanghai and Basel Social Club. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.
Mire Lee
BIOGRAPHY
Mire Lee (b. 1988, Seoul) currently lives and works in Amsterdam. She received both her BFA in Sculpture in 2012 and her MFA in Media Art in 2013 from the Seoul National University College.
Mire Lee’s works, often eclectically made of industrial materials such as concrete, silicone, steel and clay, oscillate between horror and arousal and see violence as a central component of subjectivity. Low-tech kinetics and works of immobile dominance that are imbued with brutality and sexuality, force the viewer into a position of fetishistic obsession, voyeurism, and boundary violation. With her works, Lee negotiates questions of bodily porosity, acceptability and power, while creating a space that feels simultaneously industrialized and primordial.
In 2018, Mire Lee participated in the residency program at Rijksakad- emie, Amsterdam. She has recently received the Special Prize of the Future Generation Art Prize 2021, the Pontopreis MMK 2022 and the Gold Art Prize, Gold House 2023.
Selected solo & duo exhibitions: Faces, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, CA, US (2025); Hyundai Commission: Open Wound, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London, UK (2024); Mire Lee: Black Sun, The New Museum, New York, US (2023); As We Lay Dying, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Hague, The Netherlands (2022); Look, I’ m a fountain of filth raving mad with love, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany (2022); Carriers, Tina Kim Gallery, New York, US (2022); HR Giger & Mire Lee, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany (2021); Carriers, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea (2020); among others.
Selected group exhibitions: There Is a Crack in Everything, Jewish Museum of Belgium, Bruxelles, Belguim (2025); Connecting Bodies: Asian Women Artists, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea (2024); My Last Will, Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg(2024); Territory, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany(2024); Dream Machines, DESTE Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece (2023); Busan Biennale 2022: We, On the Rising Wave, Busan, South Korea (2022); 58th Carnegie International: Is it morning for you yet?, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, US (2022); The 59th Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams, Giardini della Biennale and the Arsenale, Venice, Italy (2022); Future Generation Art Prize 2021, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine (2021); Techno, Museion, Museo d’arte Moderna E Contemporanea, Bolzano, Italy (2021); Contamination, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany (2021); Breathing through Skin, Antenna Space, Shanghai, China (2020); (Im)Possible Bodies, Niet Normaal Foundation, Den Bosch, The Netherlands (2020); As time went on, a rumor started, Gianni Manhattan, Vienna, Austria (2020); Other. Worldly, Friesmuseum, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands (2020); The 15th Biennale de Lyon: Where Water Comes Together With Other Water, Lyon, France (2019); Surface Tension, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE (2019); Lubricated Language, AKINCI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2019); The 12th Gwangju Biennale: Imagined Border, Gwangju, South Korea (2018); Double Negative, Arko Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea (2018); Moving/Image, Arko Art Center, Seoul, South Korea (2017); among others.
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Mire Lee, Untitled (As we lay dying) I, 2023
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Mire Lee, Head with holes II, 2023
Fired clay
27 × 84 × 25 cm
Image courtesy of the artist, Antenna Space, Shanghai and Basel Social Club. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Head with holes wall piece I, 2023
Fired clay
62 x 22 x 7.5 cm
Image courtesy of the artist, Antenna Space, Shanghai and Basel Social Club. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Head with holes wall piece II, 2023
Fired clay
72 x 22 x 11 cm
Image courtesy of the artist, Antenna Space, Shanghai and Basel Social Club. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Eyes of Fountain of Filth #0, 2022
Concrete on styrofoam
120 x 50 x 15 cm作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Eyes of Fountain of Filth, 2022
Concrete, cement writings on wall (words selected from Kim Eon Hee’s poems)
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Mire Lee, Endless House: Holes and Drips, 2022
Multiple ceramic sculptures on a scaffold, lithium carbonate and iron oxide glaze liquid, pump, motor, and other mixed media
180 x 20 x 400 cm作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Carriers: offsprings I, 2021
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Mire Lee, Carriers: offsprings II, 2021
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Mire Lee, offsprings – hangers, 2021
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Mire Lee, Endless House, 2021
Dimensions variable
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Mire Lee, Untitled, 2021
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Mire Lee, The Liars, 2021
Silicone, fishnet fabric, aluminum chains, towels
300 x 450 cm作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Carriers, horizontal forms, 2020
Plaster, Resin, Silicone, PVC Hoses, Fabric, Electronic Motors, Motor Circuit
140.5 x 100.5 x 4.5 cm作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Faces, 2016
Single channel video
7’06’’作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Head with Holes III, 2023
Fired clay
Without rope hanging system: 41 x 15 x 10 cm
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Mire Lee, Head with Holes Ⅰ, 2023
Fired clay
Without rope hanging system: 61 x 20 x 15 cm
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Mire Lee, Wall mount prototype for Endless House, 2021
Silicone, silicone oil on concrete
21 x 31 x 67 cm
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Mire Lee, Horizontal Forms; clay ribs, 2022
dried clay, epoxy, rebars
130.5cm x 58cm x 58cm
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Mire Lee, Horizontal Forms; clay head, 2022
dried clay, epoxy, rebars
102cm x 52cm x 59cm
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Mire Lee, Horizontal Forms; clay limbs, 2022
dried clay, epoxy, rebars
122cmx 50cm x 27cm
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Mire Lee, Tentacle prototype for Untitled (My Pittsburgh Sculpture) II, 2022
burnt silicone, pigmented silicone oil, styrofoam, wireropes
174cm x 14cm x 19cm
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Mire Lee, Studio piece for Black Sun: assholes I, 2023
pigmented silicone on fabric
186 cm x 60 cm x 20 cm
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Mire Lee, Studio piece for Black Sun: assholes II, 2023
pigmented silicone on fabric
186cm x 52cm x 20cm
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Mire Lee, Studio piece for Black Sun: assholes III, 2023
pigmented silicone on fabric
120 cm x 40.5 cm x 12 cm
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Mire Lee, Open wound: Skin Sculpture studio prototype #1, 2024
Rebars, pigmented methylcellulose on construction netting
80 x 93 x 124 cm
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Mire Lee, Untitled (wire mesh crimson sculpture with openings #4), 2024
Stainless steel wire mesh, methylcellulose, pigmented silicone
31 x 43.5 cm
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Mire Lee, Untitled (wire mesh crimson sculpture with openings #1), 2024
Stainless steel wire mesh, methylcellulose, pigmented silicone
31 x 43.5 cm
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Mire Lee, Untitled (wire mesh crimson sculpture with openings #2), 2024
Stainless steel wire mesh, methylcellulose, pigmented silicone
31 x 43.5 cm
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Mire Lee, Untitled (wire mesh crimson sculpture with openings #3), 2024
Stainless steel wire mesh, methylcellulose, pigmented silicone
31 x 43.5 cm
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Mire Lee, Open Wound: Skin Sculpture studio prototype #3, 2024
Rebars, pigmented methyl cellulose on construction netting
71 x 97 x 116 cm
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Mire Lee, Open wound: Skin Sculpture studio prototype #2, 2024
Rebars, pigmented methylcellulose on construction netting
96 x 100 x 161 cm
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Mire Lee, Open wound: Skin Sculpture studio prototype #4, 2024
Rebars, pigmented methylcellulose on construction netting
153 x 108 x 103 cm
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Mire Lee, Open wound: Skin Sculpture studio prototype #5, 2024
Rebars, pigmented methylcellulose on construction netting
75 x 90 x 155 cm
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Mire Lee, Eyes of Fountain of Filth #1, 2022
Concrete on styrofoam
108 x 54 x 18 cm作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Eyes of Fountain of Filth #2, 2022
Concrete on styrofoam
98 x 70 x 18 cm作品信息Information -
Mire Lee, Untitled (Concrete-Dipped Big-Eyed Burlap Piece), 2025
Rebars, concrete on burlap
155 cm x 20 cm x 45 cm
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Mire Lee, Untitled (Broken Heads Hugging Piece), 2025
Concrete, steel, industrial trash
48 cm x 59 cm x 30 cm
(100 cm foldable tail)
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Artworks
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Installation View in Tate – Mire Lee: Open Wound, Turbine Hall
2024.10.09 – 2025.03.16
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Mire Lee | “Black Sun” @ New Museum, New York
2023.06.29-2023.09.17
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Mire Lee | 2022 Busan Biennale – “We, On the Rising Wave” @ Yeongdo
2022.09.03-2022.11.06
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Mire Lee | “As We Lay Dying” @ Kunstmuseum Den Haag
2022.07.09 – 2022.11.27
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Mire Lee | “The Drawing Centre Show” @ Le Consortium
2022.07.01-2023.01.22
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Mire Lee | the 59th Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams @ Giardini della Biennale and the Arsenale
2022.04.23 – 2022.11.27
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Mire Lee | Look, I’m a fountain of filth raving mad with love @ Museum für Moderne Kunst
2022.05.20 – 2022.09.04
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Mire Lee | “HR Giger & Mire Lee” @ Schinkel Pavillon
2021.09.18-2022.01.02
NEWS
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Mire Lee: Mortal Machines | Louisa Elderton
2024-10-08
This autumn, Lee will take over the vast space of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, having been awarded the prestigious Tate Hyundai Commission. She tells me the work evokes miners’ changing rooms and is “really for people — for people to enjoy and just be around.” Lee’s been reading Michael Taussig’s My Cocaine Museum (2004) while preparing the exhibition, which is about the lure of the forbidden and how we make sense of the world. Modeled on the Gold Museum in Colombia’s central bank, it is a parody aimed at the museum’s failure to acknowledge the enslaved Africans who mined the country’s wealth for almost four hundred years, engaging with the essence and inner life of heat, rain, stone, and swamp, as well as with the sublime fetishes of evil beauty. Li — who is Tate’s curator of international art — underlines that Lee’s work “invites disorientation,” which then “slowly dissipates into a sense of intimacy, empathy, belonging, and hope… without following a fixed script.” As the youngest artist to ever be awarded the Commission, not only does Lee’s daring work flip the script, it rearranges letters, rips up the page, and it’s not hard to imagine the artist then unashamedly feeding it to the dog bit by bit.