| Dates: | born 1964
| | Biography: | (artist biography as of 2006)
Born 1964, Taiwan
Lives and works in New York City and
Berkeley, CA, USA
Selected solo exhibitions
Bodhi Project, 2006, Queensland Gallery
of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Guernica in Sand, 2006, Albion Gallery,
London, UK
Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, 2005,
Cologne, Germany
Through Masters' Eyes, 2004, Los
Angeles County Museum of Arts, Los
Angeles, USA
Shueito Legends, 2004, Bunker Museum
of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
The Tourist, 2003, Museum of Modern
Art, New York City, USA
Harvard Seers Project. 2003, Harvard
University OFA, Cambridge, MA, USA
Tourist Project, 2002, Rice University Art
Gallery. Houston TX, USA
Living Room Project, 2000, Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA
The Sleeping Project, 2000, Lombard
Freid Fine Arts, New York City, USA
Lee Mingwei 1994-1998. 1999. Museum
of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
Way Stations. 1998, Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York City, USA
The Letter-Writing Project. 1998, The
Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia, PA,
USA
Selected group exhibitions
Liverpool Biennial, 2006, Liverpool, UK
Artist-as-Resident Project, 2006, Echigo-
Tsumari Art Triennial, Tokyo, Japan
Elegance of Silence, 2005. Mori Art
Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Inaugural exhibition, 2005 Arnolfini,
Bristol, UK
Whitney Seers Project, 2004. Whitney
Biennial, New York City, USA
The Sleeping Project, 2003. Venice
Biennale, Taiwan Pavilion, Venice, Italy
Away from Home, 2003, Wexner Center
for the Arts, Cleveland, OH. USA
Mind Space. 2003, Ho-Am Art Museum,
Seoul, South Korea
Mosquito Cinema, Sitelines, 2002,
Addison Gallery of American Art,
Boston, MA, USA
The Gift, 2001, Palazzo delle Papesse
Centra Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy
The Bayberry Bush, 2001, Parrish Art
Museum, South Hampton, NY, USA
Shrine Project, 2000, Taipei Biennial,
Taipei, Taiwan
The Gift of Hope, 2000, Tokyo Museum
of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan
Asia Pacific Triennial, 1999,
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane,
Australia
Further reading
Scarlet Cheng, 'A Master Revisited', Los
Angeles Times, 9 May 2004
Holland Cotter, 'Lee Mingwei, Projects
80', New York Times, 21 November 2003
Holland Cotter, 'Asia Week is Here,
There, Everywhere', New York Times, 1
April 2005
Kay Karson, To Take Part in the Art,
You Sleep with the Artist', New York
Times, 5 November 2001
Janet Moore, 'Rebel without a Genre',
Asian Wall Street Journal, 18 January
2002
| | | Source: | International 06, Liverpool Biennial exhibition catalogue | | | Date of source: | 2006 |
|
| | Description: | Intimacy with strangers is the key to Lee
Mingwei's work - intimacy that he
achieves through creating a series of
paradoxes in the gallery setting. He has
cooked and shared meals with guests,
chosen by lottery, in a museum; he has
slept with gallery-goers (who volunteered
for the experience). He has created
personal spaces within galleries, such
as a living room' in which participants
could display their personal belongings,
or booths in which people could write
love-letters. He also asks local people to
give him a personal tour of the city, or to
record their relationships with the sites.
The exhibition becomes a
communication interface; objects are
displayed not as works, but as media.
Most of Lee's projects work with one-to-
one communication, usually involving the
artist himself and a particular individual.
The intimacy of these strangers is
instant, but well prepared for and
anticipated. The publicness of the
exhibition setting is used for highly
personal and private purposes. Trust and
faith are tested; slowness ensures the
intensity of the experience. The past and
the future are brought together for a brief
encounter. Lee often adapts existing
forms of religious dialogue and
transforms them into serene and open
scenarios in which participants with
different cultural backgrounds can
exchange their thoughts, feelings,
memories, or even jokes.
Manray Hsu
| | Description Source: | International 06, Liverpool Biennial exhibition catalogue | | Description Source Date: | 2006 | | Gender: | male | | Type: | person |
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