Biography
Lee Wan
B. 1979, Seoul
Lee Wan is known for his diverse body of work, spanning sculpture, installation, documentary film, and AI-infused media technology. He delves into the impacts of globalization, capitalism, politics, history, and culture on individual lives.
Notable accolades include winning the ‘1st Art Spectrum Artist Award’ by Leeum in 2014, and representing the Korean Pavilion at the ‘Venice Biennale’ in 2017. Lee Wan’s collaborative partners include MOYNAT and Hyundai Motor’s ZER01NE and Cradle. His artworks are part of esteemed collections in institutions like MMCA, SeMA, Leeum Samsung Museum of art, and LVMH foundation in Paris.
Presently, he explores humanism from a trans/post-humanism perspective, investigating how AI and technological advancements reshape human existence and relationships.
Artist CV
| Education | ||
| 2025~ | Yonsei University Graduate School of Communication & Arts, D.F.A., Seoul | |
| 2024 | Dongguk University, M.F.A. in Media Art, Seoul | |
| 2004 | Dongguk University, B.F.A. in Sculpture, Seoul | |
| Awards & Honors | ||
| 2015 | The 26th Kim Se-choong Young Sculptor Award, Kim Se-choong Commemoration Foundation | |
| 2014 | The 1st Art Spectrum Artist Award, Leeum Samsung Museum of Art | |
| 2009 -2010 | ARKO Young Art Frontier Artist (Selected), Arts Council Korea |
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| 2005 | JoongAng Fine Arts Competition (Selected Artist), Seoul Arts Center | |
| Collections | ||
| LVMH Foundation, Paris | ||
| LEEUM Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul | ||
| Cheongju Museum of Art, Chungju, Korea | ||
| MMCA(National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art), Gwacheon, Korea | ||
| SeMA(Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul | ||
| National Science Center, Gwacheon, Korea | ||
| Ssamzie Theme Park, Heyri, Korea | ||
| Solo Exhibitions | ||
| 2025 | ||
| 2025 | 바람은 그대 쪽으로, Gi Hyeongdo Literary Museum, Gwangmyeong-si, Korea | |
| 2024 | Random Access Memory, Chapter 3: Record & Memory, House of Woonkyung, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2023 | Random Access Memory, Chapter 2: Heir, ACT Ground, Hwasung-si, Korea | |
| 2022 | Random Access Memory, Chapter 1: Displacement 0 (Zero), Plad, Gallerie X, Seoul | |
| 2019 | Lee Wan: Solo Exhibition — 313 Art Project, Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong ︎ | |
| 2018 | A Billboard Project, Chicago EXPO — Solo Exhibition & Special Event, Chicago, USA ︎ | |
| 2018 | Counter Balance, Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion (Homecoming Exhibition), Arts Council Korea (ARKO), Seoul ︎ | |
| 2017 | Counter Balance, Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion, Venice, Italy︎ | |
| 2016 | A Diligent Attitude towards a Meaningless Thing, 313 art project, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2016 | Discovery Section, Art Basel, Hong Kong ︎ | |
| 2015 | Silence in Between, 313 Art Project, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2014 | Made in, Doosan Art Center, New York ︎ | |
| 2014 | Us and Them, Project Space SARUBIA, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2013 | Oh, Pure Love, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea ︎ | |
| 2012 | The Possibility of Impossible Things, Gallery Hyundai Window Gallery, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2012 | How to Become Us, AR Festival, Paju, Korea | |
| 2011 | How to Become Us, Art Space Pool, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2010 | Forlorn Standard, Art Space Hue, Seoul | |
| 2009 | Life Is Widely Spreading Blood-Red Ripples, Total Museum, Seoul | |
| 2008 | A Forbidden Land, Miro Space, Seoul | |
| 2005 | Riding Art, Gallery Ssamzie, Seoul ︎ | |
| Group Exhibitions | ||
| 2025 | Shifting Terrains – Beyond Black and White (非非黑即白), Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin ︎ | |
| 2025 | The Third, The Third Gallery, Seoul | |
| 2025 | Soul Specter, Lee Wan–Yoo Naul Duo Exhibition, The Square Nonhyeon, Seoul | |
| 2025 | We, Such Fragile Beings, PODO Museum, Jeju, Korea ︎ | |
| 2025 | Hello, Family. 가족이 되다, Hello Museum, Seoul | |
| 2025 | ART OnO, SETEC, Seoul | |
| 2024 | 미완의 어울림, Noksan Industrial Complex, Busan, Korea | |
| 2024 | Incheon Art Show: Biennale Special Exhibition, Songdo Convensia, Incheon, Korea | |
| 2024 | Super Collectors, Hyundai Art Stage, Hyundai Trade Center, Seoul | |
| 2024 | Transistors, Han Pao-Teh Memorial Museum, Tainan, Taiwan | |
| 2024 | Every Island Is a Mountain, Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Palazzo Malta, Venice ︎ | |
| 2023 | SIGNAL: Traces and Symptoms, Incheon Art Platform, Incheon, Korea | |
| 2023 | The Irreplaceable Human, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark ︎ | |
| 2023 | On Boarding, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul | |
| 2022 | Channel: Wave–Particle Duality, Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Changwon, Korea ︎ | |
| 2022 | Record City, Factory 2, Seoul | |
| 2021 | Not Easy, 313 Art Project, Seoul | |
| 2021 | The Chronicle of Lost Time, SNU Museum of Art (SNUMoA), Seoul | |
| 2021 | Time Walker: The Time Travel Corporation, MOCA Busan, Busan, Korea | |
| 2020 | Camp 2020, Camp Long, Wonju, Korea | |
| 2020 | Collection, Space CAN Old House, Seoul | |
| 2019 | Contemporary Korean Art, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul | |
| 2019 | What Is Contemporary Art, Daegu Art Factory, Daegu, Korea | |
| 2019 | Sugar Industry, Madou Triennial, Madou, Taiwan | |
| 2018 | About the Things You Can’t Throw Away, SNU Museum of Art (SNUMoA), Seoul | |
| 2018 | Still Alive, Cheongju Museum of Art, Cheongju, Korea | |
| 2018 | The Dictionary of Evil, Gangwon International Biennale, Gangwon, Korea | |
| 2017 | Continua Sphères ENSEMBLE, Centquatre-Paris, Paris | |
| 2017 | Nomadic Traveler, 5th Cultural Conversations: Korea–Indonesia, Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia | |
| 2017 | Video Portrait, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul | |
| 2017 | Lesson Zero, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, Korea | |
| 2016 | First Sight in Jogja, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia | |
| 2016 | Nanjing Art Festival, Nanjing Baijia Lake Museum, Nanjing | |
| 2016 | Questioning Sustainability, SNU Museum of Art (SNUMoA), Seoul | |
| 2016 | Art and the Measure of Liberty: The United Nations Turns 70, Baik Art, Los Angeles | |
| 2015 | Art and the Measure of Liberty: The United Nations Turns 70, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, New York | |
| 2015 | Jungle Shoes Report, Blockhaus, France | |
| 2015 | Gwangju Media Art Festival: The Dialogue of Light, Bitgoeul Citizen Cultural Center, Gwangju, Korea | |
| 2015 | New Conjunctions, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, New York | |
| 2015 | Sphères 8, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France | |
| 2015 | Accidental Encounter, SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul | |
| 2015 | Useless, Useful, Osan Museum of Art, Osan, Korea | |
| 2015 | SEMA Salon, SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul | |
| 2014 | Burning Down the House, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea ︎ | |
| 2014 | Please Respond, Artists, Space O’New Wall, Seoul | |
| 2014 | Super Romantics, Daegu Art Factory, Daegu, Korea | |
| 2014 | Prime and Surplus, Common Center, Seoul | |
| 2014 | Lee Wan – Park Kiwon Duo Exhibition, 313 Art Project, Seoul | |
| 2014 | Sphères 7, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France | |
| 2014 | Deliberate Tension, Cumin Art Center, Chungju, Korea | |
| 2014 | Art Spectrum, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul ︎ | |
| 2014 | New Icon, Salihara Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia | |
| 2014 | Boundaries and Transcendence, Pohang Museum of Art, Pohang, Korea | |
| 2013 | Twilight, Absolute Space, Tainan, Taiwan | |
| 2013 | Love Impossible, SNU Museum of Art (SNUMoA), Seoul | |
| 2013 | Art Farm Project, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok | |
| 2013 | Turning the State Upside-Down, Arts Council Korea, Insa Art Space, Seoul | |
| 2013 | Tireless Refrain, Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin, Korea | |
| 2012 | Play Time, Culture Station Seoul 284, Seoul | |
| 2012 | Taste of Life, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul | |
| 2012 | Confession, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul | |
| 2012 | The Pulse, Doosan Art Center, New York | |
| 2012 | The Pulse, Doosan Art Center, Seoul | |
| 2011 | Korea Tomorrow, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul | |
| 2010 | Biennale+1, Gwangju Biennale Special Exhibition, Gwangju, Korea | |
| 2010 | Asian Emerging Artist, Kim Daejung Convention Center, Gwangju, Korea | |
| 2010 | The Last Amusement Park, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (GMoMA), Gyeonggi-do, Korea | |
| 2010 | Moon Rabbit Plays in the Children’s Gallery, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, Korea | |
| 2010 | Mega Stuff, Salon de H, Seoul | |
| 2010 | Art & Science, National Science Center, Gwacheon, Korea | |
| 2010 | 30th Anniversary of Young Korean Artists, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, Korea | |
| 2009 | Visible Hands, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul | |
| 2009 | Dissonant Visions, SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul ︎ | |
| 2008 | Art at Home, Wonderful Life, Doosan Art Center, Seoul | |
| 2008 | Dialog in Between, SNU Museum of Art (SNUMoA), Seoul | |
| 2008 | Young Korean Artists, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, Korea | |
| 2007 | London Okryukwan, Art House Gallery, London | |
| 2006 | Living Furniture, Busan Biennale, Busan, Korea | |
| 2005 | JoongAng Fine Arts Competition, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul | |
| Residencies | ||
| 2019 | Gallery PURPLE, Namyangju, Korea | |
| 2018 | Tsung-Yeh Arts and Culture Center, Madou, Taiwan | |
| 2016 | Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia | |
| 2015 | Asia Culture Center Residency, Gwangju, Korea | |
| 2014 | Doosan Art Center Residency, New York | |
| 2014 | New Zero Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar | |
| 2014 | Geumcheon Art Factory, Seoul | |
| 2013 | Absolute Space Residency, Tainan, Taiwan | |
| 2013 | Jim Thompson Art Center Residency, Bangkok | |
| 2012 | Space CAN Residency, Seoul | |
| 2011 | SOLOMON Artist Residency, Seoul | |