LONDON.- Opening Wednesday 30 May, Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery presents an ambitious exhibition of work by one of the most acclaimed contemporary artists from Asia, Lee Bul (born in 1964 in Seoul, South Korea). Taking over the entire Hayward Gallery, this exhibition – the artist’s first major solo show in London – brings together 118 of her works from the late 1980s to the present day in order to explore the full range of her pioneering and highly inventive practice.

Throughout her career, Lee Bul has received international recognition for her imaginative and provocative work. She draws on diverse sources that include science fiction, 20th century history, philosophy and personal experience, whilst making use of deliberately ‘clashing’ materials that range from the organic to the industrial, from silk and mother of pearl, to fibreglass and silicone. Shaped by her experience of growing up in South Korea during a period of political upheaval, much of her work is concerned with trauma, and the way that idealism or the pursuit of perfection – bodily, political or aesthetic – might lead to failure, or disaster. Since the early 2000s, she has focused on architectural utopianism, bringing together references to both real and imagined architecture in sprawling sculptures of futuristic cityscapes.

The exhibition presents 16 works that have never been seen before, including the newly completed Scale of Tongue (2017–18), an intricate sculptural work that makes subtle reference to the Sewol Ferry Disaster of 2014; a series of silk velvet paintings; and three new works from the artist’s ongoing Anagram series, upholstered in leather and fabric. Also on show are a range of Lee Bul’s studio drawings and sketches, which provide an insight into the artist’s creative process, and the way that her intricate three-dimensional works are developed. In addition, the exhibition presents a new site-specific installation Weep into stones (2017–18), which drapes the Hayward’s exterior walls with a subtly shimmering curtain of thousands of glass beads and Swarovski crystals.

Opening with sculptural works from the artist’s iconic Cyborg, Monster and Anagram series, Lee Bul: Crashing also features reconstructions of the artist’s wearable fabric sculptures and documentation of her early performances, which were often staged in public places. In Sorry for suffering – You think I’m a puppy on a picnic? (1990), for example, Lee Bul walked the streets of Tokyo clothed in one of her elaborate, monstrous soft sculptures, interacting with the people she encountered. In these performances, and in other key early works, Lee Bul reflects on the status of women in Korean society, and the ways in which popular culture – in both the East and West – informs and shapes our idea of ‘feminine’ beauty.

The exhibition also features pivotal works including Majestic Splendor (1991–2018), an installation consisting of decaying fish embroidered with sequins, beads and gold flowers which aims to unsettle the viewer’s understanding of beauty and value; Live Forever III (2001), an interactive, futuristic karaoke pod; and a number of the artist’s recent immersive sculptural environments that make use of mirrored surfaces. Taking over a section of the lower galleries is the glittering Civitas Solis II (2014), while in the upper galleries is Via Negativa II (2014), a mirrored labyrinth that disrupts and disturbs our sense of space, whilst reflecting our bodies in fragmented form.

Lee Bul: Crashing culminates with Willing To Be Vulnerable – Metalized Balloon (2015–16), a 17-metre long sculpture that resembles a Hindenburg Zeppelin, suspended above a reflective floor in the Hayward Gallery’s newly refurbished upper galleries. This colossal sculpture, which references the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, is at once aspirational and optimistic and concerned with technological failure, fragmentation and destruction.

In this exhibition, Lee Bul’s work is accompanied by two timelines that explore the political landscape that has shaped much of her practice. ‘Women and Art in South Korea: 1960–2000’ explores the emergence of women’s activist movements and art in South Korea, while ‘Korean Division and the DMZ’ outlines the key events that have taken place at the border between North and South Korea from 1945 to the present day.

Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery said: “We are particularly delighted to present this pioneering artist during the Hayward Gallery’s 50th anniversary year. Lee Bul’s ongoing engagement with utopian modernism pairs perfectly with the democratic aspirations of the Hayward’s own adventurous architecture. Throughout the exhibition Lee Bul uses the distinctive design of the gallery as a collaborator rather than a backdrop.”

Stephanie Rosenthal, exhibition curator said: “Through this exhibition we hope to take visitors on a journey of utopian exploration; the show is designed to transport the visitors to another reality, place and time. I am particularly interested in the way Lee Bul’s work addresses both the aspirations of democracy and its potential failure and I think approaching these topics is more relevant than ever today.”

Lee Bul: Crashing is curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, formerly Chief Curator at Hayward Gallery and now Director of Gropius Bau, Berlin. The exhibition opens ahead of Hayward Gallery’s 50th anniversary on Wednesday 11 July 2018. Lee Bul: Crashing is accompanied by a catalogue that surveys 30 years of Lee Bul’s work and features an interview with the artist, essays by Michaël Amy, Yeon Shim Chung, Laura Colombino and Stephanie Rosenthal, as well as supplementary texts that detail Korea’s divided history and the development of post-war women’s movements in South Korea.