NEW YORK, NY.- The acclaimed Chinese artist Liu Wei (born 1972, Beijing) has transformed the niches of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s iconic Fifth Avenue facade with a suite of new sculptures that confronts the constant state of shift in society. Consisting of four metallic, monumental works, Speculation lays bare the contradictions inherent in periods of profound change, in the context of the Museum’s architecture, collection, and the complexity of our time. Through Liu’s signature language of assemblage and reconfiguration—in which organic, geometric, and architectural fragments collide—the cycles of rupture and suture in the historical and contemporary experience come alive. On view through June 8, 2027, The Genesis Facade Commission: Liu Wei, Speculation marks Liu's first major presentation in the United States.

“Liu Wei’s sculptures for The Genesis Facade Commission reflect the curiosity, innovation, and—most importantly—the audacity he is known for," said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “This commission also reflects the spirit of The Met’s Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art, opening in 2030, a space where global perspectives and boundary-pushing artistic practices like Liu Wei’s will be at the heart of how we present the art of our time. We are honored to have worked with Liu Wei to expand the possibilities of the iconic Fifth Avenue facade with his first major project in the United States.”

“In Speculation, Liu Wei asks us to confront our culture’s relentless processes of making and becoming,” said Lesley Ma, The Met’s Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and curator of the project. “For me, his work always compellingly pierces through perceptions of reality with a blend of rawness and refinement. It's exciting to see how he challenges our expectations for the classical niches and for public sculpture.”

“The Genesis Facade Commission allows us to continually rethink how The Met introduces itself to each visitor and to the world. Liu Wei’s clever remixes of readymade motifs transform the everyday into the miraculous, and his sculptures’ beguiling interplay between contemplation, surprise, and revelation is also the very business of The Met,” said David Breslin, The Met's Leonard A. Lauder Curator in Charge of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. “As we look ahead to the opening of the new Tang Wing in 2030, The Genesis Facade Commissions stand as The Met’s most visible and dynamic platform for contemporary art, bringing our present and future ambitions to the fore.”

Liu Wei said about his sculptures for The Genesis Facade Commission: “Our reality is a puzzle built by time. I want to answer it with a puzzle. This, to me, is what is real.”

Speculation, Liu Wei’s project for The Met’s Fifth Avenue facade, is the seventh in a series of commissions for the historic exterior and the third presented under The Genesis Facade Commission, the multiyear partnership with Genesis to support the annual contemporary art commission. The installation comprises four sculptures, each titled for a fundamental constant of physics: Speculation / Λ; Speculation / G; Speculation / c; and Speculation / h. Fabricated from fiberglass composite, steel, aluminum alloy, and polyurethane paint—with bovine rawhide incorporated into one work—the sculptures assemble architectural fragments and bodily forms as though stitched together and compressed for the niches. The two central works flanking the Museum’s entrance are towering in scale, while the outer two are more delicate, and all draw on references to historical architecture and monuments. Each sculpture contains parts with different material finishes, textures, and colors, fulfilling Liu's vision for "a pile of still life objects roughly sutured together."

The exhibition’s title, Speculation, reflects both the work’s formal language of assemblage and reconfiguration and the uncertainties that accompany periods of profound change. Shaped by the artist’s experience of living in the age of globalization, especially in a rapidly modernizing China during a period marked by dramatic economic, political, and social transformation, the commission considers the tensions inherent in the desire for and the processes of invention, adaptation, and renewal. Through unexpected combinations of forms and references, Liu’s sculptures embody these contradictions, inviting visitors to contemplate the unpredictable forces that shape contemporary life and historical experience. In doing so, the works position the Museum’s facade as a site for dialogue, reflection, and discovery.

A recurring motif throughout the commission is the human hand: a form that carries a rich range of artistic, cultural, and symbolic associations across time and place. Long central to artistic practice and representation, the hand serves as a point of connection between the recognizable and the fantastical, anchoring Liu’s exploration of transformation, perception, and imagination.

This project is the latest in The Met’s series of contemporary commissions in which the Museum invites artists to create new works of art, establishing a dialogue between the artist’s practice, The Met collection, the physical Museum, and The Met’s audiences. These commissions—which have featured artists Wangechi Mutu, Hew Locke, Carol Bove, Nairy Baghramian, Lee Bul, and, most recently, Jeffrey Gibson—are a cornerstone of The Met’s expanding Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, which continues to grow in scope through new acquisitions, exhibitions, and the development of the Tang Wing, opening in 2030, which will offer a transformative new space for engaging with art from 1890 to today.

Since the late 1990s, Liu Wei (BFA, 1996, oil painting, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou) has addressed the realities of our time through a wide range of media—including photography, painting, video, sculpture, and installation. A key figure of a pioneering generation of artists from China who sought to define “conceptual art” on their own terms against the backdrop of rapid societal transformation, Liu has developed an oeuvre that challenges art historical tropes of abstraction, figuration, and the readymade. Known for his virtuosic command of sites and scale, he reconfigures fragments from the urban environment, historical sources, and bodily forms to create sculptural installations that evoke awe and agitation. With a sense of urgency, his work captures and critiques the reoccurring conflicts and contradictions in society with which we must contend.

The Genesis Facade Commission at The Met is Liu’s first major presentation in the United States, following solo exhibitions in important museums in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Cleveland in the past decade. He has been featured in prestigious and historic group exhibitions, including the inaugural China Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005); Shanghai Biennial (2004, 2010); Lyon Biennale (2007, 2015); Sharjah Biennial (2013); Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, Guggenheim Museum, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2018); The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2019); and the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), among others. Liu lives and works in Beijing, China.