Born in 1964 in Taichung, Taiwan
Lives and works between Paris and New York

LEE Mingwei

Lee Mingwei creates participatory installations that enable strangers to engage with concepts of trust, intimacy, and self-awareness. Additionally, Lee conducts one-on-one events in which he and visitors explore these themes through daily activities like eating, sleeping, writing, and conversing. His projects often present open-ended scenarios for everyday interactions, adapting and transforming with participant involvement throughout an exhibition's duration.

Lee received his MFA from Yale University in 1997 and has since showcased his solo exhibitions internationally at venues including the Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern, Gropius Bau, Sydney Modern, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Mori Art Museum, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Auckland Art Gallery, Art Museum Ateneum, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has also been featured in Biennials in Venice, Lyon, Sharjah, Liverpool, Taipei, Sydney, Echigo-Tsumari, Whitney, and the Asia Pacific Triennials.

His mid-career survey exhibition, "Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Art of Participation,'' was presented at Mori Art Museum in 2014, traveled to Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Auckland Art Gallery. Lee's European survey, "Lee Mingwei: Li, Gifts, and Rituals," was on view at Gropius Bau in 2020 followed by Museum Villa Stuck. In the coming years of 2023 and 2024, he plans to unveil his projects and new creations in countries including Denmark, France, South Korea, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States.

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education

1997
- Yale University, MFA in Sculpture, CT, USA

1993
- California College of the Arts, BA Honors in Textile Art, CA, USA
 

solo shows

2024
- Lee Mingwei: Rituals of Care, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco | de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, The Utah Museum of Fine Arts: UMFA, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, M+, Hong Kong

2023
- Sonic Blossom, MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale (Museum of Oriental Art), Turin, Italy
- Lee Mingwei: The Gifts of Connection, Kimball Art Center, Park City, UT, USA

2022
- Lee Mingwei: Our Labyrinth, Tate Modern, London, UK 
- Grace Cathedral Artist in Residence: Our Labyrinth for Grace, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Lee Mingwei: Spirit House, Art Gallery of New South Wales | Sydney Modern Project, Sydney, Australia

2021
- MO-Kunstpreis 2021: Lee Mingwei, Museum Ostwall im Dortmunder U, Dortmund, Germany
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
- Lee Mingwei: Li, Gifts and Rituals, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany

2020
- Lee Mingwei and Bill T. Jones: Our Labyrinth, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
- Lee Mingwei: Li, Gifts and Rituals, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany

2019
- The Tourist, Perrotin Tokyo, Japan
- Lee Mingwei: You Are Not a Stranger, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, OH, USA
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, Cleveland Museum of Art, OH, USA

2018
- Lee Mingwei: Seven Stories, Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Sonic Blossom, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Lee Mingwei: Stone Journey, Worcester Art Museum, MA, USA
- Sonic Blossom, National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., USA

2016
- Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Art of Participation, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand
 -The Moving Garden, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- Between Going and Staying, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, UK

2015
- Sonic Blossom, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
- Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Art of Participation, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA

2014
- Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Art of Participation, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2013
- A Quartet and A Living Room, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, UK
- Luminous Depths, Peranakan Museum, Singapore

2012
- The Living Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA
- Visible, Elusive, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
 -Tales of Flower and Stones, Espace Louis Vuitton, Taipei, Taiwan

2011
- The Moving Garden, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
- The Travelers, Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY, USA

2010
- Trilogy of Sounds, Mount Stuart, Scotland, UK
- Pantheon Project, Museum Contemporary Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Lee Mingwei: Liquid Forms, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China

2009
- Grandfather's Incline, Montalvo Art Center, Saratoga, CA, USA
- The Mending Project, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, NY, USA

2008
- Guernica in Sand, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
- Bodhi Tree Project, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
- Uncommon Senses, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
- The Quartet Project, Albion Gallery, London, UK

2007
- Lee Mingwei: Impermanence, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, USA
- Duologue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2006
- The Tourist, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia
- Guernica in Sand, Albion Gallery, London, UK
- Pantheon Project, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA

2005
- Through Masters' Eyes, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, Germany
- Through Masters' Eyes, Kaikodo Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2004
- Through Masters' Eyes, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Shueito Legends, Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art, Kinmen, Taiwan

2003
- The Tourist, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
- Harvard Seers Project, Harvard University Office for the Arts, Cambridge, MA, USA

2002
- The Tourist Project, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
- The Shadow and Its Double, Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2000
- The Living Room Project, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA
- The Sleeping Project, Lombard Freid Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA
- Empathic Economies, Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
- Empathic Economies, Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

1999
- Lee Mingwei 1994 to 1999, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, USA

1998
- Way Stations, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
- The Letter Writing Project, The Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia, PA, USA

1997
- InteractExchange, Lombard Freid Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA

group shows

2023
- BEAUTIFUL REPAIR: Meaning in Art and Fashion, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Poetic Paradise, Jeonnam Museum of Art, Jeollanam-do, South Korea
- Buddha10 Reloaded, Museum of Oriental Art, Turin, Italy
- Art in Our Time: NTMoFA Collection Highlights - 35th Anniversary, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
- Contemporary Expressions, MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale (Museum of Oriental Art), Turin, Italy

2022
- Flowers! Flowers in the Art of the 20th &21st Century, Museum Ostwall im Dortmunder U, Dortmund, Germany
- Flowers of Time, 2022 ACK Satellite Program - Hongwanji Dendoin, Kyoto, Japan
- Air, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

2021
- Individuals, Networks, Expressions, M+, Hong Kong
- Taiwan NOW: Taiwan Contemporary Artsfest, Intermediatheque, Tokyo, Japan

2020
- Florilegium: a gathering of flowers, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK
- A Call to Attention, UCCA Dune, Aranya Gold Coast, Beidaihe, China
- The Sky as a Studio. Yves Klein and his contemporaries, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
- In the Name of Flower, Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai, China 
- Measure Your Existence, The Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA

2019
- Leaving the Echo Chamber, Sharjah Biennial 14, Sharjah, UAE
- The scene in which I find myself / Or, where does my body belong, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
- In the Company of Artists: 25 Years of Artists-in-Residence, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA
- Traversées, Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, France 
- SOCIAL: Rethinking Loneliness Together, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA, USA
- The Gift, Geoffrey Bawa Centenary Celebration, Lunuganga Trust, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Musica Mobile, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
- Stage Is Yours, Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA / The Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland

2018
- The Tourist Project, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
- Language of Flowers, Asia University of Modern Art, Taichung, Taiwan
- Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA
- New Materialism, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
- Brief Encounters ‘18, Lustwarande - Platform for Contemporary Sculpture, Tilburg, The Netherlands
- Declaration, Institution for Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
- Light to Night Festival 2018: Colour Sensations, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore

2017
- Lee Mingwei: Seven Stories, 14th edition of Biennale de Lyon, Bullukian Foundation, Lyon, France
- Viva Arte Viva, The 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Christine Macel, Venice, Italy
- Middle of Now | Where, Honolulu Biennial 2017, Honolulu, HI, USA
- Ouvert la Nuit - Festival des lumiere, Villa Medici, Rome, Italy
- L’OFFRE, DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada
- EAT ME, Trapholt Museum for Moderne Kunst, Denmark
- PEACE, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany
- Flower Power, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA
- MOVE, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Listen Hear: The Art of Sound, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA
- Person of the Crowd, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, USA

2016
- Why Not Ask Again?, 11th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
- The Future is Already Here, It’s Just Not Evenly Distributed, 20th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Sugar Spin: You, Me, Art and Everything, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
- Don’t You Think It’s Time For Love?, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
- GIGANTESQUE ! L’EXPERIENCE POMMERY #13, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France
- That Which Remains, Mount Stuart, Scotland, UK
- Telling Tales: Excursions in Narrative Form, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia
- The 14th Taishin Arts Award Exhibition, Museum of National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan

2015
- Food, Shelter, Clothing: Art and Need, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY, USA
- Guess what? Hardcore Contemporary Art’s Truly a World Treasure: Selected Works from the YAGEO Foundation Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
- Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

2014
- By Proxy, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Guess what? Hardcore Contemporary Art’s Truly a World Treasure: Selected Works from the YAGEO Foundation Collection, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
- Guess what? Hardcore Contemporary Art’s Truly a World Treasure: Selected Works from the YAGEO Foundation Collection, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan
- Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, USA
- Guess what? Hardcore Contemporary Art’s Truly a World Treasure: Selected Works from the YAGEO Foundation Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
- Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM, USA

2013
- Little Water, Dojima River Biennale 2013, Dojima River Forum, Osaka, Japan
- Connecting_Unfolding, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul, Korea
- Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX, USA
- TEA/Super-Connect—2013 International Techno Art Exhibition, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
- A City Shaped, Artefact Festival, STUK arts center, Leuven, Belgium

2012
- Accidental Message: Art is Not a System, Not a World, 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, Shenzhen, China
- All Our Relations, 18th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- REAKT / Views and Processes, European Capital of Culture, Guimarães, Portugal
- Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL, USA
- Wide Open School, Hayward Gallery, London, UK

2011
- All Things Equal, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle University, Seattle, WA, USA

2010
- Re:Thinking Trade, Liverpool Biennial 2010, UK
- 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
- Playing in the City II, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany

2009
- The Enlightenment, Dean Gallery, Edinburgh International Festival, UK
- The Spectacle of the Everyday, Lyon Biennial 2009, France
- So Close Yet So Far Away, 2009 Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, Incheon, Korea

2008
- Home, Taiwan Biennial 2008, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
- All Inclusive, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
- Bubble Tea: Art of Taiwan and its Contemporary Mutations, The Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic
- Person of the Crowd, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
- China Power III, Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxemburg

2007
- Have You Eaten Yet?, 2007 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
- 1.5 Generation, Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA

2006
- International 06, Liverpool Biennial 2006, Tate Liverpool, UK, USA
- Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2006, Niigata, Japan
- Male Pregnancy Project, Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain
- Between the Lakes: Artists Respond to Madison, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI, USA
- Zhua-Zhou Project, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI, USA
- Male Pregnancy Project, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

2005
- Elegance of Silence, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- Trading Places, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
- Man of the Crowd, Contemporary Museum Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Spice Box Invitational, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Inaugural Exhibition, Arnolfini Center of Arts, Bristol, UK
- We are the world, El Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
- Contemporary Art from Taiwan at the Venice Biennale, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2004
- Whitney Biennial 2004, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
- We Are the World, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, USA
- Fiction Love, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

2003
- Limbo Zone, 50th Venice Biennale, Taiwan Pavilion, Italy
- Away from Home, Wexner Center of Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
- Inaugural Exhibition, Cincinnati Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- The Magic Makers, Des Moines Center of Art, Des Moines, IA, USA
- Mind Space, Ho-Am Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
- The Gift, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, New York, NY, USA
- The Gift, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Chicago, IL, USA

2002
- Sitelines, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, USA
- The Gift, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ, USA
- Labyrinth of Pleasure, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2001
- Labyrinth of Pleasure, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
- Mixed Ingredients, American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts, Napa, CA, USA
- The Gift, Centro Arte Contemporanea Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, Italy
- The Bayberry Bush, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, NY, USA

2000
- The Sky is the Limit, 2000 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
- Worthless (Invaluable), Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- The Gift of Hope, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan

1999
- The 3rd Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
- Where Are You?, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, NY, USA

1998
- Plural Speech, White Box, New York, NY, USA
- Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA

1997
- Money for Art, Refusalon, San Francisco, CA, USA
- The World View, Deutsche Bank, New York, NY, USA
- Reflection, Art + Architecture Gallery, School of Architecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

public collections

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
​Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Tate Modern, London, UK
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
M+, Hong Kong
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Museo Jumex, Mexico City, México
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Deutsche Bank, New York, NY, USA
YAGEO Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA
JUT Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA
Yeh Rong Jai Culture & Art Foundation, Hsinchu, Taiwan

awards

2022
- 2022 Artist-in-Residence, Grace Cathedral, CA, USA

2021
- 8th Museum Ostwall MO-Kunstpreis art prize, Dortmund, Germany

2020
- Best Dance of 2020, The New York Times, NY, USA

2016
- Annual Prize, Taishin Arts Award, Taiwan

2015 
- The Best in Art of 2015, The New York Times
- The Best Classical Music of 2015, The New York Times

2014
- Artist of the Year, Queens Museum, New York, USA

1997
- Joan Mitchell Award for Painters and Sculptors, USA

COMMISSIONNERS

2020
Gropius Bau - Our Peaceable Kingdom
2017
The 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia “Viva Arte Viva” - When Beauty Visits
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA - Small Conversation
2015
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan - Our Labyrinth Labyrinth
2013
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea - Sonic Blossom
Peranakan Museum, Singapore - Luminous Depths
2010
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, South Brisbane, Australia - Bodhi Tree Project
2009
Lyon Biennal, Lyon, France – The Moving Garden
Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, UK - Trilogy of Sounds
2008
Taiwan Contemporary Art Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan - Nomad Exquisite
2006
Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK - Fabric of Memory
2005
Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, USA - Nuwa Project
2002
Rice University Art Gallery, Huston, USA - The Tourist

  • August 15, 2020
    ArtReview Asia — 2 PAGES

  • August 5, 2020
    The Art Newspaper — 2 PAGES

  • April 23, 2020
    Art Review — 6 PAGES

  • November 1, 2015
    The New York Times — 4 PAGES

  • March 16, 2015
    The Boston Globe — 4 PAGES

A Virtual Interview with Lee Mingwei

A Virtual Interview with Lee Mingwei

LEE Mingwei

podcasts

PERROTIN

Closed for installation

Perrotin Los Angeles is closed for installation through Friday, April 5.

We look forward to welcoming you at our next exhibition, Art 2 by MSCHF. Join us at the opening on Saturday, April 6, 2024 between 3pm to 8pm! The exhibition will continue through June 1.
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