in both the East and West shapes and manipulates our understanding of ‘feminine’ beauty.

The show will highlight the different ways in which Lee Bul has responded to salient issues of her time with works that fuse different materials, genres, disciplines and traditions. Her pivotal work Majestic Splendor (1991- 97) — an installation of rotting fish embroidered with ​ ​ ​ ​ sequins which had to be removed from MoMA’s exhibition in 1997 for its intense odour — ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ will feature in the show as evidence of the artist’s attempt to unsettle our understanding of beauty and value. This work, along with many others in the exhibition, showcases Lee Bul’s longstanding interest in experimenting with organic materials closely related to the body such as human hair, mother-of-pearl, leather and silk.

Crashing includes sculptural works from her iconic Cyborg (1997- ) and Anagram (1999- ) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ series which question if humans and nature might achieve perfection by merging with ​ machines. Much of her art has also focused on the human body and architecture, and Lee Bul’s work often poses important questions of intimacy, gender, class and race.

The concept of landscape is a key element of Lee Bul’s practice and in 2005 she began constructing models and maquettes (followed later by full-scale installations) of utopian urban settings inspired by modernist architectural designs. These complex sculptures and the related works on paper and canvas constitute an imaginative topography of utopian successes and failures.

Installed in the Lower Galleries will be Civitas Solis II (2014), an immersive room that ​ ​ disrupts and disturbs our sense of space through its mirrored surfaces and labyrinthic forms. With her work Willing To Be Vulnerable (2015-16), here represented by a giant foil ​ ​ Hindenburg Zeppelin, she goes back to her investigation of utopian ideas which often stay unrealised or, like in this particular case, turn into a disaster. The Zeppelin which Lee Bul is presenting this exhibition will be installed in the newly refurbished Upper Galleries as part of an enthralling environment in which the artist is exploring horror and hope.

The exhibition will also present Lee Bul’s intricate preparatory drawings and sketches which provide an insight into the artist’s creative process, and the ways in which Lee Bul develops ​ ​ and explores the different strands of her artistic practice, as well as her recent, immersive, and often reflective, architectural sculptures and environments.

Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery said: “We are particularly delighted to present ​ this pioneering artist during the Hayward’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. The special site-specific commission that she will be creating will strikingly transform the exterior of the building in a manner that is both pointed in its historical references and visually charged.”

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 Dr Stephanie Rosenthal, formerly chief curator at Hayward ​ Gallery and now Director of Gropius Bau in Berlin, and opens ahead of Hayward Gallery’s 50th anniversary on Wednesday 11 July 2018. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue with texts by Stephanie Rosenthal, Yeon Shim Chung, Michaël

Amy and Laura Colombino.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks and events, including a symposium, Willing To Be Vulnerable: Women, Resilience and Art in Korea on 1 June 2018. This ​ event brings together a number of leading Korean and international art historians, theorists and artists to explore different facets of Lee Bul’s oeuvre, and reflect on the impact and development of Korean art and culture in a global context from the 1990s to the present day. This symposium is co-organised by Hayward Gallery and The Courtauld Institute of Art. Co-produced by Korean Cultural Centre, UK.

The exhibition at Hayward Gallery is generously supported by The Korea Foundation, Swarovski and The Henry Moore Foundation. It will tour internationally to Gropius Bau, Berlin 29 September 2018 to 13 January 2019.

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For further press information and images please contact: Filipa Mendes, Press Manager / [email protected] / 020 7921 0919 ​ ​ Harriet Black, Press Officer / [email protected] / 020 7921 0676 ​ ​

Listings information: Lee Bul: Crashing, 30 May – 19 August ​ ​ ​ Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

Hayward Gallery opening times: 11am – 7pm every day except Tuesdays when the gallery is closed. Late night opening on Thursdays until 9pm

Tickets and further information: Tickets on sale (Southbank Centre Members free) ​ www.southbankcentre.co.uk / 020 3879 9555 ​ Twitter: @haywardgallery ​ Instagram: @Hayward.Gallery ​ Facebook: www.facebook.com/haywardgallery/ ​ NOTES TO EDITORS

About Lee Bul Lee Bul (b. 1964, Seoul; lives and works in Seoul) received a BFA in sculpture from Hongik University, Seoul, in 1987. During the 1980s she was a founding member of Museum, a loose collective of underground artists, performers, and musicians. Lee Bul continued to gain in prominence with her provocative work through the mid 1990s, and in 1997 she was invited to exhibit her Majestic Splendor at the Projects gallery at the Museum of ​ ​ Modern Art in New York. Soon after, she was selected as a finalist for the 1998 Hugo Boss Prize by the Guggenheim Museum, New York, where she unveiled the Cyborgs series that would establish her reputation. ​ ​ Lee Bul was awarded an honourable mention at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999 for her contribution to both the Korean Pavilion and the international exhibition curated by Harald Szeemann. From 2001 to 2003, her exhibition Live Forever travelled to eight North American institutions, including San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, ​ Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York and The Power Plant, Toronto. She has gone on to have numerous solo exhibitions at international art museums and galleries, including Le Consortium, Dijon (2002); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2004); Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris (2007). Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2013); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2014); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2014); Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Etienne Métropole, France (2015); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015); Vancouver Art Gallery (2015) and Art Sonje Centre, Seoul (1998, 2012 and 2016). In 2014, she received the Noon Award at the 10th Gwangju Biennale, given to an established artist who has produced the most experimental work that embodies the theme of the biennale.

Hayward Gallery Hayward Gallery, part of Southbank Centre, has a long history of presenting work by the world's most adventurous and innovative artists including major solo shows by both emerging and established artists and dynamic group exhibitions. They include those by Bridget Riley, , , Tracey Emin, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Jeremy Deller, Anish Kapoor, René Magritte, Francis Bacon and David Shrigley, as well as influential group exhibitions such as Africa Remix, Light Show, Psycho Buildings and most recently The ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Infinite Mix. Opened by Her Majesty, The Queen in July 1968, the gallery is one of the few remaining buildings of ​ its style. The Brutalist building was designed by a group of young architects, including Dennis Crompton, Warren Chalk and Ron Herron and is named after Sir Isaac Hayward, a former leader of the .

About Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most ​ vibrant cultural quarter on the of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 . Southbank Centre is home to the , , and Hayward Gallery as well as The National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk. ​ ​ ​