Lawrence Lek

Lawrence Lek 陆明龙 (b. Frankfurt, 1982) is a filmmaker, musician, and artist who lives and works in London, UK. He unifies diverse practices—architecture, gaming, video, music and fiction—into a continuously expanding cinematic universe. Over the last decade, Lek has incorporated vernacular media of his generation, such as video games and computer-generated animation, into site-specific installations and digital environments which he describes as ‘three-dimensional collages of found objects and situations.’ Often featuring interlocking narratives and the recurring figure of the wanderer, his work explores the myth of technological progress in an age of artificial intelligence and social change.  

His work has also featured internationally in numerous group shows, biennales and film festivals including: Ctrl + ↑ for Coyote Time, Trafó Gallery, Budapest (2024); Synthetic Imaginaries, Matadero Madrid (2024); NEXT LEVEL Festival, Dortmund (2024); Life After Life, HOW Art Museum, Shanghai (2024); Biennale de I’Image en Mouvement 24 (BIM’24): A Cosmic Movie Camera, Centre d’Art Contemporian, Genève (2024); Connectivity Construction, Asia Culture Centre, Gwangju (2024); The 24th Biennale of Sydney: Ten Thousand Suns, White Bay Power Station (2024); Virtual worlds: From cycloramas to Metaverse, Fundación Telefónica, Madrid (2023); HOPE, MUSEION, Bolzano (2023); Fotograf Festival – hypertension23, National Gallery Prague (2023); Topologies of the Real: Techne, Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning, Shenzhen (2023); Game Society, MMCA National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2023); FOUNDATION: A Web3 Media Art Festival, Videotage, Hong Kong (2023); among others.

He has exhibited internationally with recent solo exhibitions, most notably: NOX, LAS Art Foundation, Berlin (2023); Black Cloud Highway, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2023); Nepenthe (Summer Palace Ruins), QUAD, Derby (2022); Post-Sinofuturism, ZiWU the Bund, Shanghai (2022); Ghostwriter, Center for Contemporary Arts Prague, Prague (2019); Farsight Freeport, HEK House of Electronic Arts Basel, Basel (2019); Nøtel, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Essen (2019); AIDOL 爱道, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2019); among others.  

In 2021, he was the recipient of both the 4th VH Award Grand Prix and the LACMA 2021 Art + Technology Lab Grant, and in July 2024 he was announced as the winner of the Frieze London 2024 Artist Award.  Lek holds qualifications from Trinity College, University of Cambridge; the Architectural Association, London; and The Cooper Union, New York. In 2022, Lek achieved a PhD from the Royal College of Art, London.