A Metropolitan Return

Why is Lee Bul back in New York 20 years after she staged her last museum show in the city?

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The Genesis Facade Commission architected the artist's return to the Big Apple, inviting Lee to use the front the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a blank canvas for the first installation under a new partnership between The Met and Genesis. Consisting of four large-scale sculptures on each of the plinths in the domed niches of the institution’s main entrance, and titled “Long Tail Halo,” the exhibition connects The Met’s legacy as North America’s largest encyclopedic art museum with the present. Lee’s works invite passersby to stop, look, think—and possibly entice them into visiting the institution. “The facade of The Met is something that really connects with our audiences,” says Max Hollein, the Marina Kellen French Director and CEO of The Met. “It's the first thing that you see, the first thing that you approach.”  

With The Met’s mission to connect and expand the ideas of contemporary art, Hollein began commissioning contemporary artists to occupy the niches in 2019, starting with Wangechi Mutu, followed by Carol Bove in 2021, Hew Locke the next, and Nairy Baghramian in 2023. This ambition of the museum has deepened through a multi-year partnership with Genesis, the global automotive brand that shares its vision to enrich today’s vibrant cultural dialogue. “We are grateful to Genesis for their incredible generosity and support, which ensures the opportunity for visitors and passersby alike to be surprised, delighted, and inspired by dynamic commissions for years to come,” says Hollein. 

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The Met’s bold new contemporary program, The Genesis Facade Commission was renamed last July to invite an artist annually to use the four niches at the front of The Met’s famed beaux-arts facade designed by the architect and founding museum trustee Richard Morris Hunt as a space to showcase their work, provoking a confrontational dialogue with those walking by the museum. Lee, the inaugural artist under the newly named series, is no stranger to public-facing works; in her exploration of technology, class, gender, history, and intimacy. She first gained recognition in 1980s for a series of performances on the streets that intended to engage the public.

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On view through May 27, 2025, "The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo" fuses together Lee’s aesthetic with The Met’s expansive collection of 5,000 years of art, exploring the long narratives of history and utopia, touching on themes of human desire, progress, the quest for perfection, and failure. In the four sculptures are the sharp Cubist angles pulled from Picasso and Braque and nods to the 17,000 Greek and Roman sculptures in the museum’s holdings and Arms and Armor collection. Long Tail Halo: CTCS #1, 2024 and Long Tail Halo: CTCS #2, 2024, possess the wings of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, and carry the robotic and anime influences of Lee's "Cyborg" series from the mid-'90s and the cascading movement of the "Monsters" from the same era. The other two sculptures, Long Tail Halo: Sharer II, 2024 and Long Tail Halo: Sharer III, 2024, are the artist's tribute to her guard dogs, who served as her protectors.

Both figurative and abstract, the four sculptures pique the interest of those walking by or hanging out on The Met’s storied steps. “As an artist, there's always the desire to pursue a theme that you're familiar with or deeply engaged in,” says Lee. “But on the other hand, there's also the hope that this could develop further into something new. I didn’t want the piece to feel so unfamiliar that the audience would easily conclude that this was simply an exotic piece.” 

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The four sculptures in “Long Tail Halo” stand today on The Met’s facade, greeting visitors as they ascend the museum’s iconic steps. By drawing upon the classical holdings of the museum, the sculptures seamlessly unite the universal quest for progress that results from reflecting back on history, bridging past and future in a way that propels the museum into the new realms of conversation. Although the installation has been on view for a little over one month, viewers have been reacting on social media, leaving comments like, “So good!,” “Stunning ❤️,” and “Amazing! 👏,  and “Did I already say 🔥?”

"The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo" invites us to reconsider cultural norms and values through the artist’s unbounded and timeless practices,” says DooEun Choi, art director of Hyundai Motor. "We anticipate that this exhibition will trigger a profound experience that transcends spatial and temporal boundaries."

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Launched as part of Genesis Art Initiatives, The Genesis Facade Commission underscores Genesis’s commitment as a true supporter of the arts, aiming to inspire “authentic connections between the artist, The Met's audiences, as well as the broader global art communities.” The program establishes Genesis as a vital presence in New York’s cultural landscape through its shared vision with The Met to amplify the insight of visionaries that resonate across generations. Next year, The Genesis Facade Commission will continue with Jeffrey Gibson, the first Native American artist to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale, bringing a new occasion for the public to encounter art at The Met’s famed main entrance. 

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"The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo" is on view through May 27, 2025 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028.