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Lee Bul’s Disorienting Installation is the Next "Infinity Room"


Could this be the next Infinity Room? From now till June 21, come to Lehmann Maupin gallery in New York to experience a mind-bending installation. South Korean artist Lee Bul presents Via Negativa II, a labyrinth of corridors with mirrored surfaces. Lined with illuminated infinity mirrors, the installation will make you wonder which side is up and which side is down. Then, you'll ask yourself (hopefully, not in a panic), “How do I get out?”

Before you enter the structure the artist has built, you must put protective booties on over your shoes because even the floor is covered in mirrored tile.

What does it all mean? The gallery states, “The installation provides an intense and disorienting experience that disrupts the viewer's perceptual and cognitive bearings, and alludes to the tenets of apophatic philosophy, which posits that divine nature is beyond the understanding of the rational human mind and can only be comprehended by defining what it is not – ‘the negative way' – rather than what it is…”

“Through explorations of human/machine dichotomy, ideas of utopia embodied in architecture, and the perceptual and cognitive boundaries of consciousness, Lee's works seek to delineate the limits of the human body and mind, and the fallibility of the quest for perfection.”

Photo: Owen Leong


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Photo: Candy Denise


Photo: Sara H-B


Photo: Anna-Sophia Van Zweden


Photo: DomdOtcoM


Photo: Kung Katherine

Lehmann Maupin website

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