Since 2008, Lee Wan has experimented with transforming his position from that of a consumer to a producer by purchasing and reprocessing products from large-scale supermarkets. Through this practice, he has sought ways to imagine and escape from the homogenized and controlled sensory conditions created by global systems of production and distribution.

In his Made in series (2013–2017), Lee traveled to Asian countries, learning local production techniques and handcrafting the projects most representative of each nation. Through documentary video and sculptural installations, he examined how capitalism and globalization have reshaped the cultures and traditions of Asia. This series earned him the 1st Spectrum Artist Award from the Samsung Museum of Art, Leeum (2014), and led to his selection as the representing artist for the Korean Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), garnering international attention.

His solo exhibition Made in Korea Wig and Straw Shoes, presented throughout the entire Coreana Museum of Art, introduces Lee’s ongoing Made in Korea series (2015–present). The exhibition features six documentary films from the Made in Korea series: Wig, Straw Shoes, Hanji, Meok, Bow and Salt, along with collected objects, sculptures, and installations.

Continuing the formal trajectory of the Made in series, Lee’s recent works focus on Korea’s history, traditions, and the techniques and systems of labor that have been handed down through generations. By learning traditional crafts firsthand, the artist investigates how Korea’s “traditions,” interrupted during the modernization process, were dismantled and reconstructed through Western perspectives and standards. The exhibition highlights how shifting perceptions and values surrounding tradition continue to operate today, while illuminating the potential to recover its latent vitality.

In an era where artificial intelligence prioritizes the rapid transmission of vast amounts of information and data, Lee turns his gaze toward the most primal modes of knowledge transfer between humans. Traditional Korean techniques—once transmitted through apprenticeship—have often remained undocumented or partially passed down, becoming fragmented and reassembled through external perspectives. Lee questions whether these reinterpreted and mediated images of tradition, which replace conventional notions of authenticity, could form the roots of our future. By tracing and connecting fragmented traditions through what he calls a “constellational practice,” the artist redraws a sensory topography of tradition—one that shapes, and continues to shape, the foundations of our contemporary identity.

■ Exhibition Title Lee Wan Solo Exhibition Made in Korea Wig & Straw Shoes ■ Dates October 23 – November 29, 2025 ■ Venue Coreana Museum of Art ■ Artist Lee Wan ■ Opening Hours (Tue–Fri) 11:00–18:00 / (Sat) 12:00–18:00 ■ Admission   Adult KRW 6,000 / Student KRW 4,000 (Combined Museum Ticket: Adult KRW 10,000 / Student KRW 7,000)

■ Curated by Lee Wan ■ Sponsored by Coreana Cosmetics ■ In collaboration with Coreana Museum of Art ■ Graphic Design Ku Heesun

■ Exhibition-related Program Opening Performance Double Window

Date & Time | Thursday, October 23, 2025, 18:30 Venue | c-cube, Coreana Museum of Art B2F Performer | Lee Wan Violin | Baek Kyung Choreography | Lee Jaeyun Sound | Yang Seungyong